The Holy Spirit decended like a dove... and alighted...on him: Jesus Baptism Temptation, Hovering Birds and The Abiding Presence of God by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:12-4:11, Acts 19:1-6)

I have experienced a lot of birds hovering over my head this summer, in particular Pied Stilts, or Poaka. On the ground or out on the mud flats they seem fragile, peaceful and almost whimsical. When they are in the air they are graceful, yet somewhat comical as they trail their long slender legs, which look out of proportion to their bodies. When they hover, they almost look like a ballerina… Up on her toes, wings like arms outstretched and their tail feathers forming a tutu.

But I didn’t know till this year they are very territorial.  When you walk towards them or walk anywhere near where they are nesting, they get aggressive. They take flight, hoover at a distance looking all innocent, squarking a warning, and then they swoop at you at great speed.  So close that a few times I felt the wind as they came past below head height. Think maverick buzzing the tower in the film “top gun”. They will keep on doing it till you go away. They will not rest till you are gone.

What does that have to do with the Bible passage that we are looking at today? What does it have to do with Jesus baptism and his temptation in the wilderness from Matthew’s gospel? Well with that experience of birds fresh in my mind… I read through the scripture and was about to put an image together  for the service today. A dove flying down, the one behind me which I found on the internet. It’s a great photo, but I stopped myself because while it was like all the other images and art work I’ve seen associated with Jesus baptism, the words of the scripture spoke to me. The Spirit of God descended like a dove and alighted on him. It didn’t just hover, it came to rest on Jesus, it didn’t remain in the air it landed and came to dwell in and with Jesus, and we have the declaration from Heaven “this is my Son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased”.  

In the passage we had a look at last week, John the Baptist had said, that while I baptise with water the one who comes after me will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. In Jesus baptism we see that happen and start. The Holy Spirit comes and alights it doesn’t just hover, it alights on Jesus, It is what Jesus promised would happen with us, as we have turned to Jesus and been washed clean by his death and resurrection, the Spirit comes and alights on us it makes it home with us. The Artwork and images that are associated with Pentecost in Acts 2, have the tongues of fire being above the heads of each of the disciples, probably for dramatic effect, but the text says they came to rest on each of those gathered there, and as it came to rest they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in tongues and prophesy. Not out there, but in here with us.

I Sensed God say that I have that hover mentality when it comes to the Holy Spirit, God is near, with us even, so close that we can occasionally feel the wind… but out there… when the amazing truth is that the Holy Spirit rests with us, and dwells with us.   I tried to capture that in the image I did use for the service of a Kereru, wood pigeon that had alighted that was at rest. A Kereru because its as close as we get to a native dove in New Zealand, and in the Maori translation of the Bible  (Paipera Tapu) the word used for dove in Matthew 3 is Kῡkupa, which is another name for woodpigeon. It takes it from the there and then, first century Judea to the here and now twenty first century Aotearoa New Zealand. It’s at rest, its not hovering, its not in flight but has come to alight… in the Scripture the spirit alights on Jesus and promise of Jesus is the Spirit does on us as well. I want to explore that today.

But first let’s just go through the bible reading… 

Jesus comes to John the Baptist to be baptised, and John is reluctant to do it. He realises that like all of us he needs the baptism Jesus will bring, that indwelling of the Holy Spirit, that fire that will cleanse within as water washes the exterior. But Jesus insists. It is to fulfil all righteousness.

People often wonder why Jesus needed to be baptised, as we read in Acts 19, Paul says John’s baptism was for the forgiveness of sins. The theological question is why did Jesus need to be baptised for the forgiveness of sin? The first answer is that Jesus identifies with us in submitting to this Baptism, he is humbling himself before God, and identifying both with our need for forgiveness but also the other side of repentance as well that wanting to turn and to live out what it means for to be God’s people. Secondly  in Matthew 16 Jesus talks of his crucifixion as a baptism. His baptism here at the start of his ministry foreshadows that willingness to identify with us in death, so that our sins can be forgiven. Jesus is aware right from the start that the way of the Kingdom is obedience, service, and self-sacrificial love. In response we hear God’s affirmation “Here is my son, whom I love; with whom I am well pleased”, the Father acknowledges who Jesus is and his willingness to do God’s will, to fulfil his unique mission.

Then Matthew tells us that the Spirit leads Jesus off into the wilderness for forty days and nights to be tempted by the devil. Matthew as a first century Jew paints Jesus life as a fulfilment of the Old Testament, and with his baptism, its like Jesus passing through the red sea, leaving Egypt, the wilderness experience is where Israel were forged into God’s people. They faced different trials, and while they failed them, Jesus is able to be victorious. Jesus temptations reflect Israel’s, they have to do with identity and with trusting in God’s goodness. Will Jesus keep on being focused on the Kingdom of God.

The first temptation is can Jesus trust God for his needs, can he trust God to provide. It is the temptation of turning stones to bread. The Israelites seemed to complain at every turn about food and water, but Jesus quoting scripture says “man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.” He will put God’s Kingdom First and trust God to take care for everything else as he tells his followers to do in the sermon on the mount.

The second temptation concerns can Jesus trust God with his security and his life? If you throw yourself off the temple height surely God will save you the devil says, this time even quoting scripture. Jesus responds with an affirmation of trust, “do not put God to the test.” When we later see Jesus face the cross it is with the great assurance that even if he is to suffer and die he can trust God to do what he has said. At the cross “into your hand’s do I comment my spirit”.

In the third temptation the devil offers Jesus all the nations of the world if he will but worship him. Jesus is aware that he is about the coming of the kingdom of God, God’s reign in the world, will he be tempted by this instant gratification, or be willing to trust in the way that God has planed the road of servanthood and self-sacrifice. Jesus again declares his trust in God “ it is written you shall worship the Lord, your God and serve him only.”

Each of these temptations challenges Jesus identity and his call and his trust in God. The same temptations Israel faced and we face. Jesus faces and triumphs in each temptation with the scripture and reaffirms his trust in God. The passage finishes with Angels coming and ministering to him. Satan is defeated, and Jesus now is prepared and ready for ministry and as we will see as we continue through the gospel.

With all that in mind I want to go back and focus on the abiding presence of God in the Holy Spirit, that rested, alighted on Jesus at his baptism, and that in Christ, as God promised, has alighted  and rests on us.

The first is like with Jesus, the presence of the Holy Spirit is a mark of our identity in Christ. John 1: 12 John says that all who believe in the word made flesh, in Jesus Christ are given the right to become the sons and daughters of God the most high’ the seal of that is that God’s spirit comes and dwells within us. In 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 Paul says, Christ has anointed us with the Holy Spirit as a seal a sign that we belong to God. In Ephesians 1:14 the presence of the Holy Spirit is like a guarantee of our inheritance, AS God’s children.

