Read Matthew
1
I describe
the genealogy of Jesus provided in the first part of this chapter as one soap
opera followed by another. I provide a
taste of the humanness of what happened on the way to Jesus, and you might
think back to Genesis when God formed Adam from the dirt and thought was that
the best soil he could find.
Regardless
of how I frame this, the genealogy should be a good prompt for you to visit
some of those Old Testament stories.
Today, we
see why Matthew is seldom the selection for the Christmas program. Nothing about Caesar Augustus and the
census. No shepherds watching their
flocks by night. No Mary visiting
Elizabeth. No angelic visit to Mary. No
Mary’s Song. No Zechariah’s Song. Matthew has no music.
And there is
no—wait for it—no room at the inn part either.
Matthew gets
down to the nitty gritty. Mary is
pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Joseph
still loves Mary but isn’t buying this story.
He waited for marriage. Why
couldn’t she?
He was not
going to make a big deal of it. He could
have, but just decided to end their betrothal with a simple but quiet
divorce. Back in the day, it was more
than just getting back the engagement ring.
Betrothal
was marriage without the consummation.
So, a divorce was needed to wrap up the whole thing.
But we know that didn’t happen.
But after
he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and
said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife,
because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to
give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
Joseph did
what he was told by the angel in his dream.
He didn’t question if it was the wine or the jalapenos on his nachos
that he ate while commiserating with his buddies. He didn’t wonder if this was just a stray
thought that came from binge-watching too much Netflix.
He did what
he was instructed. It was required to fulfill
scripture. The angel did not give
him these instructions in this dream, but he had no sexual relations with his
wife until after the birth of Jesus.
Maybe he
understood the magnitude of what was happening.
And he gave the child the name Jesus.
OBTW—the
angel referred to Joseph as the son
of David. David’s dad was named
Jacob. So, what’s up with that? Check out the lineage that preceded this
section. The angel knew Joseph’s lineage even if those around him were not
quite as informed.
The account
of Matthew about the life of young Jesus is different from Luke. You don't get anything in Mark or John.
But your
journey has begun. I spoke Wednesday
night about how to get a Marine to laugh in your face. Tell them that you almost joined the
Marines. There are plenty of other
noble professions and callings, but never tell a Marine you almost joined.
I put the
same challenge to you. Don’t stand
before Jesus and say, I almost read your word daily. You do know that reading the verse of the day
is not really daily reading.
Jesus won’t
laugh in your face but I think you will have an image in your mind of him on
the cross. Do you really want to tell
him, I almost read your word daily?
It’s a
simple thing. It doesn’t take that
long. Whatever is competing for your
time can be put aside for 10 minutes.
That’s about one-half of one percent of the time you have in any given
day.
Hopefully,
you take a little longer to digest and meditate upon what you have read.
How many
grew up hearing that breakfast was the most important meal of the day. That was the mantra I heard when I was
raising my kids.
They were
wrong. The word of God is the best and
most important meal of the day. Man
shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.
Do the
thing! It will take us all the way to
Palm Sunday 2021.
OBTW—we will
have people assigned to watch the clock on New Years Eve to make sure it
doesn’t go from 11:59 to 11:60. We are putting 2020 in the books.
Do the
thing. Read your Bible daily. Share with each other.
Amen.
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