WEBVTT 00:00:04.330 --> 00:00:06.849 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:06.849 --> 00:00:09.470 Sermons. This week we're starting a brand new 00:00:09.470 --> 00:00:11.750 teaching series called Broken Branches, where 00:00:11.750 --> 00:00:15.089 we're looking at Jesus' family tree and some 00:00:15.089 --> 00:00:17.429 of the surprising characters who show up there. 00:00:17.929 --> 00:00:21.370 But why does Matthew start with a genealogy? 00:00:21.510 --> 00:00:23.890 And what does it have to tell us about who Jesus 00:00:23.890 --> 00:00:26.949 is and why he came? That's what Rob is going 00:00:26.949 --> 00:00:35.450 to unpack for us in today's sermon. Today's scripture 00:00:35.450 --> 00:00:38.429 reading is taken from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 00:00:38.429 --> 00:00:44.609 9 verses 9 to 13. As Jesus went on from there, 00:00:44.789 --> 00:00:48.250 he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax 00:00:48.250 --> 00:00:52.810 collector's booth. Follow me, he told him. And 00:00:52.810 --> 00:00:56.670 Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus 00:00:56.670 --> 00:01:00.600 was having dinner at Matthew's house, Many tax 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:03.799 collectors and sinners came and ate with him 00:01:03.799 --> 00:01:07.799 and with his disciples. When the Pharisees saw 00:01:07.799 --> 00:01:12.219 this, they asked his disciples, Why does your 00:01:12.219 --> 00:01:15.120 teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners? 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:21.560 On hearing this, Jesus said, It is not the healthy 00:01:21.560 --> 00:01:26.640 who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn 00:01:26.640 --> 00:01:32.519 what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice. 00:01:33.340 --> 00:01:36.579 For I have not come to call the righteous but 00:01:36.579 --> 00:01:41.489 the sinners. This is the word of the Lord. One 00:01:41.489 --> 00:01:43.709 of the things that we often take for granted 00:01:43.709 --> 00:01:46.489 is that we don't have one or two or three, but 00:01:46.489 --> 00:01:49.689 we actually have four different accounts of Jesus's 00:01:49.689 --> 00:01:53.250 life. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And in many 00:01:53.250 --> 00:01:56.750 ways, these accounts are very similar, but in 00:01:56.750 --> 00:01:58.390 other ways, they are actually very different. 00:01:58.530 --> 00:02:01.310 And Christmas is one of the ways in which these 00:02:01.310 --> 00:02:04.629 stories are very different. For example, I don't 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:07.269 know if you knew this, but in Mark's gospel and 00:02:07.269 --> 00:02:10.949 in John's gospel, there's actually nothing. said 00:02:10.949 --> 00:02:14.189 at all about Jesus as a child or being born or 00:02:14.189 --> 00:02:16.409 the Christmas story. It's just not there. Those 00:02:16.409 --> 00:02:19.289 stories begin when Jesus is like 30 years old 00:02:19.289 --> 00:02:22.330 and he's beginning his ministry. In Luke's gospel, 00:02:22.469 --> 00:02:25.990 there is definitely a story. The Christmas story 00:02:25.990 --> 00:02:27.990 is told, although it should be noted that Luke 00:02:27.990 --> 00:02:30.430 actually begins his gospel telling the story, 00:02:30.469 --> 00:02:33.050 not of the birth of Jesus, but the birth of John 00:02:33.050 --> 00:02:38.120 the Baptist. And then we come to the gospel of 00:02:38.120 --> 00:02:41.740 Matthew. Now, Matthew is very interesting, very 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:45.860 unique, because he doesn't start his story or 00:02:45.860 --> 00:02:48.699 his Christmas story even with a story at all. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:52.680 He starts instead with a long list of names. 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:56.740 It's a family tree, if you will. And if you were 00:02:56.740 --> 00:02:58.300 to say, let's say you're one of those people 00:02:58.300 --> 00:02:59.680 and you're like, you know what, I've decided 00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:01.840 I am going to read the Bible. I'm going to read 00:03:01.840 --> 00:03:04.120 the New Testament. You sit down and you talk. 00:03:04.080 --> 00:03:06.099 Turn to the beginning of the New Testament, Matthew 00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:10.020 1, 1, and you start reading. The first few verses 00:03:10.020 --> 00:03:11.919 are going to turn you right off. You'll be like, 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.340 what is this? It's just a whole lot of names, 00:03:14.599 --> 00:03:17.280 hard to pronounce names of people. I don't even 00:03:17.280 --> 00:03:21.379 know who half these people are. put it down and 00:03:21.379 --> 00:03:25.080 never pick it up again. But last Sunday, we actually 00:03:25.080 --> 00:03:27.860 asked you guys to try your very best to read 00:03:27.860 --> 00:03:33.520 through these 17 verses of names found in Matthew 00:03:33.520 --> 00:03:38.580 1 .1. And here's how you did. So we're seeing 00:03:38.580 --> 00:03:41.340 how well our Trinity members do when it comes 00:03:41.340 --> 00:03:44.860 to reading through the genealogy of Jesus. You 00:03:44.860 --> 00:03:49.210 ready to go, Crystal? Yes. Okay, we have Abraham 00:03:49.210 --> 00:03:51.530 was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of 00:03:51.530 --> 00:03:54.229 Jacob. Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers. 00:03:54.550 --> 00:03:57.990 Judah was the father of Perez, Zerah, whose mother 00:03:57.990 --> 00:04:01.270 was Tamar. Perez, the father of Hezron. Hezron, 00:04:01.449 --> 00:04:04.469 the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Amminadab. 