The hovering birds were a sign that they were angry I had encroached on their territory and I was not welcome, the spirit lands and alights and rests on us to say we are  welcome… we belong… we journey  together.

Secondly, when we have a picture of the Holy Spirit hovering around, when we have wilderness experiences in our life it can lead to thinking that the Holy Spirit has left us… That God has flown the coup. Jesus temptation tells us otherwise. Just like with Jesus the spirt leads us into wilderness times, but does not leave us. It’s interesting that in Matthew the word for tempted in Greek means both attempting to lure away, but also it means tempered or tried, made stronger, or like a metal purified for use. It’s like in the book of Job, you get this dichotomy between the accuser, who wants to show that Job’s faith is false and God who allows Job’s faith to be tested because he knows it is strong and true. That God’s purpose in allowing our trials.

Jesus didn’t face his trials with his own superhuman strength rather Jesus as totally human faced them with the same resources that we have. God’s word and the presence of the Holy Spirit. AS a Jewish man Jesus would have been immersed in the scriptures of the Old Testament, these are the things that came to mind and allowed him to defeat the devil. In John 16 Jesus says that when the advocate, the trusted friend, another name for the Holy Spirit, comes he will teach us to remember all that Jesus has taught, and bring it to mind, often when we face temptation there is that small still voice that answers the luring whisper or shout.   Like Jesus we can trust God to provide for us, watch over us and lead us through the process to achieve his purposes for us.

It is the Holy Spirit that also leads us to those places where angels, divine or human, can minister to our needs in the midst of the long dry and hard periods in our life. 

Lastly it is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives that enables us to minister to others as well. We going to look at Jesus ministry in a couple of weeks. His teaching proclaiming and healing ministry. Jesus does those things in the strength and enabling of the Holy Spirit, and so do we. In our lives and action and reactions the abiding presence of Spirit enables us to witness to Jesus Christ and be ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. It’s not just that the Spirit turns up on special occasions. In Acts 19 the passage finishes with the believers in Ephesus speaking in tongues and prophesying. We can get sort of caught up in those manifestations. But remember in Acts speaking in tongues is always a sign of the Spirit’s presence and a sign that the Kingdom of God is for all people everywhere, it’s a sign that the mission of God is to all people. Prophesy is always linked to the presence of the Spirt it is peaking forth the word of God, it is the Spirit that enables us to do that.

Maybe I am bird brained and I easily forget, I forget the abiding presence of God by the Holy Spirit. I know that the devil who tempted Jesus wants to tempt us to forget and be like those people in Acts 19 who didn’t know there was a Holy Spirit, maybe to think “well it’s just for the birds!” But as I came to look at this passage, after a summer of birds, I found it encouraging, renewing and refreshing to be reminded that Jesus baptises  with the promised Holy Spirit,  that the Spirit does not just hover out there somewhere, an impersonal force,  but like with Jesus the Spirit of God  has come to alight… to rest… on all who have put their trust in Jesus Christ. I hope as we start of 2019 that is encouraging, renewing and refreshing for you. You are God’s beloved children and he has sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in and to fill you with the presence of his beloved son Jesus Christ, even in the deepest driest desert times,  to lead and to guide, to enable and empower, as a guarantee of our belong to God.  

Joseph and John's Story.. prepare us for Jesus (Matthew 2:19-3:12)

‘It’s a strange way to tell a story” that’s how Matt Woodley describes the way Matthew starts his gospel. It’s  not till the end of the third chapter of the story does the main character step centre stage. It’s not till chapter 3:15 that Jesus steps from the crowd and we hear him speak, then it is only “a quick line to his cousin, to explain his own baptism”, and in “the first half of chapter four it’s only three short lines this time… to the devil.” … In the desert…

In fact Matthew’s gospel starts off as Joseph’s story and John’s story, that’s John the Baptist. They are the focus… Jesus birth is told from Joseph’s perspective, the story tells of Joseph’s encounters with God, Joseph’s actions and reactions. John appears seemingly from nowhere, a voice crying in the wilderness, and sets the scene, calling people to get ready for the kingdom of heaven to prepare themselves for Jesus.

And it may seem a strange way to start the year. It’s like looking at the last part of Josephs story is unfinished business from before Christmas and the holidays. We had been going through Advent looking at the birth of Jesus in Matthew's gospel, We started with his whakapapa (genealogy), looked at his reaction to the angels message about Mary, talked about the three wisemen and Herod and we’d stopped like many do with Joseph andthe family fleeing to Egypt. But there is one more section of the story, one more God moment for Joseph, one more journey, that tells us about who Jesus is, and reinforces Joseph as a model for us of faith…of being prepared for Jesus.  

It is also getting us ready for the new year. AS we are going to be focusing in our services on Jesus teaching in the sermon on the mount. John acts as a sign post for us pointing us to the coming kingdom of heaven. Telling us about the heart attitude we need to adopt to hear and respond to Jesus the messiah and what he is going to say and do.

This may seem a strange way to start a sermon. commenting on Matthew's quirky literary style...  But let’s move on to look at Joseph’s story and John’s story and what they have to say to us about being Prepared to encounter Jesus. In the gospel and in our own lives.

Joseph had taken Mary and the child to Egypt. An angel had told them to do this, to escape from Herod’s massacre of male children under two. Now Herod is dead, Herod the great died in about 4BC. An angel again appears to Joseph in a dream and tells him it is now safe to return home, to go back to Israel, as those who are trying to kill the child are themselves dead. AS we have seen all the way through Joseph’s story, when he hears from God he obeys.  

In Judea Herod’s son Archelaus has come to power, and really its more of the same. Archelaus follows his fathers’ ruthless ways, however he does not have his father’s abilities when it comes to organisation and his reign is short lived. Again Joseph is warned, like his father Archelaus is a threat and there is danger. Joseph is warned to take Jesus and to go to the Galilee. Again he does what he is told and settles in a town called Nazareth. From Luke’s gospel we know that he and Mary had lived there before Jesus was born. However Matthew tells us that even this was in fulfilment of what the old testament prophets had said, that he would be called a Nazarene. Josephs action and all that happens here Matthew sees as being in fulfilment of the scriptures.

In all of Josephs story we find that Jesus identity is revealed to us through the names and titles he is given: The Messiah, the son of David and the son of Abraham. Jesus which means ‘God saves” Emmanuel which means “God with us”, this is God’s son. Now we see that in going to live in Nazareth he is also fulfilling a scripture and is also given the title of the Nazarene.

However, this title is a bit of an enigma, as Nazareth is not mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament. It could mean that Jesus was identified as a Nazarite like samson, but we know from Jesus life that he did not adhere to the stringent code for that… of not cutting his hair, abstaining from alcohol. Some have seen it as a play on words for the word which we translate branch in Isaiah 11:1 as in a branch from Jesse, a messianic title. But it is more likely that the term was one of disrespect and distain. Galilee and Nazareth were like saying someone was from Hamilton or from Gore, or even that little known place with the Maori sounding name… nowhere… NO W H E R E. It was seen as a backwater, a place where the pagans lived not a stronghold of Jewish thinking or religion. Here at the end of Joseph’s story we get a complete picture of who Jesus is, as it seems to fit in with the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, where the one who saves many is seen as coming from the wrongside of the tracks with nothing to attract us to him.

