“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew 1:1

Before moving here three years ago, I’d never been in a church which recognized or celebrated Advent. But now I cannot imagine entering the Christmas season without my morning devotional time spent in a candle’s glow from my Advent wreath. Advent doesn’t start until Sunday, but let’s light an imaginary candle now, sit in its glow, and ponder the birth of Jesus in light of (pun intended) the Advent candle representing HOPE. Let’s link this theme to the first chapter of the first book in the New Testament, a book written by Matthew, the Jewish tax collector turned apostle. Matthew writes to his fellow Jews with this message: Jesus is your king and your hope in this dark time. 

He’s our hope, too.

How does Matthew start this message of hope? With sixteen verses you likely would never consider hopeful: Jesus’ genealogy. I know it’s hard to get through the thirty-nine “the father of” phrases (“begat” for you King James folks), but let’s unearth the hope.

Were I writing my own genealogy for an entire culture group to read, I admit I would skip the crazy Uncle Teds and highlight the stellar examples among my ancestors in order to impress others and show the purity of my lineage. I imagine first century genealogists did the same. And since Matthew sets out to show his Jewish readers that Jesus is their king, wouldn’t we expect a distinguished ancestry?

Matthew definitely starts that way by naming patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, v.2) and kings (David and Solomon, v.6). But Matthew also names women, four of them, a shocking inclusion for that time. Rahab (v.5) was a prostitute (cf. Joshua 2). Tamar (v.3) couldn’t have been from a more dysfunctional family (cf. Genesis 38). Matthew also includes non-Jews (Rahab, Ruth, and Tamar), supposedly tainting what we might have expected to be a pure Jewish lineage. But this is Jesus’ ancestry: history not fluff. 

Can you see the hope here?

There’s hope since anyone can be a member of Jesus’ family. He’s not ashamed of the “spotted” ones in His lineage, nor is He of us. God chose each one of these individuals to “begat” another and another and another until the birth of Jesus Christ. Knowing their sin, He chose them anyway. When we feel we don’t belong, aren’t good enough, or are too tainted by sin, Jesus says, come to Me. He said that in AD30; He still says it. 

That’s hope; that’s good news.

Is something stopping you from feeling like a member of Jesus’ family? Does the Advent season leave you stressful or anxious? Matthew wrote to Jews who hadn’t heard from God in 400 years and were once again under foreign rule. It was dark times for them, too. Matthew starts to pierce their darkness with this list of ancestors. How is he showing you a pinprick of hope in your darkness, too?