00:04:04.509 --> 00:04:06.689 Amminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon, the 00:04:06.689 --> 00:04:09.129 father of Salmon. Salmon, the father of Boaz, 00:04:09.210 --> 00:04:11.629 whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of 00:04:11.629 --> 00:04:13.830 Obed, who was the mother of Ruth. Obed was the 00:04:13.830 --> 00:04:16.110 father of Jesse. And Jesse was the father of 00:04:16.110 --> 00:04:18.310 King David. David was the father of Solomon, 00:04:18.430 --> 00:04:20.629 whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Solomon, 00:04:20.750 --> 00:04:28.589 the father of Rehoboam? Rehoboam, the father 00:04:28.589 --> 00:04:32.470 of Abijah. Abijah, the father of Asa. Asa, the 00:04:32.470 --> 00:04:35.209 father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, the father 00:04:35.209 --> 00:04:38.569 of Jehoram. Jehoram, the father of Uzziah. Now 00:04:38.569 --> 00:04:41.970 you do this. Oh, I haven't got a clue. I can 00:04:41.970 --> 00:04:43.990 tell you it's the father of somebody. Uzziah, 00:04:44.009 --> 00:04:46.269 father of Jotham. Jotham, the father of Azah. 00:04:46.389 --> 00:04:49.029 Also the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah, the father 00:04:49.029 --> 00:04:53.050 of Manasseh. Manasseh, the father of Amon. Amon, 00:04:53.050 --> 00:04:55.730 the father of Josiah. And Josiah, the father 00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:57.750 of Jeconiah, his brothers at the time of the 00:04:57.750 --> 00:05:01.509 exile to Babylon. Jeconiah was the father of 00:05:01.509 --> 00:05:06.129 Shealtiel. Shealtiel, the father of Zerubbabel. 00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:32.819 Zerubbabel, the father of... And Mary was the 00:05:32.819 --> 00:05:35.240 mother of Jesus Christ, who is called the Messiah. 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:41.779 Praise God. Merry Christmas. Praise God. Merry 00:05:41.779 --> 00:05:44.899 Christmas. What a way to start the Christmas 00:05:44.899 --> 00:05:47.480 story. And anyways, over the next few weeks of 00:05:47.480 --> 00:05:49.639 Advent, we are going to be looking at this family 00:05:49.639 --> 00:05:54.120 tree of Jesus as a way of getting ready for Christmas. 00:05:54.220 --> 00:05:58.459 And today I want to start by talking about what 00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:02.899 Matthew included in his genealogy, or who Matthew 00:06:02.899 --> 00:06:04.839 included in his genealogy. I've given you these 00:06:04.839 --> 00:06:06.939 little sermon notes so you can follow along, 00:06:06.939 --> 00:06:11.160 maybe learn something this morning. tree begins, 00:06:11.279 --> 00:06:13.519 and we're not going to read it all through this 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:15.300 morning, but it begins this way. This is the 00:06:15.300 --> 00:06:18.939 genealogy of Jesus. The Messiah, the son of David. 00:06:19.019 --> 00:06:22.019 That's important. The son of Abraham. Abraham 00:06:22.019 --> 00:06:24.139 was the father of Isaac. Isaac, the father of 00:06:24.139 --> 00:06:26.439 Jacob. And Jacob, the father of Judah and his 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:29.160 brothers. Isn't this fascinating? You know, some 00:06:29.160 --> 00:06:31.540 people are fascinated with this stuff. Most of 00:06:31.540 --> 00:06:35.220 us are not fascinated with this. So why did Matthew 00:06:35.220 --> 00:06:38.220 decide, oh, this is the way to start the Christmas 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:40.339 story. This is the way to start the story of 00:06:40.339 --> 00:06:42.639 Jesus. Well, you have to understand a couple 00:06:42.639 --> 00:06:45.620 things. One, you have to understand that Matthew 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:47.970 was writing. to a primarily Jewish audience, 00:06:48.209 --> 00:06:51.939 and two, He was writing to communicate something 00:06:51.939 --> 00:06:54.120 very important. He was writing to communicate 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:59.939 that Jesus was connected to David. Because here's 00:06:59.939 --> 00:07:02.459 one of the very first questions that any Jewish 00:07:02.459 --> 00:07:05.120 person is going to ask. If Matthew's trying to 00:07:05.120 --> 00:07:07.019 make the case that Jesus is the son of God. And 00:07:07.019 --> 00:07:08.959 Jesus is the Messiah. And Jesus is the anointed 00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.180 one. He's the promised Messiah. They're going 00:07:11.180 --> 00:07:13.379 to say, wait, wait. Don't say another word, Matthew. 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:16.199 Until you have proved to me that he is connected 00:07:16.199 --> 00:07:18.819 in his lineage to David. Because the Bible tells 00:07:18.819 --> 00:07:21.930 us. that it will be a descendant of David that 00:07:21.930 --> 00:07:23.889 will sit on the throne, that the Messiah will 00:07:23.889 --> 00:07:27.490 be descended from King David. And now, because 00:07:27.490 --> 00:07:29.470 Matthew knew that this is where his audience 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:33.009 was going to be coming from, he starts the story, 00:07:33.189 --> 00:07:35.850 the big story, Matthew's gospel. He starts by 00:07:35.850 --> 00:07:39.490 answering this very big question about who Jesus 00:07:39.490 --> 00:07:42.370 is ultimately related to. So that's kind of why 00:07:42.370 --> 00:07:46.160 he starts this way. Matthew does something really 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:49.819 really strange in all of this. In his genealogy 00:07:49.819 --> 00:07:52.819 he includes a bunch of people that you would 00:07:52.819 --> 00:07:58.000 actually expect him to leave out. First he includes 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:01.449 women. That alone is strange. Most genealogies 00:08:01.449 --> 00:08:03.709 around that time trace the genealogies through 00:08:03.709 --> 00:08:05.689 the men. It was a patriarchal culture. Women 00:08:05.689 --> 00:08:09.129 weren't mentioned. But not only does Matthew 00:08:09.129 --> 00:08:12.290 mention women, four women in particular, but 00:08:12.290 --> 00:08:14.829 he chooses to mention four who have the most, 00:08:14.910 --> 00:08:17.730 shall we say, kind of questionable character 00:08:17.730 --> 00:08:21.430 or history that goes with them. And along with 00:08:21.430 --> 00:08:23.389 those four women, he mentions about a bunch of 00:08:23.389 --> 00:08:25.689 other kind of questionable characters as well. 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:29.500 All of whom, You would definitely leave out if 00:08:29.500 --> 00:08:32.779 your goal was trying to prove that Jesus was 00:08:32.779 --> 00:08:37.210 from divine and holy lineage. Because you see, 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:39.529 here's how it worked in ancient times. In ancient 00:08:39.529 --> 00:08:43.950 times, history was written by paid historians. 