But how does this story prepare us for Jesus? well Joseph is an example for us of what it means to be a person of faith. Joseph is a man of great faith and builds his life around  Jesus. That is shown to us in that when he hears God’s word he obeys and puts it into action.. While we may at times hear God speak to us through a dream or a vision, or sense a messenger from God, the way in which most of us will hear God speak is through his word, the scriptures. Jesus at the end of his sermon on the mount will say to all who would follow him, if you love me you will hear my words and obey them. You will hear my teaching and put it into practise in your life, and Joseph is the example at the start of the gospel of someone with that faith, someone for the love of Jesus … does that. Matthew shows us the model of how we are to respond to Jesus right from the start.

Now let’s turn to John’s story. John calls the people of his day and his readers today to get ready for the coming of the kingdom of heaven. He calls them to have the kind of faith that Joseph shows us…

If the gospel was a movie their would be an ellipse between chapter 2 and 3. The screen would go dark for a while and we know by conversion that it was to denote the passing of time. Matthew tells us that ‘in those days, John the Baptist came”. In those days is used in the Old Testament to speak not of a date but an important time in history. John comes preaching in the wilderness calling people to repent for the ‘Kingdom of heaven has come near’.  AS Matthew paints A picture of John’s clothing and diet, to his first century Jewish readers they would understand that John is a prophet, they would note the similarities between him and Elijah, and to their minds would come the words of Malachi 4 of Elijah coming before the messiah… For us it’s a bit hard to hear John’s message without that picture of hellfire and brimstone preaching, that we associate with the word repent, and the picture of the wild eyed dishevelled man, with bugs and honey on his breath does not help, it’s a negative not a positive.

I found NT Wright helpful in being able to look past that. He says that the road, the water, the fire and the axe are four strong metaphors that prepare us for the real start of the Jesus story. He  likens John’s message to the declaration of a royal visit, and how we respond to that. John is after all the one who goes before like a herald with the good new that the king is coming.

The kingdom of heaven is not referring to the promise of eternity when we die, Heaven is used in Matthew’s Gospel as a substitute for the word God… Matthew as first century Jew would be reluctant to use God’s name so substitutes heaven the place where God reigns. The kingdom of heaven come near is the declaration that the long awaited rule and reign of God is coming near, as Wright puts it “the King is Coming”… get ready.

When we have a royal visit the first thing that happens is that the roads are made ready for them. I remember President Clinton coming for a summit in Auckland and the whole of the motorway from the airport into town was blocked off and watching on Tv fascinated as the motorcade swept into town  along the deserted roads.  I worked in the BNZ queen street when Charles and Princess Diane  first came to New Zealand, and they were going to do a walk about outside the bank. The ropes were up in the morning and the crowds built. You weren’t going to get any work done when they came…The traffic stopped, as we got ready for them. The passage quoted by Matthew from Isaiah 40 of make straight the way of the LORD, was a message of hope for the exiles coming home from Jerusalem, and as John tells of the Kingdom of God coming it is positive message that when the King comes the people will find freedom and liberty, justice and mercy and peace.

The another thing that happens when there is a royal visit is that there is a spring clean. I wonder what feverish activity would happen at your house if the queen were to let you she was coming to your place. I know there would be a lot of activity at our place, simply from what happens when the mother in law comes to visit… and yes I do like to live dangerously… The call to repent we see as a turning away from sin, but in scripture it is turn away from all the things that would distract you and come concentrate of the things of the king, of Christ. The spring clean the baptism calls us to wash away the stuff that would get in the way. For the Jewish people they knew what the king required of them and so as they got ready for the king they confessed those things and were baptised for forgiveness. Baptism was a ritual that was reserved for the gentiles who converted to Judaism, it was a way of signifying that they were cleansing themselves. But John was baptising Jews and The baptism of John, has to do with the forgiveness of sins, but also with identifying with God’s people again. Spring clean putting it all in order to be ready for the royal visitor.

We live in a town house, but I know that if we had a royal visitor coming there would be some gardening that needed to be done as well. John says that because the king is coming there is going to have to be some gardening done as well. The metaphor for Israel in Isaiah is that of God’s vineyard, and John says that as the king is coming the trees that do not bear fruit will be cut down with the axe. John applies that to two groups. The pharisees and the Sadducees that had come to John’s Baptism. It is ambiguous if these groups were coming to be baptised or coming to simply check out what was going on.

The pharisees were a group within the Judaism of the day who believed strongly in keeping the letter of the law, of external observance, it resulted in them having a real sense of pride in themselves a distain for others and a dependence on their own goodness before God. They believed that their heritage as sons of Abraham put them in a privileged position before God. John dismisses that by saying that God can raise up descendants of Abraham from the very stones.  Here is a foreshadowing of what will happen in Christ where you and I are adopted into be sons and daughters of Abraham, through Christ. John’s challenge to them is to show fruit worthy of repentance, that their lives should reflect a change from the inside.

The Sadducees were a smaller group in the religion of the day, they were mainly based round the temple and they focused on the rituals of the temple, and John as well says to them that rituals without the relationship behind them, will not bear fruit… when the King comes these things will be removed. Only the trees that bear fruit will remain.

John speaks of the one who comes after him will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire. The Holy spirit speaks of the fact that because of Christ his life and his death and resurrection, the king not only comes to visit but to dwell with in us by the Holy Spirit. The fire speaks of purifying, the rubbish being burned away but the great harvest and good stuff being keep, while its not used here you get the idea of a precious metal being made ready for the use of the king as well.

Joseph and John’s story call us to be prepared to encounter Jesus. In the gospel as after this strange start he steps into the story, and in our lives as we meet Christ in the scriptures as we read them and they are illuminated by the spirit within us, as we are aware of Christ’s abiding loving presence with us. We prepare ourselves for the kingdom of heaven by being willing to be open and ask what road needs straightening? What fire needs to be lit? what rubbish cleared away? What dead trees need to be cut down? And with the love and faith that joseph had for Jesus, hear God’s word and being willing to put it into practise. The kingdom of heaven has drawn near, the King has come…you are loved and welcomed into the Kings family … let’s be ready.

Christmas Mourning... Christmas Morning (Matthew 2:13-18)

It’s probably not what we want to hear on Christmas Morning, that last section of Matthew’s narrative about Jesus birth, that ends with Christmas mourning, the inconsolable cry of the mother’s of Bethlehem weeping for their dead children as Herod has them butchered because he is scared of the child the magi had told him of. Compared with Herod’s other brutal massacres the death of a relatively small number of small children in a small rural town does not even rate a mention in the history books. But you get a sense of its devastation on the women of the town.

