Do You Ever Feel Like You Don’t Belong

(Matthew 1: 1-17)

(Part 1 of 2))

There is a gravestone in the grounds of the Forest Lawn Mortuary in Glendale California. But right in front of the place you would choose to sand ang get the best view there is a headstone. And on it, it says, and I quote. In parenthesis, two words. “Factory reject”. A minister I know of who visited there said when he read it, he was a little stunned. Why would anyone put that on a headstone? It troubled him so much he went to the mortuary office and asked the manager what he new about the headstone.

The manager explained to him they man who was buried there was a young man who committed suicide. He put in his will, and some say the letter that he left that his grave should be marked with the epitaph “factory reject”. When his parents found that out, they objected but the lawyer who had drawn up the will went to court and said look, this is what the man ordered in his will and that’s what I’m responsible to follow his wishes, and if the cemetery don’t have a rule against such a comment that’s what will get put out on his gravestone, and that is what did in fact get got put on the man’s tombstone.

Factory reject. Have you ever felt that you don’t belong, I believe that is one of the most profound expressions of the sentiment of felling an outsider I have ever heard. The point where some people get to where they end up feeling like they don’t belong. I wonder if you’ve ever felt like I just don’t fit, I don’t belong here. 

I was once at a wedding, and I didn’t know anyone except the groom. I was good friends with the groom, but when I got there, I didn’t know any of the family, nor any of the brides’ friends. I was only about 20 at the time and I thought to yourself, what am I doing here? I don’t quite fit in here, I don’t belong. I found myself singing a song o myself  “Stranger in a Strange Land, by the local band U2”

I think I’ve talked to lots of people who have felt that way. Sometimes it’s only a temporary thing like it was for me, like when someone has attended a party or a class reunion. But some people feel it all the time, maybe at work or even in their own family. The feel like, “I just don’t belong here” I don’t feel comfortable. Well, if that’s the way you feel, especially if that’s the way you feel spiritually, I have a message for you. God has told us something that you really need to hear. And believe it or not, it’s embedded in a long list of names in the Gospel of Matthew.

The first book in the New Testament, the Gospel of Matthew. And I’m going to begin reading with verse one. Matthew, chapter one, verse one. 

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

[Matthew 1: 1-6a)

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

[Genesis 1: 6b-11]

After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,  Zerubbabel the father of Abihud, Abihud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah.

Thus, there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

[Genesis 1: 12-17)

As you go through this long list of names you might notice the end of the list in verse 16 is says Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ. So, all the generations from Abraham to David was 14 generations. From David until their captivity in Babylon was 14 generations and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are 14 generations. What is going on here? And what is God trying to tell us by beginning not just the Gospel of Matthew, but the whole New Testament with a long list of names. These opening verses falls in three parts. ( I read them that way) So, let’s just start and make some observations about what is here looking for that buried treasure in this list of names that could be deeply meaningful to all of us. First thing Matthew says in the opening verse is

This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham.

[Genesis 1: 1]

Let’s just pause for a second right there. If you know anything at all about the Bible, you might recall that this very phrase appears early in the first book of the Old Testament. As a matter of fact, the Old Testament, which was written in Hebrew, was later translated into Greek. This phrase appearing in the Greek New Testament of Matthew 1:1 is identical. to the Greek translation of the Hebrew verse from Genesis 2:4 and Genesis 5:1. So, Matthew is echoing, if you will, the Book of Genesis. Now in Genesis, this phrase is used to describe the whole book, here it’s just used to describe the section that follows here in the beginning of the gospel of Matthew. This is not the title for the whole book, like it was in Genesis. This is only the title for verses 1 to 17. So, it just says I’m going to give you a genealogy and then the genealogy follows beginning at verse two through to verse 16

Matthew introduces his account of the life of Jesus by saying firstly I’ going to list for you the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now wait a second, I thought Jesus Christ was the son of God . Why does the son of God need a genealogy? I mean, if there’s God the Father and God the son, why does he need a family tree? And if he has one, there would surely only be one branch in it ‘because he’s directly related to Father God. Let me make what I think is a rather an interesting observation at this point which hopefully explains why this genealogy is here specifically in Matthew.

There are four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

In John where the focus on Jesus is to reveal to the reader that he is the son of God and there is no genealogy at all in the gospel. John doesn’t quote a genealogy, because it is not necessary to his thesis [The Big Idea] he wants to get across. In Mark there’s no genealogy because Jesus is portrayed as a servant and a servant also doesn’t need a genealogy. But in Luke, because Jesus Christ is the son the Son of Man [a title for the Messiah mentioned in the Old Testament, he has a genealogy, because it fits in with the overall message of his gospel account.

In Matthews account Jesus is introduced as the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and that’s the theme of the Gospel of Luke. As a man he has a genealogy, so. This book begins the book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ. And then it says the son of David and the son of Abraham. Now let’s pause again for a minute, these two claims are not in chronological order. He starts with David and then mentions Abraham. Is that significant, why would he do that? What’s the significant of David? What’s the significant of Abraham? I’m going to get into both of those in a bit but let me at this point just mention the significance of David. 

In Genesis God made a covenant with Abraham and a covenant with David and in that covenant, he said, I am going to make you and your line a king forever. One title for the Messiah is the son of David. Because somebody from that line, that lineage of David, the Old Testament tells is one day going to sit on David’s throne forever, and that’s what Matthew is telling us here. This is the genealogy of the one that is king of the Jews. Now, as we go through this book, you’re going to discover this little phrase, the “Son of David”, over and over again. So this means, for one thing, that Jesus is the descendant of David who will one day sit on the throne of David. He’s the king of the Jews. It means he is, the Messiah. So, this title is telling us that he is the fulfilment of the covenant to David. 

It’s also telling us he’s the fulfilment of the covenant given to Abraham and I’ll say more about that in just a moment. But at this point in the opening passage of Matthew he wants to tell us that Jesus Christ is in the loyal line of David, the royal line of the king and he is the one that is going to sit on the throne of David. 

If you look at that, one response might be, what’s that got to do with me? I certainly don’t fit in with that there’s no royalty in my family line. You might think that has nothing to do with me, but as Children of God who have had our sins forgiven by the saviour Jesus Christ, we now too stand in the line of that royal linage. You’re in a royal line, it may not feel like it but that is what the Bible tells us. It might be you feel a bit like a tourist when it comes to being in a Royal line. You might go to London and view Westminster Chapel, and you might look at the Tower of London, but wouldn’t think of turning up at uninvited for dinner at Buckingham Palace. If you did you would think of yourself as being a member of that royal family, you would think. I just don’t fit in here. That’s sort of the way I think we can feel about life sometimes. I think everybody feels that at some time and some people feel that a lot. They think, I just don’t fit. Well, that’s sort of the introduction here it telling Jesus Christ is in the royal line of King David and much, much more. Which means you are welcome in his kingdom no matter where you came from.

Having stated that it’s sort of a title or summary statement, he then plunges into the second part of this passage, which is this long list of names. I guess we could go through each one of these names and focus on each one of them and talk about who they are and how they got here in this list and all that kind of thing. But as we will see when we get to verse 17, he has deliberately chosen names from the Old Testament and then arranged them in a symbolic fashion in order to communicate a message. He clearly very clearly divides this genealogy into three parts. Rather than go through every name again, I’m just going to hit some highlights, if you will, to draw out what’s going on in this opening passage of Scripture and we will begin that process and make some observations, in the next episode.