00:08:44.429 --> 00:08:47.009 So if you were a ruler or a king or a governor 00:08:47.009 --> 00:08:49.669 and you wanted to write some history of your 00:08:49.669 --> 00:08:52.090 reign, what you would do is you would hire someone 00:08:52.090 --> 00:08:53.490 and you would get that person and you'd say, 00:08:53.509 --> 00:08:56.629 sit down and write my history. But of course, 00:08:56.649 --> 00:08:59.509 I want you to make me look as good as possible 00:08:59.509 --> 00:09:01.470 in this history. And that's what the historian 00:09:01.470 --> 00:09:03.690 would do. The historian would sit down and they 00:09:03.690 --> 00:09:05.870 would say, well, listen, let's talk all about 00:09:05.870 --> 00:09:07.980 history. all your amazing military victories. 00:09:08.139 --> 00:09:10.340 But when it comes to your military defeats, well, 00:09:10.460 --> 00:09:12.299 you know what? We won't include that bit. Or 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:14.740 let's talk about all your fantastic children 00:09:14.740 --> 00:09:16.720 who went on to do great and wonderful things. 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:18.840 But as for those other children who were kind 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:20.799 of ne 'er -do -wells or, you know, didn't amount 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:22.399 to much or actually did some pretty horrible 00:09:22.399 --> 00:09:25.419 things, we're going to leave them out of the 00:09:25.419 --> 00:09:28.399 genealogy altogether. And that is why when you 00:09:28.399 --> 00:09:31.159 read ancient history sometimes, not that I'm 00:09:31.159 --> 00:09:33.080 a pro at this, but I've heard that there are 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.279 huge gaps sometimes. in ancient histories because 00:09:36.279 --> 00:09:38.679 this is exactly what's happened. The historians 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:41.840 have pulled out the stuff that the person who's 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:43.740 paying for the history didn't want to be included 00:09:43.740 --> 00:09:45.399 so that they could look as good as possible. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:50.759 But Matthew's genealogy, he seems to go out of 00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:54.919 his way to mention those people that he should 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:58.000 have just left out. You know, the people who 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.279 he didn't need to mention. Why did he do this? 00:10:01.909 --> 00:10:05.029 Was it a mistake? Did Matthew just make a mistake? 00:10:05.230 --> 00:10:07.710 No, no, no, no. He meant to do it this way. In 00:10:07.710 --> 00:10:10.649 fact, as one commentator says, Matthew's genealogy 00:10:10.649 --> 00:10:15.649 was intentionally irregular. If you were trying 00:10:15.649 --> 00:10:20.509 to connect the man Jesus to the man David through 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:26.169 the lineage of men, then why, for example, would 00:10:26.169 --> 00:10:28.570 you break protocol and start introducing the 00:10:28.570 --> 00:10:30.509 names of all these women? Four women in particular. 00:10:30.990 --> 00:10:34.110 Two of these women you definitely should not 00:10:34.110 --> 00:10:36.230 have mentioned if you want to prove that Jesus 00:10:36.230 --> 00:10:38.830 is like, you know, this holy Messiah. And three 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:42.750 of these four women weren't even Jewish. So by 00:10:42.750 --> 00:10:46.710 including them, you know, Matthew doesn't, he's 00:10:46.710 --> 00:10:48.610 kind of saying, hey, the Messiah doesn't even 00:10:48.610 --> 00:10:52.049 have a pure Jewish bloodline. And that would 00:10:52.049 --> 00:10:56.529 not help his case. So, for example, let's take 00:10:56.529 --> 00:10:59.389 a look. We read here that it says that Judah 00:10:59.389 --> 00:11:03.590 was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother 00:11:03.590 --> 00:11:07.149 was Tamar. Now, next week. You better come next 00:11:07.149 --> 00:11:09.549 week. I don't care if it's like five feet of 00:11:09.549 --> 00:11:12.830 snow. You better come next week. Because we are 00:11:12.830 --> 00:11:15.929 going to talk about Tamar. And I got to tell 00:11:15.929 --> 00:11:18.470 you, this is one of the spiciest and grossest. 00:11:18.889 --> 00:11:21.190 the diciest stories in all the Bible. I don't 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:22.529 know if you know the story, but once you hear 00:11:22.529 --> 00:11:23.769 it, you're never going to forget it. We're going 00:11:23.769 --> 00:11:25.529 to have to, there's parts of the story that I 00:11:25.529 --> 00:11:27.309 don't even sure we can read out loud in church. 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:29.389 And in fact, we're going to have to definitely 00:11:29.389 --> 00:11:31.850 make sure we dismiss the kids down to church 00:11:31.850 --> 00:11:34.950 school before we read it because it's very dicey 00:11:34.950 --> 00:11:38.450 and it's very iffy. But here is the point. There 00:11:38.450 --> 00:11:43.590 was no need to mention Tamar at all. Just stick 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:46.309 with the guys, stick with the plan, stick with 00:11:46.309 --> 00:11:48.850 the storyline. And then he goes on. He says, 00:11:48.909 --> 00:11:51.029 you know, Perez, the father of Hezron. Hezron, 00:11:51.110 --> 00:11:53.350 the father of Ram. Ram, the father of Amminadab. 00:11:53.450 --> 00:11:56.070 Amminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon, the 00:11:56.070 --> 00:12:01.129 father of my favorite, Salmon. Yeah, or Salmon, 00:12:01.129 --> 00:12:03.769 I guess. Salmon, the father of Boaz, whose mother 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:08.220 was, say that one with me. All right. Now, listen, 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:12.019 why again are you introducing this one woman 00:12:12.019 --> 00:12:15.120 into the genealogy and especially this one? She's 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:18.000 not Jewish again. And in fact, this woman goes 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:22.679 by a bit of a nickname. She's Rahab the prostitute. 