At Christmas we are more used to the joy-filled carols; that reflect the rich and wonderful songs in Luke’s gospel: Mary’s song at finding out that what she has been told of being pregnant by the Holy Spirit is true; what we call the Magnificat. Zechariah’s anthem, deep in the tradition of the psalm’s speaking of God’s long looked for salvation, as he celebrates the birth of his son, John, who we know as John the Baptist. The angel choir proclaiming ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests’. I think of that as the greatest production number ever, vast armies of angels, singing to a very select audience, but not the rich insiders who can afford to watch for their entertainment, rather the poor outsiders for whom it is good news of their inclusion…But Matthew’s Christmas music is wailing and lament, funeral dirge and the blues.

Matthew paints us a picture of Christmas which has more in common with the warn torn regions of our world today; full of violence, with the death of innocents, the wail of the bereft, the desperate plight of refugees, the powerful enforcing their will at gun point,  than it does with the idyllic and romanticised nativity display we are used to on hallmark cards.

Now I don’t want to come across all ‘grinch-ey’ like I’m trying to steal your Christmas joy, I’m not… I’m not being all Ebenezer Scrooge and wanting to impose a ‘bah-humbug’ to dampen our festivities…Far from it… You see…the gritty, brutal, reality of Matthew’s narrative and its Christmas mourning, highlights the wonder and joy and beauty of Christmas morning… Because the Christ Child, Jesus, is real hope, come in a real person, in the midst of real life. That’s really…good news…

Amid the bleakness of what’s going on, there is this reoccurring formula, that Matthew uses, telling us that things were done in order to fulfil the scriptures. The place of Jesus birth, his having to flee to Egypt, even the wailing of the women in Bethlehem. Herod may seem to have all the power in this story and be able to impose his will, but even in the face of that God’s plans and purposes are in actual fact not thwarted.  That gives us hope even in the darkness, God is at work.

While it does not sooth the anguish of those Bethlehem mothers, Matthew’s quote from Jeremiah 31:15, comes from the darkest point in Israel’s history, and uses the image of Racheal, Isaac’s son who died giving birth to Benjamin and who was buried near Ramah, crying as the exiles are taken away to Babylon. It is as if this is the end of the story for her off spring. But the verses that follow that speak of an end to mourning because God will bring them back. On a larger scale there is hope and good news in this Christmas grieving, because in the Christmas dawn God is bringing his salvation for Israel, just as he had done in the exile. 

NT Wright says “This is how Israel’s redeemer will appear, this is how God would set about liberating his people and bringing justice to the world.” The hope is even in the face of the darkest of our inhumanity God is working out his plans and purposes, to bring change, to bring new life.  In Christ to bring his kingdom and his reign. There is here a shadow of the cross, at Christ’s birth, even the cross and death itself will not thwart God’s plan and purpose, Christ’s death becomes the way in which you and are forgiven and welcomed back into the Kingdom of God… it is the way in which through Christ being raised to life again that we are able to know new and abundant life.

More than that Christmas morning is good news for Christmas mourning, because of the abiding presence of God with us … We are told in Matthew chapter 1 that Jesus, is the fulfilment, there is that formula again, of the prophecy in Isaiah, that a virgin will give birth and the child will be called Immanuel… which means God with us…  and in Matthew God steps into our world with all its difficulty and strife, it’s pain and its anguish… AS NT Wright puts it…

‘No Point in arriving in comfort, when the world is in misery,

 no point having an easy life when the world suffers violence and injustice.

If he is to be Immanuel, God with us,

he must be with us where the pain is.”

God comes, and God identifies with the poor and the lowly, the refugee, those who fear violent oppression. God is with us in the realities of life…

Jesus last recorded words in Matthew’s Gospel are “I am with you to the end of the age”, an assurance because of Jesus birth, life, death and his resurrection of God’s continuing Immanuel, God’s abiding presence with us, by the Holy Spirit. The hope of God with us, in the midst of ordinary life, when there are good and joyful times, but also in the midst of our pain and our sorrow, our suffering and struggles. On a personal level and in a world which is still plagued by people like Herod. That presence of God even in the darkest of times is what gives us hope.

Maybe this Christmas morning you have some Christmas mourning… Christmas for many can be sorrow tinged… it maybe part of that year of firsts after the death of a loved one, you may have Christmas mourning because of the spectre of health issues, financial difficulties, relationships breaking down, uncertainty, and the Christmas hope is that in Christ, God is with us…. God is for us…

There is one other source of hope and good news from this final part of Matthew’s Christmas story. Jesus identification with the difficulty of the world, the powerless and the refugee actually invites us to follow him, Matt Woodley says “ For Matthew the Christmas story is a dangerous tale. And once we agree to join with Jesus we embark on a dangerous path. It forces us to side with Jesus and his little ones, rather than Herod with all his pomp and brutality.” We become the carriers of the hope and love and new life of Christmas morning into the sorrow filled and dark places, with Christ and in Christ.

I simply want to finish with the wonderful metaphor from the prologue to John’s gospel.  Where in the midst of a cosmic creation size explanation of Jesus origins, John says that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not put it out. The light has come in Christ, Christmas dawns in the midst of sorrow and suffering, the light remains with us, it draws us back into relationship with God and shows us the way to live, and the light shines out from us with the hope of a Christ dawning in the midst of a world that is in the darkness of pain and mourning.

Which Kingdom?: The Magi and Herod (Matthew 2:1-12)

This Advent season we’ve been working our way through the Christmas narrative in Matthew’s gospel… and to tell you the truth it feels rather strange… empty even… have you noticed,  there is no mention of Caesar Augustus and his census for taxation… there is no ‘no room at the inn’… no stable… no manger… no shepherds no angel choirs… in fact the nativity scene is… well…its missing.

Matthew, as a first century Jew, had started by telling Jesus genealogy, his whakapapa, showing us that he is the messiah, the son of David and the son of Abraham. He’d told the story of Joseph wrestling with divorcing Mary, whom he was betrothed to, because she was found to be pregnant… and receiving assurance in a dream that he should go ahead with the marriage because this was God’s doing. This baby was new creation by the Holy Spirit. Then all the things that we equate with Christmas get glossed over in the gap between “but he did not consummate the marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”  at the end of chapter 1 which as we saw last week was a sign of Joseph’s faith in andfaithfulness to God, … And then “after Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea…” which we started our reading with this morning… and there is anything up to a two-year gap between those two sentences.

Luke of course gives us all the details about the birth of Christ that we are used to. He tells us the story from Mary’s perspective, he tells us Mary’s story, rich with eye witness detail and things that Mary treasured in her heart. Each of the gospels comes to look at Jesus from a different perspective, and together they provide us with a rich full picture.

