Read
Matthew
1:18-25
For those who have served as
liturgist, this is one of those times in the year where you check the
scriptures early in the week just in case there is a genealogy involved. You might need a couple extra days to catch
the flu. These Hebrew people were sure
wrapped up in their lineage. Consider
how Matthew
begins his gospel.
1 This is the
genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:
2 Abraham was the
father of Isaac,
Isaac the father
of Jacob,
Jacob the father
of Judah and his brothers,
3 Judah the
father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father
of Hezron,
Hezron the father
of Ram,
4 Ram the father
of Amminadab,
Amminadab the
father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the
father of Salmon,
5 Salmon the
father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father
of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father
of Jesse,
6 and Jesse the
father of King David.
David was the father
of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
7 Solomon the
father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the
father of Abijah,
Abijah the father
of Asa,
8 Asa the father
of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the
father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the
father of Uzziah,
9 Uzziah the
father of Jotham,
Jotham the father
of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father
of Hezekiah,
10 Hezekiah the
father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the
father of Amon,
Amon the father
of Josiah,
11 and Josiah the
father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
12 After the
exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the
father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the
father of Zerubbabel,
13 Zerubbabel the
father of Abihud,
Abihud the father
of Eliakim,
Eliakim the
father of Azor,
14 Azor the
father of Zadok,
Zadok the father
of Akim,
Akim the father
of Elihud,
15 Elihud the
father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the
father of Matthan,
Matthan the
father of Jacob,
16 and Jacob the
father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is
called the Messiah.
17 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.
What’s in a name? We could scroll ahead and note that Jesus is
the name above all names. But what about
for us?
If your mother called you by all three
names, you knew that you had crossed over some line somewhere in the past
couple of minutes. First, middle, and last name in rapid succession was not
good news.
What’s in a name?
Joseph likely went through most of his
young life known as Joseph bar Jacob.
Joseph was the son of Jacob. The
whole who’s your daddy thing wasn’t a thing because you daddy’s name was
part of your name, at least for the guys.
It was something of a big deal. It was defining and perhaps even
limiting. Your father was a carpenter or
a fisherman or a shepherd. That’s
probably what you will be. Your lineage
often defined your life, at least your livelihood.
It’s not like while dad was out
fishing, you were home playing video games. When dad was sure that you probably wouldn’t
drown, you were out in the boat catching fish with him. Even if you were too young to pull in the net,
you were there. This was who you were
and who you would be.
You were either in school leaning the
Torah or out doing what dad did, until what dad did was what you did.
We can’t really conceive of that
life. We live in this sweet land of
liberty. You can be whatever you set
your heart and mind on seems to be our modern mantra, at least until the last
decade.
These days you don’t even need to
decide if you identify as a boy or a girl until your 15. Who your parents are and what they do or
don’t do is not as much a part of who you are as it was two thousand years ago.
We have spent hundreds of millions of
dollars on studies about how your family and social situation impact your
chances to be successful, however success is defined for that particular
study. But who do we invite to speak at
our graduations and special events?
It is often someone who in spite of
where they started or who their family was or what was stacked against them,
achieved their dreams. Some had addicts
and alcoholics for mothers and fathers. Some never knew they parents. Some bounced from home to home as their
parents didn’t want them, but they are invited to speak and share because their
starting point did not define what they did with their lives.
But in this other time that we don’t
really understand, who your father was might not have ensured that what you
would be, but that’s how you placed your bets.
Joseph, son of Jacob, was looking
forward to being the man of the house.
He was engaged to Mary and I’m sure both had good plans for their lives
together. Mary probably looked forward
to having a husband who could make her a new dining room set every year for her
birthday.
But an angel visit and the advent of
the Holy Spirit upon young Mary changed all of that. Imagine Mary telling
Joseph that she was pregnant. I’m sure
that Joseph didn’t hear anything after that.
His mind was probably running wild with scenarios. He’s surely thinking that he is going to have
at least one friend who is going to be unfriended.
This whole business of this being a
divine conception probably never fully registered. The proverb trust in the Lord with all of
your heart gave way to part two because I think Joseph was leaning fully on his
own understanding.