00:12:24.059 --> 00:12:28.460 Rahab the harlot. Why are you mentioning this? 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:31.500 You know, when you get to heaven and you see 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:33.659 Rahab, you're going to walk up and you'll be 00:12:33.659 --> 00:12:37.409 like, hey, Rahab, you're the... You're the woman 00:12:37.409 --> 00:12:41.149 in the Old Testament. You're the one that Matthew 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:45.350 mentioned in his genealogy. Why is he bringing 00:12:45.350 --> 00:12:48.490 this up? He does not need to. Keep on going. 00:12:49.049 --> 00:12:53.250 Boaz, the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. 00:12:53.409 --> 00:12:55.450 Now, Ruth is a lovely story. Ruth is a great 00:12:55.450 --> 00:12:57.230 story. How many people here have read the book 00:12:57.230 --> 00:13:00.110 of Ruth? It's a great story. Nothing wrong with 00:13:00.110 --> 00:13:02.970 the story of Ruth, except for this. Ruth was 00:13:02.970 --> 00:13:07.840 not Jewish. And so again, if you're trying to 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:10.100 connect Jesus, and you're trying to connect Jesus 00:13:10.100 --> 00:13:12.740 to David, that's your goal. Why all these off 00:13:12.740 --> 00:13:15.539 -ramps? Why all this sideways energy? Why all 00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:20.080 these distractions? And then we read that Obed 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.710 is the father of Jesse. Jesse, the father of 00:13:23.710 --> 00:13:25.509 King David. Good. Stop right there, Matthew. 00:13:25.570 --> 00:13:27.389 You've gone far enough. You can end it right 00:13:27.389 --> 00:13:29.929 there. Good, good, good. But no, not Matthew. 00:13:30.230 --> 00:13:32.529 No. He goes on. He says, well, listen, let me 00:13:32.529 --> 00:13:34.230 go on a little bit. He says, David is the father 00:13:34.230 --> 00:13:36.970 of Solomon. And then look at how he writes this. 00:13:37.769 --> 00:13:44.950 Whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Why? Why 00:13:44.950 --> 00:13:48.250 do you have to go and mention her? Right? You 00:13:48.250 --> 00:13:50.590 could have. totally could have just left it, 00:13:50.649 --> 00:13:53.450 right? David was a father of Solomon and keep 00:13:53.450 --> 00:13:57.629 moving down the male line. But no, no. Matthew 00:13:57.629 --> 00:13:59.970 wants to throw in this little bit of intrigue. 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:02.470 He doesn't even mention her by name. But of course, 00:14:02.470 --> 00:14:04.570 everyone knows who he's talking about. Who was 00:14:04.570 --> 00:14:07.370 the mother of Solomon? Who had been Uriah's wife? 00:14:08.819 --> 00:14:11.179 You don't even need to be like a church person 00:14:11.179 --> 00:14:14.720 to know the story of David and Bathsheba. You 00:14:14.720 --> 00:14:17.559 know, David slept with the wife of one of his 00:14:17.559 --> 00:14:20.580 soldiers. And when she got pregnant, he went 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:23.519 to have that soldier killed to try to cover everything 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:27.620 up. This was literally the worst moment of David's 00:14:27.620 --> 00:14:30.470 life. And Matthew says, yeah. I'm going to put 00:14:30.470 --> 00:14:32.450 that in. In fact, I'm going to emphasize it. 00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:35.769 I'm not even going to say Bathsheba. I'm going 00:14:35.769 --> 00:14:39.490 to focus on the fact that it was another man's 00:14:39.490 --> 00:14:46.649 wife. Why do you have to bring that up? Why not 00:14:46.649 --> 00:14:50.110 just stick with the men's names? Or you know 00:14:50.110 --> 00:14:51.870 what? Okay, fine. If you're going to mention 00:14:51.870 --> 00:14:54.450 women, then mention some of the lovely, amazing, 00:14:54.490 --> 00:14:57.230 heroic women. Where's Sarah in this list? Not 00:14:57.230 --> 00:14:59.950 there. What about Rebecca? Not there. None of 00:14:59.950 --> 00:15:02.549 them are there. There were women who did incredible 00:15:02.549 --> 00:15:04.549 things that you could honor by including them 00:15:04.549 --> 00:15:07.309 in the genealogy, but he throws in Tamar, and 00:15:07.309 --> 00:15:09.950 oh, I know who I'm going to put, Rahab, and Ruth, 00:15:10.090 --> 00:15:16.450 and Solomon's mother, who was Uriah's wife. Right? 00:15:16.610 --> 00:15:21.879 So why? Did he do that? He did it because Matthew 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:25.700 is trying to make a point in this whole gospel 00:15:25.700 --> 00:15:31.139 that Jesus didn't just come for sinners. He actually 00:15:31.139 --> 00:15:36.220 came from sinners. Or as one commentator puts 00:15:36.220 --> 00:15:39.080 it, the Messiah did not spring from a flawless 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:42.500 lineage. Jesus enters the human story with all 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:48.019 its failures so that he might redeem it from 00:15:48.019 --> 00:15:53.080 within. And I think that because Matthew spent 00:15:53.080 --> 00:15:55.960 three years of his life walking around and listening 00:15:55.960 --> 00:15:57.980 to Jesus and watching him and seeing him interact 00:15:57.980 --> 00:16:00.720 with people, I think that after those three years, 00:16:00.940 --> 00:16:03.220 he kind of got to know what Jesus was all about. 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.820 And so he goes ahead and he includes all these 00:16:07.820 --> 00:16:10.600 embarrassing stories of all these kind of broken 00:16:10.600 --> 00:16:14.360 people with baggage and shady characters because 00:16:14.360 --> 00:16:19.299 Matthew actually knows. They are the point of 00:16:19.299 --> 00:16:24.620 the story that he is about to tell in his gospel. 00:16:25.580 --> 00:16:30.139 In other words, the broken branches of Jesus's 00:16:30.139 --> 00:16:33.519 family tree are not the exception. They are the 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:36.740 point of it all. These names are not like an 00:16:36.740 --> 00:16:38.460 embarrassment that we should try to sweep under 00:16:38.460 --> 00:16:42.539 the rug and hide. These names are the gospel. 