 For Matthew, how the world reacts to Jesus the messiah, is his focus… into the story comes figures we equate with Christmas… the magi from the east… lead by the star…without which we just wouldn’t know what to do with the top of our Christmas trees... they come to Jesus living in a house with his parents now in Bethlehem, maybe to get away from the innuendo and finger pointing in their home town of Nazareth, which Luke told us they went back to after presenting Jesus at the temple.   I love the way Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn puts it in his song “the cry of a tiny babe “…

“Three wise astrologers take note of the signs
Come to pay their respects to the fragile little king
Get pretty close to wrecking everything “

The other major character in Matthews narrative is Herod, who Cockburn calls a paranoid dictator who when he hears there’s a child born king of the Jews sends death squads to kill every male child under two. While we focus on the gifts the magi bought to Jesus Matthew’s focus is on which king of the Jews will we choose… which kingdom, the kingdom of God or the realms of humanity.

Lets look at the magi,

Speaking of Kings, it wasn’t until about the fourth century that the magi were seen to be kings, and there have been a whole lot of traditions and trappings that have grown up around them… names and number. Matthew simply calls them Magi from the east. Magi was a term which originated in Persia and spoke of people who would have been, scientists, diplomats and well magicians or sorcerers. Not in a “You’re a Wizard Harry”, kind of way that we might think today, rather they were the religious people in their pagan society.  They would have been employed to know what was going on, they would look to signs and maybe influence the god’s, at a price.

After the exile, there would have been many Jewish populations in the Persian empire. In fact in the end of the book of Esther we hear that a great number of people in Susa the capital of Persia, became Jews. So the Jewish religion and its expectation of a messianic king, would have been widely known. The magi would have looked to the sky to let them know what is going on in the world. We are not used to that connection, we may see it in the way in which people might read a horoscope. There is speculation about what the sign they saw was. Some wonder about a comet, others suggest that we have recorded in many different cultures that Saturn and Jupiter were close together in 7bc and would have appeared brightly in the sky. Jupiter was the royal planet, and Saturn was associated with the Jews. Whatever it was it sent these astrologers on a quest to find and to worship the one born king of the Jews. This by the way is not a quick jaunt down the motorway, it is  a journey that would have taken them months to undergo. One top gear Christmas special has the intrepid trio of  Clarkson, May and Hammond undertaking the journey in cars, and it was quite an epic. In Ezra 7:9 we have Ezra’s journey from Babylon described as taking four months.  This is an epic journey they undertake.

For Matthew the Magi tells us a lot about Jesus the messiah, that his kingship will not only be for the Jews but it has significance for the whole world. The Magi would have heard of the hope for a king who would bring peace and justice to all the nations, and while not fully understanding Jesus as the son of God, they come seeking that. When they talk of worship it would not be the divine son of God, but to worship Israel’s God for the provision of this messiah; a just and righteous king.

Matthew’s gospel is book ended by gentiles acknowledging Jesus as the king of the jews. Here we have the Magi, in bright light, then at the crucifixion, we find the soldiers mockingly hailing Jesus as the king of the Jews, it is the title nailed above his head on the cross, and in darkness, a roman soldier’s, profound confession “surely this is the son of God’. Matthew the first century Jew, speaking to predominantly Jewish Christians, shows that the story is open to all people everywhere.

You could say here right at the start it’s kind of like we step into the story. These astrologers represent us. They tell us that Jesus the messiah is our hope, our prince of peace, our saviour… God’s just reign in our lives and our time and place as well. In Christ we are welcomed in…

Matt Woodley says the magi represent us as well as they are on that universal search’ they are seekers for truth “it is” he says, “what everyone would undertake if they were not stuck in the everydayness of their own lives”. Their search for the one born king of the Jews, shows how God leads people like you and I to come to the truth in Christ. In a way that they as pagan astrologers would understand God shows them a sign. What we call General revelation: God speaking through creation, through the elements of our culture that are open to new possibility. it gets them started, looking for the one born king of the Jews. Then they can only find Jesus as they encounter God’s special revelation; the word of God, the scriptures, as the high priests in Jerusalem, tell them through Herod where the messiah will be born. In this you get the sense that it is the Holy Spirit that leads them and guides them to the Christ Child. They are seekers, they come to Christ, like us they come by the leading of the Holy Spirit in God’s general and special revelation, as they are open to it speaking.

The amazing thing is that here in these men from the east, we see the hope of the gospel. These Gentiles and for the Jewish people even worse than that people who were involved in pagan religion recognise the signs and come searching for the one born king of the Jews to worship. There is deep irony in that in Matthew’s narrative because the religious people in Jerusalem, the high priests who you would expect were the ones waiting and longing and hoping for the messiah the most, miss it. Their focus is on another king of the Jews, Matthew tells us that Herod is disturbed by the news of the child, and all of Jerusalem with him. They are concerned how Herod will react. That leads us to the other king in this story. 

Lets look at Herod.  

Herod has no royal lineage, no claim to the throne. Herod was from Idumea in South Judea, his family were Edomites who had converted to Judaism. Matthew’s telling of Jesus whakapapa as the son of David and son of Abraham puts him in immediate contrast with Herod the usurper.  He becomes King with the backing of Rome, as he was able to keep order. He reigned for about forty years, and died in 4bc. He was seen by many as a successful king, in fact he was called Herod the great, building a dynasty from almost nothing. He was also known for his great building projects building fortresses to defend Judea from the east, and specifically for rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem.  In this he represents you could say a successful monarch, or at least a successful puppet politician under the rule of Rome in an unruly part of the world. He kept the peace… but at a price.  Herod was also known to be quite paranoid and ruthless. He had one of his wives killed, imprisoned many family members and even paid for two of his sons to be assassinated. The words pig and son sound similar in Greek, and Caesar Augustus famously summed Herod up with the Pun ‘that he would rather be Herod’s pig than his son”. We guess which one got treated better. It is his son Herod Agrippa who is the king in the time of Jesus death.

When Herod hears of the one born king of the Jew’s he is totally aware of the ramifications that this is the messiah, the long-awaited hope of Israel, with all that that means. He is the one who asks the high priests where the messiah will be born. He is desperate to hold onto his power, and while lying about wanting to worship the child, he secretly plots to have the child killed. Mark Woodley says that Herod represents the opposite human nature to the magi, he is desperate to avoid God and he devalues other people.  His focus is on the worldly power and its accompanying wealth.

We see here the clash of two kingdoms. One where the outward signs of religion are built up and used, the other that will look at change of the heart. One that seeks to hold onto power and life despite the cost to others, the other who will give up power and life for the sake of others despite the cost. One that focuses on itself and the other which welcomes and invites those outside to come in. One that enforces Peace with the threat and use of force, one that offers peace through the gracious offer of peace in forgiveness and reconciliation and right relationship. ,  One that holds onto power by might and violence depending on the backing of a world power, the other that comes as a little child and identifies with the poor and the lowly, trusting  totally in God’s provision.

