12-24-2021

 Good Morning All!

     Matthew 1:1; “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."

    Tonight, our Sunday School will have their Christmas program. Moms and teachers are worried about the lines and the songs. Grandparents cannot wait to see the little ones all dressed up. Most of us remember some of our times in the program. You may remember some of your lines from years and years ago. Maybe you had the “preposition verse” (up from...out of…into…unto) or that guy’s name that no one can quite get (Cyrenius or Quirinius or??)  Perhaps you had to say “swaddling cloths” when you were missing your two front teeth; we all have memories.  But I am pretty confident that very few, if any, had lines from the first chapter of Matthew, the genealogy of Jesus.  It rarely makes the show.

    Why is this genealogy, or any of the genealogies in the Bible, important? Most of us skip over those chapters with names we have not heard of or can pronounce and what is it with all that “begatting” anyway? The main trouble we have is that we see genealogies differently than God does. We look at them as a source of power, or strength or ownership. We want to inherit something of value, and we want to stake our claim early on. This belonged to my grandfather so now it belongs to me. We use them to justify our right of domain or “lordship,” but God uses them differently. Instead of looking back in order to establish a lineage of power and control; God looks forward as a source of faithful grace.

    God always starts at the beginning. Remember how he told Moses and many in the Old Testament, “I am the God of your Father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”  This is not to show ownership but faithfulness. The God who provided for your parents and grandparents is the same God who provides for you. The promise that God made to your ancestors is the same promise He makes to you. The same God who protected the Israelites from Pharoah is the same God who protects you from the arrows of the devil. The same Jesus who freed Peter from the prison is the same Jesus who frees us from the prison of sin. God looks forward, to the future, promising to be faithful to the promise of salvation and grace, mercy and hope that has been made throughout the generations.

    When we look at the Bible and we see how God was faithful to the people of the Bible, we can take comfort in the truth that He is just as faithful today, to us, as He was to them. That is part of the reason it is good to look at Scripture and see that the people listed were not perfect people. They were sinners like you and me. Yet the same story resonates throughout; a loving and faithful God who redeems, restores, and revives His people out of love for them.

   We may never use the genealogy in the Christmas program, but it does reveal a great truth. Our God is faithful and loving and we can cling to this truth, today, tomorrow, and forever.

Merciful Father, your mercies are new unto us every morning; your faithfulness endures forever. Help us to always remember your love and mercy. Keep us safe in all the challenges of life that we may rest in you. Be with those who are embattled and struggling this day. Send them your peace. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret