Starting in the Gospel of Matthew S31e2

What are all the sinners doing in the genealogy of Jesus?

Well, they are EXACTLY where they should be.  A rescue operation needs knuckleheads to be rescued.

Join me for 7 minutes as we look at the sinners in the line of Jesus who need to be rescued themselves. Only God can figure this out!

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Transcript

The Book of Matthew Podcast-the beatitudes of matthew

Starting in the Gospel of Matthew S31e2

Finding yourself in the geneology maybe not historically but relationally: that is: a sinner.

We stepped into the scandal of a geneology yesterday and found that There was imbedded in the geneology of Mt History people and scandal.

What are women doing here? Men? Gentiles. (rahab and ruth) Jews. Those of questionable character, almost everybody.  Imperfect. 

Those of noble character who did not need a rescue? There are none

Who of us could endure a microscope of judgment upon our lives and come out unscathed, unscandalized? Propbably none.

What are men and women of questionable character doing here?

THEY ARE RIGHT WHERE THEY SHOULD BE: Being rescued, and because of no particular merit of their own, Being a PART OF THE rescue.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

There are 3 sets of 14 generations.We are at the cusp of the finish of the first 14 generations and the beginning of the second set of 14 generations and we will find David.

Of note, history tells us that this is an incomplete list of the heritage of Jesus.  There are other generations noted in the Bible.  So this is an EDITED list. At least partially. 

So the question is , why does God, thru Matt give us THIS list.

Why the good and the BAD. The Saints and the SINNERS. The faithful and the unbelieving?

What a rabble.

How can God make this right?

5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, (Woman, gentile, prostitute) and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth,(Woman, gentile) and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. 

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 

.There is some scandal here and it is not sugar-coated. There is a woman noted here, not by name, but we all know who she is Bathsheba. She certainly had sin committed against her: husband murdered, taken sexually by the king. Bad power dynamic by any set of criteria.  She’s probablyn not sinless, in allowing herself to be viewed. Every body is a sinner.

Here is interesting thing. Bathsheba isn’t mentioned by name. Mother of Solomon WIFE of Uriah. Bang! Just out there.

Here is the essential sin of David—read about it in Psalm 51

David’s line; the throne of David is continued right off the bat, by the sexual assault by a king towards another man’s wife. Perhaps it too is bathed in the sexual sin of Bathsheba, but the details of scripture are not conclusive. It doesn’t matter.  We know she was in a marriage covenant with another.

The amazing thing is that scripture pulls no punches.  This is an ugly, embarrassing, humiliating, generationally scarring, account in the family of God.  God saying I’m gonna make a lineage of your heritage, and someone will sit on your throne FOREVER. And here, the first thing that happens is scandal, assault, disrespect for the family, possibly rape. 

How can God make this right?

How can God use the knuckleheads in this lineage redemptively?

Only God could figure this out.

7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 

Good kings. Hezekiah. JosiahBad kings. Lives summarized in a single sentence. Even a single word:EVIL 2 kings 24:8-Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.. 9 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done. 

There are people here that did not follow the commands of God.

         Some of them quite severely. Actively rebelled. Stiff necked. 

There are people here who said they did not need a savior nor the God who was bringing one forth.

         At a certain point of ones life, even for those who eventually come to Him; Every human does not have an awareness of his or here need for God/Jesus/rescue.

         We all start at saying to God, I have no need of you yet.

         Many come and bow the knee.

If you are hearing this, I’d ask that you that you’d consider your life and see the trouble He’s gone to to get you into a savable posture

Matt abbreviates the rescue. Started in the garden imho.

         There were more before the geneology

         There were more during the accounted time of the geneology

         There wer more after the geneology.

And, in short, there is EVIL in this geneology right wher should be

Read it, study it, you will find “yourself” 

His geneology illustrates the goodness of God; the faithfulness of God towards an unfaithful people. Sometimes unfaithful

         God is a covenant keeper. Hesed. Faithful to us when we have not been perfectly faithful to him.