This part of Matthew could be called the tale of the two kings… The magi from the east find themselves caught with the dilemma of which King will they choose. They come humbling searching for the one born king of the Jews, they are invited to trust the words of the one who was appointed  “king of the Jews.”

We know the story, that light guides them to the place, again we see that it is God moving by his holy Spirit. They come and they find Jesus and his mother and they worship him, they acknowledge that this is the one born king of the Jews… they give him their gifts. In this they are examples and witnesses to us. Which king will we choose, which kingdom will we choose. I know it’s a cliché but wise people still seek Jesus today… How will we respond to Jesus, born king of the Jews. Jesus the one who will save his people, Jesus Immanuel God with us. We too are called to worship and lay down our gifts before him.

Maybe I’m reading to much in to it but the other thing that happens is that warned by an angel in a dream, we are told that the magi, go home by a different way. I can’t help but feel that is a great description of what it means to acknowledge the one born king of the Jews, Jesus the messiah. Jesus as a man will talk of going on the narrow way the path less travelled. A new and living way…  Jesus again as a man will tell people that he is the way the truth and the life, to come to Christ is to be willing to walk as a follower of his, to go home by a different path. Which king? Which Kingdom? which path home? This Christmas…

Joseph's story: A Joy filled Christmas declaration in the midst of a stress filled crisis-messy situation. (Matthew 1:18-25)

I often think we have got used to coming to the Christmas story, the story of Jesus birth, through the high art of a well crafter nativity set, or by Christmas lights reflected in the glint and sparkle of tinsel or through the lens of a Hallmark greeting card. We have this picture of an idyllic, if not rather exotic and even romanticised version of the Christmas story. I’m not saying that’s bad or wrong I’m just stating a fact… Maybe it is hard for us to access an event that happened 2000 years ago a whole world away, without the wrapping of all those trapping and traditions.

One of things that it does is distance us from the amazing truth that in Jesus the Christ, the messiah, the real God, became a real human being and stepped into our real world with all its messiness and difficulties, wonders and celebrations, troubles and triumphs, with a real hope of real liberation and transformation.

The thing that really grabs me about Matthew’s narrative of How Jesus the messiah came to be born is that its very real and gritty. Luke tells the story from Mary’s perspective and with the songs and angel choirs it kind of has the feel of being like a musical. There is a deeply political element to it as the Kingdom of God clashes with the realms of this world, and we are going to look at that next week. But Matthew as a first century Jewish man tells the story from Joseph’s perspective. While it still has the angelic visitation and joyous pronouncement of a miracle birth, Joseph finds himself in a great moral dilemma, and that joy filled Christmas declaration comes in the middle of a stress filled crisis-messy situation. It’s real joy and real hope in life’s reality.

Matthew had started the story with Jesus genealogy, hiswhakapapa, showing that  Jesus was the son of David, in the royal line, and a son of Abraham. The genealogy links Jesus into two millennia of human history and two millennia of God’s activity. There are famous people, obscure people, that we’ve never heard of except in this list, there were the great heroes of the faith, like the people in our family tree that we’d be happy to point others to, and bad and evil people, the kind of people we just don’t admit to being connected to. It also links Jesus to the hope that Israel had in the promises of God, of a just king in David’s line, that would bring peace to Jerusalem and Israel, and the promise of God that God would bless all nations through Abraham. Matthew tells us Jesus is that messiah, that anointed one. Matthew finished his genealogy mysteriously by saying Joseph was the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus… now the story unfolds…

Joseph is betrothed to Mary. In Jewish society there were two stages of getting married, a period of betrothal, think engagement on steroids, where the marriage had been arranged between the family of the bride and groom. They were considered husband and wife, but did not live together, in fact they were not supposed to be left unsupervised together. During this period a dowry and bride price would be arranged and paid. Then there would be the wedding the marriage was consummated, and they would go and live together as man and wife. During that betrothal period if the man had any reason to want to break off the marriage it was considered a divorce and the women would be seen as a divorced woman, with all the stigma that entailed, she would forfeit her dowry and bride price. If the man died she would be considered a widow.

We are told that Mary was found to be pregnant, From Luke’s account we know that Mary had gone off to be with her relative Elizabeth but now as she has come back it obvious, she is pregnant. Joseph is a righteous man and according to Jewish law he must divorce his wife for adultery. Joseph does not want to do that but he wants to do the right thing. If he does not do it opens them both up to being ostracised by their community, maybe even separation from Jewish religious life, they would be considered sinners.  However, if he divorces her publicly it opens Mary up to public ridicule and even death as an adulterer. But as well as wanting to do things right according to the Law, Joseph is a man of compassion and love. In the very short description we have in Matthew’s gospel you get the sense that this is a real struggle for him. He decides that the best thing to do it to divorce her quietly. Again the Jewish custom was all a man needed to do was give a women a divorce notice in front of witnesses. Josephs plans were just to do in front of a couple of trusted witnesses. It’s still a mess but this seems best.  

Into this crisis-messy situation comes the Christmas proclamation. Maybe after sleepless night’s once joseph has made his decision he falls into an exhausted slumber, but he has a dream and an angel of the Lord, a messenger, appears and brings God’s word.  Joseph is acknowledged as a son of David, not just an acknowledgement of his royal lineage but his faithfulness and compassion. Like with most such encounters the angels first words are don’t be afraid. That was the angels first words to Mary in Luke’s gospel, but here its not to calm him about the angel turning up, rather that he is not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife.

Joseph is then told the amazing truth of this child’s origin, that Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Something that it would be hard for a first century Jewish man to accept as it is for our myth soaked and science sceptical twenty first century minds. This is God’s doing, God’s plan. We might find ourselves like Mary and joseph wondering if this is possible, and Joseph does not receive the affirmation that Luke records Mary getting ‘that with God all things are possible’. But his scripture trained mind would look back at all that God had done in the past. He would look back to the fact that the Holy Spirit was there in the beginning as part of God’s creation activity and realise that without understanding it, that the creator God is able to bring about a new creation.

The uniqueness of this child is then revealed in two names. One Joseph is told to give Mary’s son and the other in a scripture from Isaiah which we are told this child is a fulfilment of.

 Well before the benefits of ultrasound, Joseph is told that Mary’s baby will be a boy and he is to name him Jesus. Jesus, or yeshua, Joshua… was a common name in first century Israel. It was used by Jewish parents as a way of expressing their hope that God would send a deliverer for his people, a saviour, who would save them from their enemies and re-establish Israel as an independent nation. The name means “God saves”. Joseph is told that that is indeed what this Jesus will do, but not from their physical enemies, but from their own sins. Not a military saviour, but a spiritual one, who would bring them back to God with forgiveness, reconciliation, wholeness… shalom and peace.