00:16:43.179 --> 00:16:45.580 By reading these names, we are proclaiming the 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:49.399 gospel, proclaiming that God brings hope and 00:16:49.399 --> 00:16:54.480 salvation and healing both to and through broken 00:16:54.480 --> 00:17:00.080 people. And Matthew wanted to tell this story, 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:02.820 I think, more than anybody else. And actually, 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:07.079 Matthew was perhaps qualified to tell this story 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:09.660 more than anybody else, because let me tell you 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:11.559 something that Matthew knew about himself. This 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:14.420 is what Matthew knew. Matthew knew that these 00:17:14.420 --> 00:17:17.839 people, these people like Rahab and Tamar or 00:17:17.839 --> 00:17:21.119 Judah, he was a bit of a tool. And then there's 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:25.519 Bathsheba and David and all these seedy characters. 00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:29.599 These were his people. These were Matthew's kind 00:17:29.599 --> 00:17:32.680 of people. Let me show you a little bit about 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:34.480 Matthew's story to explain what I mean. And I'm 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:37.369 going to begin. with the most embarrassing moment 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:40.390 of Matthew's entire life. And that was the moment 00:17:40.390 --> 00:17:43.910 when Matthew first met Jesus. When Matthew first 00:17:43.910 --> 00:17:46.769 met Jesus, he was sitting at a tax collector's 00:17:46.769 --> 00:17:50.049 booth and he was collecting taxes. And now, why 00:17:50.049 --> 00:17:53.089 is that so embarrassing? Why is that so outrageous? 00:17:53.309 --> 00:17:55.269 Well, let me explain to you. You see, in those 00:17:55.269 --> 00:17:59.400 days, Rome sold the rights. to collect taxes 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.299 to various people throughout their empire. So 00:18:02.299 --> 00:18:04.119 if you wanted a job and you wanted to collect 00:18:04.119 --> 00:18:05.700 taxes, you would go to Rome. They would say, 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:07.660 sure, you can do it. You go collect taxes for 00:18:07.660 --> 00:18:10.539 this area, and we want you to collect this many 00:18:10.539 --> 00:18:14.099 taxes of this many kinds. And as long as Rome 00:18:14.099 --> 00:18:17.019 got what Rome asked for, Rome was happy, and 00:18:17.019 --> 00:18:19.299 tax collectors could kind of keep everything 00:18:19.299 --> 00:18:21.980 else. And that is why tax collectors were extraordinarily 00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:26.140 rich, because they overtaxed people so that they 00:18:26.140 --> 00:18:28.910 could make money. for the job that they were 00:18:28.910 --> 00:18:30.750 doing. And there were so many taxes that were 00:18:30.750 --> 00:18:33.329 out there. There were poll taxes. There were 00:18:33.329 --> 00:18:35.910 income taxes. There were bridge taxes. There 00:18:35.910 --> 00:18:40.349 were taxes on fruit. There were taxes on meat, 00:18:40.369 --> 00:18:43.750 taxes on fish. There was port taxes. Everywhere 00:18:43.750 --> 00:18:46.849 you went, there was a tax in the Roman Empire. 00:18:47.170 --> 00:18:51.650 And if the Romans... sent in their tax collectors 00:18:51.650 --> 00:18:55.109 to collect taxes from a people group, they actually 00:18:55.109 --> 00:18:56.829 learned something. They said that, you know, 00:18:56.829 --> 00:18:58.130 they learned that those people didn't really 00:18:58.130 --> 00:18:59.910 like those tax collectors very much. And pretty 00:18:59.910 --> 00:19:02.190 soon they'd be keying their cars and TPing their 00:19:02.190 --> 00:19:04.470 house. And they would be like, you know, stealing 00:19:04.470 --> 00:19:06.710 their donkeys or whatever the case may be. And 00:19:06.710 --> 00:19:08.569 so Rome came up with another idea. They said, 00:19:08.650 --> 00:19:12.089 listen, let's send, let's actually ask Jewish 00:19:12.089 --> 00:19:16.170 people to collect the taxes from the Jewish people. 00:19:16.470 --> 00:19:20.500 And so that's exactly what they did. It was literally 00:19:20.500 --> 00:19:26.099 the worst, most embarrassing job you could ever 00:19:26.099 --> 00:19:29.240 have, was to be a Jewish person and also be a 00:19:29.240 --> 00:19:32.420 tax collector, collecting taxes from your countrymen. 00:19:32.519 --> 00:19:34.339 It was betraying your nation. It was betraying 00:19:34.339 --> 00:19:36.859 your faith. It was betraying your God. It was 00:19:36.859 --> 00:19:39.720 betraying your neighbor. You were a total traitor. 00:19:40.099 --> 00:19:46.680 You were a complete outcast. Any Jewish man collecting... 00:19:47.309 --> 00:19:50.970 taxes from fellow Jews was the lowest of the 00:19:50.970 --> 00:19:53.589 low. In fact, do you know in the Bible how they 00:19:53.589 --> 00:19:55.630 often put together tax collectors and sinners? 00:19:55.769 --> 00:19:57.789 Tax collectors and sinners. It's like they don't 00:19:57.789 --> 00:20:00.730 even want to put tax collectors lumped in with 00:20:00.730 --> 00:20:03.210 sinners because tax collectors were their own 00:20:03.210 --> 00:20:07.890 low, low, low type of sinners out there. They 00:20:07.890 --> 00:20:13.630 had their own category. Now, all this means is 00:20:13.630 --> 00:20:16.740 that Matthew was one of those broken people, 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:19.059 like we read about in the genealogy. He was one 00:20:19.059 --> 00:20:22.099 of those broken branches because he was a tax 00:20:22.099 --> 00:20:26.539 collector. And so all those scandalous names 00:20:26.539 --> 00:20:30.960 in the family tree of Jesus, Matthew knew how 00:20:30.960 --> 00:20:35.500 they felt because he was an embarrassment. He 00:20:35.500 --> 00:20:38.059 was ostracized. He would have been ostracized 00:20:38.059 --> 00:20:40.039 from religious life. He wouldn't have been allowed 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:41.579 to even go to the synagogue. He would have been 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:43.799 considered ceremonially unclean. And the only 00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:45.960 friends he would have had would have been other 00:20:45.960 --> 00:20:49.700 tax collectors and sinners. And so there Matthew 00:20:49.700 --> 00:20:53.119 is. That's his life. He's sitting in this booth. 