Started March 13,2026

Wallowing in the scandal of history S31e1

I wanna get to the beatitudes

Everything in scripture is best understood in context. So a couple of chapters of run-up probably won’t hurt anybody.

Then you open Chapter 1 of the gospel of Matthew. Bango! 

You have got to be kidding me.

Who in their right mind starts a gospel with a genealogy.

Isn’t that the most boring, most skipped over, the stupidest start of any life story?

Jesus wasn’t born in a vacuum.

In the geneology we get HISTORY, PEOPLE, and SCANDAL

         He had a rich history—this is how He came, 1000’s of years

                  We’ll summarize this history by touching on the people that lived it.

         Complicated history—people. 

Purpose of His coming is His glory

Purpose of His coming is His commitment to His people.

         Scandalous history—this is why He came

As I read and remember the actions of God there is steadiness, long-sightedness, faithfulness, and covenants that are only broken by the people He made the covenants to. Here we go     !

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 

Are you sure you want to lure us into your redemptive story by starting with Jesus? Yes. He gets one line.

         Rescue has a name: Jesus

         Rescue has an office: Christ (Greek) Hebrew (Messiah) anointed one. God promised David, someone would sit on his throne forever. So this is a big deal.  Jesus’s last name is not Christ. Anointed messiah. Interesting when we curse, “JC”often we curse with Jesus’ NAME in vain, and Jesus’ OFFICE, title, purpose in vain.

         Rescue has a history: David. Abraham. 

                  Rescue has a genealogical history David SON of Abraham

         Rescue has an author: Matthew. AKA levi. Jewish. Tax collector. Most dispised professions. Jewish guy collecting taxes for Herod. A sell-out to his own people. Taitor , near-traitor. Educated.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 

Are you sure you want to lure us into your redemptive story by then starting with PEOPLE? Super-flawed people? Hyper-flawed people? Generations and generations of Mankind and womankind that often-times does not flatter us? YES. That is the point.

         People need a rescue.

                  Non-flawed people don’t need a spiritual rescue

                  Fortunately, there are no non-flawed people

         People are never adequate enough to rescue themselves

                  ½ the time they insist they don’t need a rescue.

                  A genealogy disabuses everybody of that notion

                  Now we’ll cut them some slack as they are forward-looking to the rescue only as much as we hold ourselves to a higher standard as we look BACKWARD with more clarity.

                  They get a break because they didn’t see clearly.

                  We don’t get a break because we now see clearly.

This cannot be true, we all need a break. We all need grace.

We need a guide thru rescue. And GRACE

Back to People: not ONE of the people mentioned is without fault.

         Can always look back and see sin. Taking redemptive matters into their own hands to start. Abraham

         David: murderer, luster, leerer, distrusting of the Lord. He’s the OT that we all compare favorably with.  If He can make it so can I.

         Isaac: the usual doubts.

         Jacob: father of 11 murderers. Great griever.

         Judah: Father of Perez and Zerah by TAMAR

                  Tamar is his daughter in law. His son’s wife. 

                  Thought she was a prostitute.

                           To Judah’s credit, she did ACT like a prostitute

                           But to give him no quarter, what was he doing becoming involved with a prostitiue? 

It is complicated. Messy. Sunshiny word that means SINFUL

5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. 

What are women doing here?

What are gentiles doing here. Rahab, ruth.

What are women of questionable character doing here?

What are men of questionable character doing here?

What are kings and heros doing here?

.This is the chosen people.small, needful, sinful

I mean no disresptect to my Jewish brothers and sisters. But, no reading of the OT can come to the conclusion that we are OK. We don’t need God. Gotta LOVE the OT. Real. Imperfect. Just like the people I live with now.  Oh my goodness, we need a Savior. We’re 5 verses in an have before us, an un-admirable assortment needful people-hood, Welcome to the beatitudes. It starts with a geneology which is nothing more than Wallowing in the scandal of history.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. 

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. 

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.