ChosenRebel's Blog

Sunday Musings

“and to Obed the father of Jesse”
Matthew 1:5b

One of Obed’s children, this man without a story is Jesse, the father of great King David.

And Jesse became the father of eight sons
         Three soldiers
         Many shepherds
         One king

But Jesse is more than David’s father.

Jesse was the father too, in the distant future, of a greater Son, the Greatest Good Shepherd and the King of Kings.

This Jesse, this son of the no-story Obed, son of Ruth and Boaz, he becomes the father of David.

David, the sweet singer of Israel
David, the writer of hymns
David, the musician
The shepherd of sheep
The ninja warrior with a sling
       Giant slayer
       Router of armies
       Servant of Saul
       Friend of Jonathan
       Conquerer of nations
       The passionate worshiper of Yahweh

Leader of Judah
The only man in all of Scripture called a man after God’s own heart

And yet ….

The adulterer with Bathsheba
The conspirator with Joab
The murderer of Uriah

Matthew’s first six verses tell the story of 14 generations from Abraham to David.

And the story isn’t pretty.

Fourteen flawed, clay-footed fathers, made significant by God, despite their frequently wicked and dysfunctional lives.

Three flawed women with checkered pasts and glorious futures.

What can we learn from the lives of these ancestors of Jesus?

How do their lives answer the 2000 year old question, WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

1. He is the child who brings legitimacy  to the illegitimate.
2. He is the child that brings an embrace to the despised.  Think, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth
3. He is the child that brings significance to the forgotten. Think, Aminadab, Salmon, Nahshon, Ram, Obed.
4. He is the child who brings honor to the faithful. Think, Abraham.
5. He is the child who is the prophesied Messiah. Think, the whole extraordinary movement through these 14 generations.
6. He is the one who invites you to find all your hope in Him.

This year, I tried something different for a very different text. If the word of God is inspired (and it is) then the genealogies are inspired so why is it that we never attempt to preach from them? Here was my attempt. For a video link to how this message played out this year click HERE. (And here is the link to part 2)