00:20:53.859 --> 00:20:57.980 And then when one day... Jesus kind of comes 00:20:57.980 --> 00:21:00.500 strolling up, and he's got his disciples, you 00:21:00.500 --> 00:21:03.019 know, Peter, James, John, and Andrew with him. 00:21:03.059 --> 00:21:04.460 They're walking up, and maybe they're coming 00:21:04.460 --> 00:21:07.599 up to pay taxes themselves. I mean, Capernaum 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:09.319 was a port city. Maybe they were coming to pay 00:21:09.319 --> 00:21:10.940 a port tax or something like that. I don't know. 00:21:11.059 --> 00:21:14.440 But then Matthew sees him. Now, Matthew has probably 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:16.859 seen or heard of Jesus before, but maybe this 00:21:16.859 --> 00:21:19.180 is the very first time he actually lays eyes 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:22.500 on him. And as they walk up, I can imagine Jesus' 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:24.380 disciples are probably trying to think, oh, what's 00:21:24.380 --> 00:21:26.289 the way that we should greet Matthew? Matthew, 00:21:26.289 --> 00:21:28.589 today, should we sneer? Should we laugh? Should 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:30.950 we, you know, flip him the bird? Should we just 00:21:30.950 --> 00:21:33.329 whisper about him? What should we do? Throw dust 00:21:33.329 --> 00:21:35.549 in his face? Whatever, right? Because he's horrible, 00:21:35.710 --> 00:21:37.690 horrible, lowest of the low, the worst of the 00:21:37.690 --> 00:21:40.529 worst. Give him the side eye. Give him a mean 00:21:40.529 --> 00:21:43.490 side eye. But Jesus has another idea. Look what 00:21:43.490 --> 00:21:47.410 Jesus does. Jesus says to Matthew, follow me. 00:21:48.369 --> 00:21:51.450 To which his disciples who were with him were 00:21:51.450 --> 00:21:54.750 probably like. What did you just say, Jesus? 00:21:54.849 --> 00:21:56.730 Jesus, you can't be serious. Jesus, did we hear 00:21:56.730 --> 00:22:01.289 you correctly? You want the tax collector to 00:22:01.289 --> 00:22:04.630 follow you? And Matthew, guess what he does? 00:22:05.049 --> 00:22:09.890 He says, yeah. And he follows him. And he left 00:22:09.890 --> 00:22:12.509 that tax booth. Now, did he just leave it that 00:22:12.509 --> 00:22:14.529 day and never go back to it again? I don't know. 00:22:14.630 --> 00:22:17.150 Probably not. Probably what he did is he put 00:22:17.150 --> 00:22:19.029 one of his assistants in charge, let them take 00:22:19.029 --> 00:22:21.210 care of it for the rest of the day. And off he 00:22:21.210 --> 00:22:26.569 went. And he followed. And I can just imagine 00:22:26.569 --> 00:22:29.769 that as Matthew is writing this story in his 00:22:29.769 --> 00:22:33.170 gospel, he is just thinking and remembering those 00:22:33.170 --> 00:22:35.910 other disciples and what they were thinking and 00:22:35.910 --> 00:22:38.829 what they were saying and what they were feeling. 00:22:38.910 --> 00:22:40.670 It just probably brought a smile to his face. 00:22:40.809 --> 00:22:42.650 And then I think this part is kind of hilarious 00:22:42.650 --> 00:22:44.869 because once Matthew starts following Jesus, 00:22:44.970 --> 00:22:47.670 his next question is probably like, so where 00:22:47.670 --> 00:22:50.710 are we going? And Jesus' answer to Matthew is, 00:22:50.789 --> 00:22:52.430 well, I was kind of thinking we could go to... 00:22:52.720 --> 00:22:56.000 your place. And at this point, the other disciples 00:22:56.000 --> 00:22:57.700 must be losing their mind. They're probably like, 00:22:57.779 --> 00:23:00.559 Jesus, you have got to be joking me. It's embarrassing 00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:03.319 enough just to be seen out walking around town 00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:05.720 with this guy. And now you want us to actually 00:23:05.720 --> 00:23:09.500 go to his house and sit down at his table with 00:23:09.500 --> 00:23:14.000 him and eat with him. Are you trying to destroy 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:16.619 this movement before it's even gotten off the 00:23:16.619 --> 00:23:19.880 ground? But Jesus says, no, Matthew, we're going 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:22.799 to go to your house. And apparently, he must 00:23:22.799 --> 00:23:25.759 say, and invite some of your friends. Invite 00:23:25.759 --> 00:23:28.740 some of your other tax collector and sinner -like 00:23:28.740 --> 00:23:31.059 friends. And we're all going to have a meal together. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:35.140 And so Jesus and his disciples, they all go to 00:23:35.140 --> 00:23:37.859 Matthew's house. And all these tax collectors 00:23:37.859 --> 00:23:39.339 and sinners show up. Because those are the only 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:41.000 people that would hang out with a tax collector 00:23:41.000 --> 00:23:43.640 in Matthew. And they all have this party. And 00:23:43.640 --> 00:23:45.440 of course, it's probably a pretty good party. 00:23:45.559 --> 00:23:47.660 Because tax collectors are kind of rich. So they 00:23:47.660 --> 00:23:50.819 probably can throw really good parties. caused 00:23:50.819 --> 00:23:53.140 quite a stir, as you can imagine, because then 00:23:53.140 --> 00:23:55.539 the religious officials that were hanging around, 00:23:55.819 --> 00:23:57.900 they see what's going on in there and their mind 00:23:57.900 --> 00:24:00.359 is kind of blown. They don't understand. So they're 00:24:00.359 --> 00:24:03.160 waving for one of the disciples to come out because 00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:05.039 they got some questions for this disciple. And 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:06.940 they're like, listen, you gotta tell us what's 00:24:06.940 --> 00:24:09.160 going on here with this guy. Because we hear 00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:11.180 Jesus and there's parts of what Jesus says that 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:13.000 we actually like, you know, his talk about the 00:24:13.000 --> 00:24:15.420 kingdom of God. We're