Jan. 5, 2020                 God With Us                                               

On New Year’s this year, I spent the day talking on the phone with each of my four sisters, catching up on what has been going on in their lives, and sharing what is going on in mine. One of my sisters, Elizabeth, told me that she has been doing genetic research on our family history. Now that might sound impressive, but what that means is she got one of those 23 & me, kits from Target and sent in a saliva sample and they sent the results to her. And, since she is the keeper of our family history, she encouraged me to get one of those kits, because I am the boy in the family, and I carry the only y chromosome, etc. etc. etc.

Now I am kind of skeptical about this whole genetic testing stuff, not because I don’t believe in the science, but I am skeptical of the people who produce the results. They may send back to me results that tell me I am descended from Russian Czars, or German princes, Genghis Kahn, George Washington, or the first Dali lama. Of course, I will do the test for my sister, but I really don’t need to know who I was descended from. All I need is my faith that whoever my ancestors were, good or bad, God was at work in their lives.

And that’s where we come to our reading from the gospel this morning. In our gospel lesson, we read Matthew’s geneology of Jesus Christ. Now in Matthew’s day, geneologies were used by kings as propaganda to justify their own authority. So they were always a list of men, no women involved, and they were always these great men, who did nothing but good, and etc., etc., etc.

But Matthew’s geneology is a little different, and to illustrate this point, I thought it would be fun to reread Matthew’s geneology interactively. My first card says, “Hooray!” for the people who are spoken well of in the bible, “Booo!” for the people who did bad things, and “Who??” for the people we don’t know a lot about. So let’s get to it.   

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Hooray! Isaac the father of Jacob, Hooray! Jacob the father of Judah! Hooray!  Judah the father of Perez by Tamar. Booo!  Tamar was Judah’s daughter in law and when her husband died, Judah refused to give his other son to her in marriage, so she dressed up as a prostitute, and lured Judah into a brothel in order to blackmail him. Oh, to be clear we are booing Judah, not Tamar, who was in on throwing Joseph into a pit, and other assorted slaughters. Perez the father of Hezron, Hooray!  Hezron the father of Aram, Who??  Bible doesn’t say much about Aram son of Hezron. Aram the father of Aminadab, “Boo!! Aminadab was an earthly person who didn’t believe in God. Aminadab the father of Nahshon, Who??, Again, not much in the bible about Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, Hooray! and Salmon the father of Boaz Hooray! by Rahab, Who??  Rahab was the prostitute who hid the spies of Israel in Jericho. Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Hooray! Boaz was a good guy, and we all know the story of Ruth, a foreigner who believed in God. I think of her as the female Abraham. So let’s get an extra Hooray for Ruth! Hooray! Obed the father of Jesse, Hooray!  Jesse the father of King David. Hooray!

David the father of Solomon, by Uriah’s wife.  Booo! Solomon was wise, but ultimately he enslaved his own people to build his kingdom. Oh and Uriah’s wife, Who?? was Bathsheba. We aren’t booing her, because we don’t really have all the info. Solomon the father of Rehoboam.  Hooray! He seemed to be a good king.  Rehoboam the father of Abijah. Hooray! Tried to reunite Israel and Judah. Abijah the father of Asaph. Who?? Not much known about Asaph. Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat. Hooray! Jehoshaphat instructed people in God’s law. Jehoshaphat the father of Joram. Booo!  He led Judah into idolatrous worship. Joram the father of Uzziah.  Hooray! By all accounts a good king who had leprosy by the way. Uzziah the father of Jotham. Hooray! Jotham ran the temple during his father’s reign, lepers not allowed in the temple. Jotham the father of Ahaz. Booo! A schemer who didn’t trust in God. Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hooray! Close relationship with God. Hezekiah the father of Manassah. “Booo!” Manasseh turned from God to practice witchcraft and was a pretty evil king. Manasseh the father of Amos. Who? Not much said about Amos. Amos the father of Josiah. Hooray! Led Judah back to God. Josiah the father of Jechoniah. “Boo!” Jeconiah was cursed by the prophet Jeremiah for his return to evil ways. His kingdom was conquered by Babylon.

Jeconiah the father of Salatheil, Who?? Salatheil the father of Zerubabbel,  Hooray! Started rebuilding God’s temple.   Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Who?? Abiud the father of Eliakim, Who?? Eliakim the father of Azor, Who??   Azor the father of Zadok, Hooray! A priest in the temple. Zadok the father of Achim, Who?   Achim the father of Eliud, Who? Eliud the father of Eleazar,  Hooray, another temple priest  Eleazar the father of Matthan, who?? Matthan the father of Jacob, Who??     Jacob the father of Joseph, Hooray!  the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born who is called the Messiah.

Whew! We got through it! Now a number of the who’s, who are not spoken of a great deal in the bible, are namesakes for other old testament figures. Many of the last section are names of priests from of old, that seems to be the theme from Babylon to Jesus. Also the names of the people are fascinating. Gives glory to God, lifts up the poor, God lends, etc. there’s a study in that as well. But this morning my focus in on the good, the bad, the ugly, and the unknown.

My point is this, throughout the bible the question has always been, how will God work through the good, the not so good, and the really bad people to bring about God’s plan for healing and salvation. Matthew’s geneology makes it very clear that God works through all of us, good or bad. For those who think that means we can all be bad, no that’s not the point. There’s a difference between working with God and not working with God. But the bottom line is, no matter who the ancestors of Jesus were, God’s plan could not be stopped.

In this new year, we are tempted to rejoice in the hope of a new year, and then lament that we have the same old people, and even worse on the way. But faith, the faith of Matthew is, God can’t be stopped, God’s Messiah has come, and the world is going to be saved! And that is the Good News of Jesus Christ.