My wife to be is knocked up. I know how that works and it wasn’t me. I’m sure Joseph heard Mary’s
explanation. I don’t think Joseph thought
Mary was making up a story but what she told him was beyond belief. She had to be lying, right?
But Joseph was not a vindictive
man. He followed the law. He surely wanted to do what God told him to
do. He had a little discretion in this
matter. He could make a big deal out of
this or just quietly divorce his wife.
He didn’t need to make a big deal out
of this. A single mom—not a widow but an
unmarried mother—would have a tough enough road ahead of her. He would be discreet and this would be his
measure of compassion in the matter.
Joseph is surely trying to get on with
his life. His hopes and dreams would
have to wait. His buddies were likely telling
him there are other fish in the sea, at least when they weren’t giving him a
hard time.
Surely there would be someone else one
day.
We should remember
the proverb.
A man’s heart
plans his way,
but the Lord
determines his steps.
And an angel of the Lord appeared to
Joseph in a dream and told Joseph that all of that the Holy Spirit got me
pregnant bit that Mary was feeding him was legit. You go right ahead and marry her. Finish what was started some time ago.
If you are Joseph, you might be
thinking, “Did I eat too many jalapenos last night? I knew that I should not have gone to the bar
with the guys to commiserate my life. It’s
messing up my sleep.”
But Joseph knew this was an angel of
the Lord. The angel addressed him as
Joseph son of David. Did an angel not
know that this was Joseph son of Jacob?
Of course, he did. That’s like basic angelology. You learn lineages and how to say Fear Not! That’s a given for angels.
The message to Joseph was not just to
take Mary as his wife but to begin to show Joseph that he was a part of
something much bigger than himself or Mary or his plans up to this point.
Joseph son of David were words to
awaken Joseph to the story of God’s love unfolding through him. Joseph son of David would not have been the
normal address for this young man, well, except maybe as a friendly barb from
his friends.
After throwing three gutter balls in a
row while bowling with his friends, someone might have chided him by saying Joseph
son of David while doubled over in laughter.
But the angel connected Joseph with
the greater story taking place in the persons of Mary and Joseph.
Matthew begins his gospel and begins
the Christmas story with a lineage that goes not only back to David but to
Abraham as well. Fourteen generations
from Abraham to David. Fourteen from
David to the exile in Babylon. Fourteen
from Babylon to the Messiah.
You have to jump over to Luke’s
gospel if you want to go back to Adam, but the angel let Joseph know that something
big was happening now and through both he and Mary.
So Joseph did what he was told. He did not consummate the marriage in the
physical way until after the birth of the Messiah, but he was husband to Mary.
Joseph learned what it was to trust in
the Lord with all of his heart and lean not on his own understanding. And since we see that he lived out Proverbs
3:5, let’s consider the next verse. In
all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight.
The Lord would show him his next
steps. This was a whole new thing. Joseph knew that he was a part of something
big. Did he know it would be the
greatest story ever told? Maybe, but
probably not.
But that God had chosen parents from
the line of David for this great thing was enough for him.
What’s in a name?
Those skeptical of Jesus after he
began his ministry would ask, isn’t this the son
of the carpenter?
But we know more of the story than
those people. We know that we are sons
and daughters of the King who happens to be the King of kings.
We are brothers and sisters with
Christ.
What’s in a name?
Consider addressing someone you know
by their first name followed by daughter of the King.
Consider how you would feel if you are
addressed by your first name followed by brother of the Christ.
What’s in a name? Joseph son of David—King David—revealed to
Joseph that he was part of something big.
He and his wife, Mary, would be central in the greatest story ever told.
We are part of something big. We have been trusted with what we call the Great
Commission.
We are commanded
to love as Christ loved.
Just as Joseph obeyed the command of
God delivered by the angel, so too must we do out part in this story of God’s
love for us.
Genealogies help us look back. They give us some identity. But our part of the story goes forward. Our Father is God whom we know best by his
Son would died to take away our sin and the Holy Spirit who lives within us now.
We are part of something big. We are part of the greatest story ever told.
Let us celebrate the birth of the
Christ child as God with us.
Let us go forward with the commission
and command that he gave us.
Amen!
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