very intrigued by that. 00:24:15.480 --> 00:24:19.930 But then we see that he's in there. And we see 00:24:19.930 --> 00:24:24.109 that he's hanging out with them. And we are so 00:24:24.109 --> 00:24:29.049 confused. We do not understand that. Anyways, 00:24:29.230 --> 00:24:31.910 they take the message back to Jesus. And then 00:24:31.910 --> 00:24:36.990 Jesus sends out his reply. Jesus says, it's not 00:24:36.990 --> 00:24:40.490 the healthy who need a doctor, but it's the sick. 00:24:42.390 --> 00:24:45.529 Now, if I was Matthew, how does this sound when 00:24:45.529 --> 00:24:49.039 I hear Jesus say it? You know, you would think 00:24:49.039 --> 00:24:53.339 that maybe he would say, oh, you're saying I'm 00:24:53.339 --> 00:24:56.880 sick? You're saying I'm not healthy? Or his other 00:24:56.880 --> 00:24:58.799 friends could have taken great offense to what 00:24:58.799 --> 00:25:04.140 Jesus said. But apparently, they didn't. And 00:25:04.140 --> 00:25:06.740 I think it's because, do you know what people 00:25:06.740 --> 00:25:11.799 who are far from God know? They know that they 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:15.660 are far from God. And actually, some of us here 00:25:15.660 --> 00:25:20.740 today, We know. Yeah, we know. We're far from 00:25:20.740 --> 00:25:22.440 God. Now, if someone were to come along to you 00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.980 and say, you're spiritually sick or you're far 00:25:25.980 --> 00:25:27.720 from God, we might take great offense and we 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:30.420 might flip the bird at them or something like 00:25:30.420 --> 00:25:32.940 that because we're so upset. But when we got 00:25:32.940 --> 00:25:35.559 home and when we cooled down and when we thought 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:36.920 about it, you know what? We might find ourselves 00:25:36.920 --> 00:25:40.460 saying, you know what? It's true. I am kind of 00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:43.220 far from God. Spiritually speaking, I know it's 00:25:43.220 --> 00:25:46.079 a metaphor. Spiritually speaking. I am sick, 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.740 and I am in need of help. That is apparently 00:25:48.740 --> 00:25:51.420 how Matthew received these words, and how Matthew's 00:25:51.420 --> 00:25:53.019 friends received these words. And then Jesus 00:25:53.019 --> 00:25:55.380 actually took it another step further, and he 00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:58.279 adds, for I've come not to call the righteous, 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:04.420 but sinners, right? That word, sinners. Even 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:08.640 that, though, didn't appear to be offensive to 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:11.700 Matthew and his friends, because again, they 00:26:11.700 --> 00:26:16.869 knew. They knew. Yeah, that kind of sums it up. 00:26:18.089 --> 00:26:24.190 He knew that he was one of those broken branches, 00:26:24.529 --> 00:26:27.769 one of those sick people, one of those sinners. 00:26:28.049 --> 00:26:31.410 And what Jesus was saying was actually true. 00:26:32.029 --> 00:26:35.009 But Matthew would later come to know and understand 00:26:35.009 --> 00:26:38.279 that this is exactly why Jesus came. Jesus came 00:26:38.279 --> 00:26:42.480 for those who knew that they were sick, not for 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:47.460 those who thought they were healthy. As one commentator 00:26:47.460 --> 00:26:50.339 would put it, the distinction Jesus draws here 00:26:50.339 --> 00:26:52.440 is not between righteous people on the one hand 00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:54.380 and unrighteous people on the other hand, but 00:26:54.380 --> 00:26:57.079 between those who admit their need and those 00:26:57.079 --> 00:27:01.640 who deny it. And it seems really odd, but actually, 00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:04.819 Those who are so confident in their own righteousness 00:27:04.819 --> 00:27:06.720 and those who say, I don't need anything, are 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:09.380 the ones who actually exclude themselves from 00:27:09.380 --> 00:27:14.200 the healing that Jesus can offer them. So the 00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:17.160 question is, what does any of this have to do 00:27:17.160 --> 00:27:21.500 with Christmas? Well, according to Matthew, it 00:27:21.500 --> 00:27:25.160 has everything to do with Christmas because Matthew 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:28.180 would go on from that moment and he would spend 00:27:28.180 --> 00:27:32.420 years following Jesus, listening to Jesus. He 00:27:32.420 --> 00:27:35.619 would see Jesus, his popularity rising and falling. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:37.880 He would see Jesus get arrested and executed. 00:27:38.119 --> 00:27:40.980 He would see the empty tomb. You know, he would 00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:44.160 encounter the risen Jesus after all of this. 00:27:44.220 --> 00:27:46.839 And he says, after all that, he said, I got to 00:27:46.839 --> 00:27:49.880 sit down and I got to write this story out. And 00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:51.980 so he goes and he quickly, you know, he starts 00:27:51.980 --> 00:27:55.339 writing this out. And he says, and the way I'm 00:27:55.339 --> 00:27:57.579 going to start this, because I know what I'm 00:27:57.579 --> 00:27:59.180 going to say. He says, the way I'm going to start 00:27:59.180 --> 00:28:00.940 this before I get to the angels and before I 00:28:00.940 --> 00:28:03.039 get to the innkeepers of the shepherds, I want 00:28:03.039 --> 00:28:05.880 to begin with a genealogy that is full of sinners 00:28:05.880 --> 00:28:08.940 and misfits and broken people. Because that... 00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:12.480 is the point of this story. That was the point 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:15.119 of Jesus. And that is the point of Christmas. 