Seeds for 04/17/2023 - Matthew 1:1-17, part 1

If you’re just starting with Seeds of Faith, welcome! Our previous book was Colossians. Switching genres from a letter to a Gospel narrative will signal a little different way to move through the text. For Matthew, I’ll take a passage and do observation reflections on it until I’m ready to move on. Therefore, I’ll more likely spread them over multiple days to keep each day shorter and focused. Let’s get going.

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Scripture: “This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham… Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.” (Matthew 1:1; context: 1:1-17)

Observation: As we begin, Matthew starts out with a family history lesson. Or maybe it’s more than that? This passage is a great example of how getting curious and making observations can unearth nuggets that may hiding in plain sight. It’s always important to stick with solid biblical sleuthing and avoid venturing into tangled speculations. As one of my professors said, people may come up with a variety of interpretations for a particular bible text, but “some interpretations are more well-grounded than others.”

We’ll take a few days on the observations from the genealogy that invite reflection, but here at the beginning, let’s note a couple of things:

First, Matthew’s genealogy is not the same as Luke’s (Luke 3:23-38), nor does it exactly match how the Old Testament genealogical sources would piece together. Why might this be?

Second, Matthew’s genealogy is highly structured, with three sections of 14 generations each, organized around major events: the genesis of the Israelites in Abraham, the pinnacle of Israel in King David, the depths of Israel’s failure and despair in the exile, and finally to the height of redemption and hope in the Messiah, Jesus.

Given these two point, we see that Matthew is grounded in real history, while at the same time crafting this passage literarily in order to make some theological points.

More as we go along, but suffice it to say that one of the theological points Matthew is communicating is that God is faithful and we can have hope.

God’s call began with Abraham. God continued to work through his lineage, just as He had promised. David seemed to represent the fulfillment of God’s promise—a successful king and a unified nation. But it didn’t last. Not only that, Israel strays so far that exile from the Promised Land in the sad consequence. However, all was not lost. God’s Messiah—"Anointed One"—was still on the way, and Matthew is declaring that now is God’s time and Jesus is the Messiah we’ve been looking for.

Application:

• How have you seen God remain faithful despite your ups and downs?

• What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?

Prayer: Lord, you know my highs and lows, when my life has been on point and when I’ve gone sideways. Thank you for your faithfulness. Grow my trust in you. Amen.

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“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)

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