Then whether it is the angel still speaking, or Matthew as the narrator, we the readers are told that this is to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet. Matthew’s gospel was written predominantly for a Jewish audience and his goal is to show them that Jesus is the messiah in fulfilment of the scriptures. In John’s gospel after Jesus resurrection we have the account of two unnamed disciples on the road to Emmaus encountering the risen Jesus, something they did not expect, and as they walked having Jesus life and death explained to them  from Moses all the way through the prophets, this is the walk that Matthew invites us to also take in his gospel.

Here we have a word from Isaiah, in the time of king Ahaz, where Jerusalem is threatened with conquest, Isaiah tells the king that God will delver his people, and the sign that will be given is a child will be born to a young maiden, and will be named Immanuel… which means God with us…  Now the Jewish word used could mean simply a young women or a virgin, but the Greek word used in Matthew is specifically a women of sexually mature age who is a virgin. The word of Isaiah had come to have this hope filled future expectation, pointing to the messiah. The name of the Child Immanuel speaks of God being with us. As John’s gospel will poetically state God’s word became flesh and pitched his tent in our neighbourhood… The promise of the Old testament of God dwelling with his people.

In these two names we are invited to see Jesus not only as a son of David and a son of Abraham, but also as the unique Son of God, which is how Mark introduces Jesus in his gospel. Here in the narrative of the birth of Jesus the messiah we are told the Good news that God has stepped into history to save his people from their sins, and has stepped into history to dwell with his people. To enable us to come into a new relationship with God, and to have a new way to live, the way of peace and love. You and I can be set free from all we have done wrong in the past and know God’s abiding presence in our lives.  Matthews’s gospel is book ended by that promise of God’s presence with us in Jesus, here  in the name Immanuel, and Jesus last words and “Lo I am with you till the end of the age”. It is the Holy Spirit, who had been at work in creation and in Jesus conception that makes that new life and new creation possible in us, as Christ dwells within us by his spirit.

This is the Christmas Joy, that in the coming of this child in the middle of crisis messy sorrow, there is new life, freedom from the things that would hold us captive, and the growth of a new creation in our lives and our world. It is the Christmas Joy that can come in to the messiness of our own lives, with hope and love and forgiveness and transformation through the abiding presence of God, as we come to know Jesus the messiah, born of Mary.

Joseph never seems to take centre stage in our nativity scenes however he stands as a model and a witness to us of how to respond to this joyous Christmas declaration, this good news of Jesus Christ. Matthew tells us that Joseph woke up, and I really like the way Christian musician, Keith Green talks of becoming a follower of Jesus in one of his best Know songs he says “ It’s  Like waking up from the longest dream, that seemed so real when your love broke through, I lost in a fantasy until your love broke through”. The joyous news of Christmas is the coming of God’s son Jesus into the world and how that can bring transformation and new life in to our lives, as we wake up to the reality of who Jesus is.  

Then Joseph did what the angel of the Lord commanded him. He took Mary as his wife. Again I love  a line from Canadian folk singer Bruce Cockburn’s  Christmas song “in the cry of a tiny babe” where  he says “  Joseph came to Mary with his hat in his hand, he says “forgive me I thought you’d been with some other man, she says “what if I had been but I wasn’t anyway and guess what I felt the baby kick today.” It was a tough thing to do not just talk about it but to do it… you can imagine all the gossip and speculation about the whole situation that he would endure, he didn’t Consummate the marriage until after the baby was born, can I just say that Catholics believe that Mary stayed a virgin, but there is no biblical evidence for it, in fact the gospel’s talk of Jesus brothers,  Joseph did what he was commanded and   gave the child  the name Jesus. In this Joseph is an example for of faith. he hears God's word and obeys it... 

At the end of his sermon on the mount, Jesus grown to be a man, would use the example of two builders to talk of how people were to express their faith in him. Maybe that was with the thought of Joseph the carpenter, a just and compassionate man of faith, in the back of his mind. The builder who built their house on a solid foundation was the person who heard Jesus words and put it into action. We are used to coming to the Christmas story with all the wrapping of trappings and tradition and that can distance us from the joyous message, but Joseph invites us to come with faith in this Christmas proclamation, faith in the God who saves and is with us… and allow that to bring real joy and real hope into our real lives.

Jesus Whakapapa (Genealogy): The Story of Hope (Matthew 1:1-17, Isaiah 11:1-9)

There are some books that just have you hooked from the first sentence. They grab your attention, prick your curiosity, stimulate your imagination and you just have to read them, you can’t put them down. It is the magic of those four wonderful words “once upon a time’… You’d think that the gospel the greatest story ever told might start like that… but as NT Wright says  “The average modern person who thinks maybe I’ll read the New Testament is puzzled…puzzled to find on the very first page, a long list of names he or she has probably never heard of”…  and probably has trouble pronouncing…

Even if you are more familiar with the scriptures you may be tempted to simply skip this part, like the introduction and recap at the start of an episode of a Netflix TV series. But if we do that, we miss what is at the very heart of Matthew’s gospel: Jesus Christ. You see for Matthew, a first century Jewish Christian writing to predominantly first century Jews this is more than a simple introduction and recap.  It would have them riveted from the first word, it is like a fanfare, a dramatic drum roll or the urgent voice of the town crier. We might get a glimpse of this in New Zealand from the way in which for Maori and Pacifica peoples your whakapapa tells people your identity, who you are and where you fit.  For Matthew the introduction is of the central person of Jewish history, Jesus the long-awaited messiah, or anointed one, the son of David and the son of Abraham, and the recap retells two millennia of God’s gracious promises and God’s covenant faithfulness to his people. Jesus whakapapa is the story of hope.

Let’s quickly go through the format of the passage we are looking at…

The passage starts with an introduction, then Jesus whakapapa is presented in three stages, from Abraham to David, from David to the exile, from the exile to joseph, and Jesus being born of Mary, then it finishes with a conclusion about the number of generations in each section in verse 17.

It has some interesting characteristics…

 It is a Jewish genealogy; it starts back with Abraham and works its way forwards. Luke also gives us Jesus genealogy, in Luke 4 , but he presents it in a Greco-Roman style, starting with Jesus and working backwards. In keeping with his introduction Matthew’s purpose is to show that Jesus is the messiah, he is the heir of God’s promises to David and to Abraham, a promise that has been kept even through a time when it seemed that the promise was never going to be fulfilled, the exile. Luke’s genealogy goes back to Adam, and it reflects Luke’s gospel presenting Jesus as God’s saviour for all humanity. Each of the gospels presents us Jesus from a different perspective not in conflict with each other but contributing to a full and rich understand of Jesus his life and ministry.

