ROOTED Week 1 Fall 2024

Week 1 - Genealogy

(Based on Bible Project article: Jesus is the Promised Messiah)

A few years ago, my parents join Ancestor.com so they can try to piece together their family tree.  It was pretty cool.  It revealed signatures from Ellis Island, background to some family members from years ago.  Even some deployment history.  Even though I never met these people, I felt like a connection and kind of a sense of pride about generations past.  Well tonight we are going to spend a few minutes talking about Jesus ancestors.

As you may know, here at CFC, we study a gospel each fall season. 

We do this because, though the whole Bible is important, the gospels are the accounts of God’s breakthrough into time and space and history.  It’s where God puts on flesh and blood and becomes like us.

This is the peak of all human history and so we want to take time each year to study it and become more familiar with Jesus - God in the flesh.

Now the world (moreso their world than ours) was divided into 2 groups of people.  The Jews and the Gentiles.  The Jews (or Hebrews or Israelites - all the same just different periods of time) were the people that God dealt almost exclusively with in the Old Testament.  He chose them and called them His own.  He said He would be their God and they would be His people.  The Gentiles were everyone else in the world that were not part of Israel or the Jews or the Hebrews (all the same people).

The gospel of Matthew is written with a Jewish audience in mind.  He is writing to people that likely know the Old Testament really well - in fact, most of the readers probably had it memorized.  The Old Testament talks a lot about this one that would come called the Messiah.  He would be the King over all Israel and over the world.  We think of Israel as a nation or a country even today but in the Bible Israel (many theologians believe) included all of God’s own adopted sons and daughters.  We also refer to this as His Church (not a church building).  

There were lots of prophesies surrounding Messiah in the OT.

Matthew starts with something called a genealogy.  This is a list of ancestors that start with a generation and lead up to the main character usually.  We see these a lot in the OT.  We usually skip over them because they are long and boring but to the original readers, these were rich in significance.  Many of the people in the genealogies were heroes of the past and they knew the stories about them.  Jesus’ genealogy begins with mention of Abraham (father Abraham - the one God started Israel with) and David, the great King Israel whom God made a promise to that His reign would go on forever.

So, when Matthew links Jesus back to Abraham and David, the original readers knew exactly what he was saying - this guy was Messiah.

Then after the genealogy of Jesus, we have a quick summary of Jesus’ birth but then this important message in verse 22 and 23 - this was the fulfillment of the prophet Isaiah.

Now, the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew may just look meaningless but when we look closer at these people, some were really good, some were really bad, some were good but messed up a lot, some were from the nation of Israel and some were not.  But, they have the honor of being in the line of Jesus.  This is their legacy.

Legacy is what we will be remembered for and despite many of these people’s evil or flaws, they are left with a legacy of being in the line of Messiah, God in the flesh.

So what?

It’s nice information but we have to ask, what does this have to do with me.  Well, if you are a son or daughter of God, you should also ask, what is the legacy I am leaving or that I want to leave?  How is my life honoring and point people toward God. Did you know that if and when you choose to repent and believe and live a life honoring the Lord (not perfect but choosing to battle sin) then you are helping to point the way for future generations in your family?

Discussion:

Mentors - go through the genealogy and see if your student knows anything about any of the people listed.  They may not so here is a list of facts about some of them - JUST CHOOSE A FEW since time is limited.

Abraham - called by God to leave his home and promise given that from him will come a great nation.  Asked to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice but God provides a ram.

Isaac - son of Abraham promised to him even though he and his wife Sarah were over 75 years old.  From him, the nation of Israel would come.

Jacob - son of Isaac and twin with Esau but even though Esau was born first, Isaac gets the father’s blessing.  He later wrestles with an angel and is given a new name, “Israel” one who wrestles with God.

Boaz - the “redeemer” in the book of Ruth.  He is a kind, honorable, and generous man who ends up marrying Ruth and saving her family.

Ruth - the woman who needs a redeemer.  She is not an Israelite but she was married to one.  She stays with her mother-in-law Naomi and later meets Boaz who redeems her family.  Ruth in the Bible shows us that God didn’t just save and wasn’t just the God of Israel but any who would repent and believe.

Rahab - a Canaanite prostitute and not at Israelite.  Once again, God redeems someone outside of the people of Israel.  Rahab hide 2 Israelite spies who came to Jericho to scope out the city and she was promised to be spared for helping them.

David - David became King after Saul, the first King.  He was chosen by God to be King and was a “man after God’s own heart”.  He truly loved the Lord and his commandments but he was flawed and even had an affair with a married woman and had her husband killed.  He repented but then led a rough life.  Jesus being in the line of David was a big deal.

Solomon - the last king of united Israel and he was David’s son.  He sought after God and asked God for wisdom which he was given.  But he also had a ton of wives and concubines, many of which worshiped idols.  He too was very flawed but God still used him.

Asa - another king of Judah (south) who loved and followed God.  He tore down many of the shrines and temples to idols but not all of them. 

Uzziah - another good king in Judah.  16 when he became king and was king for 52 years.  Though he was good, he got arrogant and entered the temple to burn incense which only the priests were called to do.  As a result, he was struck with leprosy.

Ahaz - not good king of Judah and led to their downfall.  He worshiped idols and included Yahweh in them.  He was prideful and seemed to want to side with and impress the Assyrians (nearly always enemies of Israelites).  It is Ahaz to whom the prophecy about “a son being born of a virgin” was offered as a sign as to whether or not he should join forces with enemy nations.

Manasseh - king of Judah at 12 years old.  His father, Hezekiah had rid the land of idols.  Manasseh brought them back and worse.  He worshiped baal and set up Asherah poles (god of fertility), he also worshiped stars.  Jeremiah’s judgment in the book of Jeremiah is directed toward Manasseh.

Zerubbabel - born in babylonian captivity but one of the leaders of the Israelites back to Israel after Cyrus released them.  He supervised the reconstruction of the temple.  People had hope that Zerubbabel would revive the kingdom of David but it paled in comparison.  But from his line much later came Jesus.

Joseph - not much is known about Joseph except that he is from the line of David.  When he appears, Israel is under Roman rule and Joseph is not a prominent figure or leader but he is the adoptive father of Jesus.

Mary - Mary is the favored one in the NT who would give birth to Jesus through conception by the Holy Spirit.  She is chosen simply by God’s grace.

(Some important things to note - not everyone of the ancestors is Jewish.  Sometimes we think the OT is only about Jewish people but it’s not.  God has always been available to both Jews and Gentiles.)

Rahab, Ruth are prime examples.   God calls the combination of these people his church or (qahal - hebrew, ekklesia - greek)  In the NT, God didn’t abandon His people, the Jews - rather, many of them abandoned Him.  The Gentiles wanted hope and purpose and believed that Jesus was who he said he was.  So the church, the new Israel, continued with them.

Talk about some of the  major sins of these people (David and Bathsheba, etc…).  

How does it make you feel that God called them His sons and daughters?

Sometimes we feel we aren’t good enough but how does this genealogy tell us differently?

Think about your future family members.  How do you want to be remembered?  If people were to someday look up information about you, what would you like them to find?

Take some time and write in your journal a few things you would like to be remembered for.  Write down how you can become the person you want to be remembered for.  Write what you want your legacy to be.

Take some time to pray.