00:28:15.299 --> 00:28:18.099 This is why Jesus came. He did not come for the 00:28:18.099 --> 00:28:23.200 healthy. He came for the sick. And Matthew understood 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.519 that maybe better than any of the other gospel 00:28:26.519 --> 00:28:30.460 writers. And he understood what the story of 00:28:30.460 --> 00:28:33.460 Christmas was all about. The story of Christmas 00:28:33.460 --> 00:28:37.519 is the story of Jesus drawing near to those who 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.200 had drawn away from him. It's the story of God 00:28:41.200 --> 00:28:46.000 moving in toward those who had moved away from 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:50.720 him. Or years later, Karl Barth would say the 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:55.000 incarnation or Christmas is God's decisive movement 00:28:55.000 --> 00:28:59.799 towards us, not our movement toward him. It is 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:04.940 God drawing near to the far off. And Matthew 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:07.460 highlights all of those problems and all those 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:10.259 misfits in the genealogy because those people 00:29:10.259 --> 00:29:14.039 reflected why Jesus came in the first place. 00:29:15.980 --> 00:29:20.220 Matthew and his friends thought. Much the same 00:29:20.220 --> 00:29:23.779 as many of us think. We think that in order to 00:29:23.779 --> 00:29:26.200 approach God, you have to approach God based 00:29:26.200 --> 00:29:28.460 on what you do or what you haven't done. You 00:29:28.460 --> 00:29:30.380 have to do good things and you have to avoid 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:33.000 doing bad things. And if you do good things and 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:34.759 avoid doing bad things, then God will accept 00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:37.779 you. But if that's how it works, then Matthew 00:29:37.779 --> 00:29:41.619 had no way to God. And I have no way to God. 00:29:41.859 --> 00:29:45.819 And frankly, you have no way to God either. But 00:29:45.819 --> 00:29:50.759 thanks be to God that is not. how it works and 00:29:50.759 --> 00:29:53.859 Matthew picked up in his time with Jesus and 00:29:53.859 --> 00:29:55.960 walking with Jesus and learning from Jesus he 00:29:55.960 --> 00:29:58.579 came to understand that the rules have changed 00:29:58.579 --> 00:30:02.079 and that he as a tax collector he as a sinner 00:30:02.079 --> 00:30:04.880 he as an outsider he as someone who has failed 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:07.740 in every way possible he could actually approach 00:30:07.740 --> 00:30:10.299 God but it was not going to be on the basis of 00:30:10.299 --> 00:30:12.759 anything he had done it was going to be because 00:30:12.759 --> 00:30:17.779 of what Jesus had done for him those sinners 00:30:17.779 --> 00:30:22.240 in that genealogy that's the point god did not 00:30:22.240 --> 00:30:24.400 come for people who can stand on their own righteousness 00:30:24.400 --> 00:30:27.779 but he came for those who stand on what jesus 00:30:27.779 --> 00:30:33.789 has done on their behalf and i bet that as I 00:30:33.789 --> 00:30:36.269 just bet, I can picture Matthew writing that 00:30:36.269 --> 00:30:39.390 genealogy. He was probably laughing. He was probably 00:30:39.390 --> 00:30:42.130 giggling and chuckling and smiling as he says, 00:30:42.210 --> 00:30:43.970 oh, you know what? I'm going to mention Tamar 00:30:43.970 --> 00:30:46.170 by name. I'm going to mention her. And I'm going 00:30:46.170 --> 00:30:48.970 to, you know, allude to Judah's screw -ups. And 00:30:48.970 --> 00:30:51.230 I'm going to even mention, you know, David's 00:30:51.230 --> 00:30:53.529 big sin and Bathsheba. I'm not going to mention 00:30:53.529 --> 00:30:55.210 Bathsheba by name, but I'm going to call her, 00:30:55.289 --> 00:30:59.089 you know, Uriah's wife, the one who was Uriah's 00:30:59.089 --> 00:31:00.990 wife. And I'm going to mention Rahab, the prostitute, 00:31:01.009 --> 00:31:03.130 and Manasseh, the worst king that we ever met. 00:31:02.990 --> 00:31:05.849 had. I'm going to include them, he said, because 00:31:05.849 --> 00:31:09.210 they're the point. They're the point of the story 00:31:09.210 --> 00:31:12.329 I'm going to tell. They're the point of Christmas. 00:31:14.049 --> 00:31:18.190 And just to wrap up, when Matthew finally gets 00:31:18.190 --> 00:31:20.049 through this genealogy and he finally gets down 00:31:20.049 --> 00:31:21.950 to telling us about Mary and Joseph and stuff 00:31:21.950 --> 00:31:24.210 like that, do you know what the first words on 00:31:24.210 --> 00:31:27.230 the mouth of the angel are? The first words are, 00:31:27.349 --> 00:31:29.470 Mary will give birth to a son and you're going 00:31:29.470 --> 00:31:33.480 to call him Jesus. Why? Because he will save 00:31:33.480 --> 00:31:37.319 his people from their sins. That's what the name 00:31:37.319 --> 00:31:43.279 Jesus means. That's the point of Christmas. Jesus 00:31:43.279 --> 00:31:49.460 came to save his people. Matthew knew all about 00:31:49.460 --> 00:31:53.819 that. And so for the next week, next two weeks, 00:31:53.940 --> 00:31:57.039 next three weeks, we're going to approach Christmas 00:31:57.039 --> 00:31:59.359 the very same way. We're going to take a look 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.819 at some of those broken branches, those shady 00:32:01.819 --> 00:32:06.400 characters in Jesus' family tree. And although 00:32:06.400 --> 00:32:09.960 sitting here this morning, you might not see 00:32:09.960 --> 00:32:13.640 it, but I'll tell you, in that long list of broken, 00:32:13.720 --> 00:32:17.660 messy names, God is preaching a gospel to us 00:32:17.660 --> 00:32:22.000 that we don't need. We don't need a helper. We 00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:24.710 don't need an example to follow. We don't need 00:32:24.710 --> 00:32:27.509 a life coach. What we need is a Savior, and the 00:32:27.509 --> 00:32:31.990 good news is that Jesus came to save broken branches 00:32:31.990 --> 00:32:38.289 like me, like you, like Matthew, and the rest 00:32:38.289 --> 00:32:44.890 of us. So thanks be to God. Amen. Thank you for 00:32:44.890 --> 00:32:47.509 tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity Sermons. 00:32:47.589 --> 00:32:50.710 This sermon was recorded at Trinity Church Streetsville. 00:32:51.309 --> 00:32:53.589 on November 30th, 2025.