Matthew’s genealogy differs in places from Luke’s, and while some have pointed to this as an inconsistency, Luke as a Greek focuses more on Jesus physical genealogy whereas for Matthew the royal heritage and whose heir Jesus is, is more significant and central. They are the ones who are heirs to the promises. An example from seventh form history would be James vi of Scotland becoming James 1 of England as the heir to  Elizabeth 1 but not her son…  

Matthew misses out some names, and very neatly fits it into three series of fourteen generations, this could be to make it easy to remember; Jews were able to recite their whakapapa and so memory aids would be helpful. But also in his conclusion by adding up the generations as he does Matthew points to Jesus birth as fitting in with Biblical prophecy’s in Jeremiah and Daniel that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. The time is right says Matthew  and here is Jesus the messiah. Matthew more than any of the other gospels shows us Jesus life and ministry in terms of its fulfilment of the Old Testament.

When Matthew’s original readers would have read through the genealogies one of the things that would have stood out for them was the fact that women were mentioned. Even Luke who as a Greek is more open to telling women’s stories does not do this. You may expect in a Jewish document to have maybe a great woman such as Sarah, Abraham’s wife mentioned and honoured. But here the women who are mentioned are not those you’d normally mention.

What does this introduction and whakapapa tells us?

The first thing Matthew’s introduction tells us is that Jesus story is not something totally new, rather it is the fulfilment of a story that has already been told. The introduction here could be for the genealogy or for the whole gospel. the whole gospel is the creation story the origin story of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Either way it says that Jesus story has its origins in the Old Testament, in God’s activity in history, but it is also a new story the hope of a new creation.  

For the Jews the messiah was a person who was the fulfilment of a promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:16.   That an heir of David would sit on the throne forever. We saw that expectation in our old testament reading from Isaiah 11 today… A root of Jesse would be on the throne and it would be a time of lasting peace for Israel. A righteous and good King who would usher in the reign of God, the Kingdom of God, Matthew says to his readers right off the bat I’ve found this Guy.

But more than that Matthew is aware that God’s purposes and plans are for the world  in calling him the son of Abraham, Matthew is focusing back to the promises made to Abraham in Genesis 1... that not only would God give Abraham descendants and land and bless him, but that he would make him a blessing to all nations. Matthew is telling us from the start that not only is Jesus the messiah and a blessing for the Jews but God’s saviour and king for all people. Isaiah 11 finishes with a line that you may remember from last months series on Habakkuk… The whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as he waters cover the sea. One of the things the Women in Jesus whakapapa do is point to this possibility, as except for Mary they are all gentiles. Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah the Hittite, or Bethsheba. Even in Jesus whakapapa God’s inclusion of the gentiles into his people is foreshadowed.

Jesus genealogy shows us that God has been working through history to bring his sovereign plans and purposes to fruition. From Abraham on downwards. It also shows us God’s grace, that all the way through these two millennia God had kept his promise by his grace. Jesus whakapapa is a very human family tree. It includes the good kings and the bad kings. People who kept their faith in God and people who did not…famous people and those who are obscure. It contains stories of pain and suffering and injustice. Again this is highlighted by the stories of the women mentioned. Tamar was the wife of Judah’s oldest son, Er, who we are told in genesis 38, god killed because he was so evil. Tamar had no children, so was supposed to be given a child to carry on Er’s name by his younger brother, who refused, she was promised by Judah that when the youngest son grew up she would be have a child with him.  Now this all seems rather messy and barbaric to us. But remember for a women who was a widow without a child, she had no means of support, she had no status in her society. When she was denied her right and treated unjustly by Judah, she pretended to be a prostitute and slept with Judah and had twin sons.. It was through her son Perez that the royal lineage was to come. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho, who when the spies were sent by Moses to check out the land looked after them and helped them escape.  Ruth we know was a widow whose dedication to her mother in law Naomi lead to her marrying Boaz and a Moabite becomes David’s great grand-mother.  Bethsheba of course is a tale of both wrongdoing by David and the pain of a dead child. But Matthew says these people too are in Jesus whakapapa.

The women can also be seen as people of faith in times when Israel struggled to have faith. Tamar sought justice when she was mistreated, Rahab showed faith when the spies doubted God, Ruth showed covenant faithfulness to Naomi, in the time of upheaval during the judges. 

This is one of the things that I love and which gives us hope from the genealogy, God has worked his purposes out through normal people just like us. Mark Woodly puts it like this 

 “behind each name on Matthew’s carefully selected list we find human stories riddled with sordid scandals and glorious and honourable details. Behind the mess and unpredictability of the human story God is weaving another story of harmony and redemption.”

God’s sovereignty and God’s grace are at work, meeting in Jesus Christ, and the amazing thing is that in Christ you and I are grafted into this family tree and we fit right in, being fantastic made and  faithful, with our foibles and faults, fallenness and frailty,  our high achievements our past hurts and hurdles, our odd ball-ness or our straight down the line-ness, our humanity and our hope of new creation in Christ. And like with this whakapapa Jesus has stepped into the story and it changes. It becomes a story of hope.

Matthews’ telling of Jesus genealogy finishes, not by saying who Jesus father is, but rather focusing on his mother. Joseph we are told is the husband of Mary, and Mary is the mother of Jesus who is called the messiah. If Matthew’s readers hadn’t been captivated by Jesus whakapapa now, this would have caught their attention. While we, with Luke’s Gospel giving us Mary’s account and two thousand years of Christian faith and teaching, know what is to come, Matthew is signalling to us that something different is happening here. He is preparing his readers to struggle along with Joseph over the fact that Mary will conceive by the Holy Spirit. When the Jewish readers hear the next part of the story that Mary being betrothed to Joseph is found to be pregnant, they might switch off, they would be shocked and suspicious of how this Jesus could be the Messiah. They like us will struggle with the wonderful news of the virgin birth of Jesus. Jesus birth not only being the fulfilment of the promises to David and to Abraham, but also that in Jesus God has stepped into human history.

One of the things the women in the whakapapa do is prepare us for this. As women of faith and women who have carried on God’s purpose and plans in difficult situations they stand with Mary. God had used these situations and these women for his purpose and plans and now he is going to do something even more unusual.

Well it may not be as captivating a start as “once upon a time”. But this introduction and genealogy points us to who Jesus is, that what is happening is a continuation a fulfilment of God’s promises and God’s sovereign moving in history and a fulfilment of God’s grace and peace. To Matthew’s Jewish reader and to us it tells us the long awaited messiah is coming… It introduces us to Jesus in a way that we know where he fits in and leaves us with great anticipation to see how this messiahship will work out… and  just a little  tinge of mystery, that just maybe who this Jesus is isn’t going to fit into all the expectations Matthew’s Jewish readers and we may have…Not that we will be disappointed… rather it will be a story of hope… more than we ever hoped for.  Hopefully… it draws us to read further to be captivated by the story of Jesus the messiah the son of David and the son of Abraham, to be captivated by him.