Underground ReLOVEution

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

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

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of David the king.

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

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

17So 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.

I grew up in a sinful family. My dad is quick to rage and my mom is a workaholic and worships at the idol of success. My brother is a drug addict and my sister is not far behind him with alcohol. My extended family is full of alcoholics and angry individuals. My dad's side is Irish and all of his family is loud, mean and a bunch of alcoholics or recovering alcoholics. My mom's side is Norweigan and most of them are really wierd and cold. My mom's side is REALLY mean to each other, but in a more back stabbing way, with veiled comments and cold shoulders and critical attitudes. Because of the way my family is, I'm burdened with certain sins that others aren't. It's much easier for me to be an alcoholic and I can find myself being super critical of people. It's something that I have to battle every day, the sins of my parents and grandparents. Because they act that way, it becomes normal for me to act that way. Some of you may see the same things in yourself. Maybe your parents are abusive and it has caused havoc in your life. Maybe they aren't very nurturing and it has caused sin in your life or hurt in your life. Maybe you are the one who your parents kept pushing to be the athlete in high school and nothing was enough. We all carry our own baggage.

In Jesus' time, your family said a lot about you. Jewish people felt that you could learn everything you needed to know by who your parents were. In John 9 a group of Pharisees try and blame a man's parents because he was born blind and so either they or he must be sinful. They assume that you are a good person or a bad person by who your parents were. They got this becasue of something in the Old Testament called "generational sin". The idea is that if one person sins, his sins affect his children and his children's children for a few generations. A good family was well respected while a bad family was embarrassing.

In Matthew's gospel, he is trying to make a point that Jesus is the Messiah, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies. Throughout the Old Testament, there were all these prophecies predicting that a man would come and save the nation of Israel and he would be their Messiah. Messiah was huge for a first century Jew because he was their hope. The Messiah would be a king and a conquerer and would bring peace to the Jews and establish a kingdom. He would have to be of the highest stock and have the best family.

That is why it is interesting who Jesus is connected with. First he points out that Jesus is from Judah through Tamar. I won't give you the whole story, but read Genesis 38:1-30 and you'll see that it isn't the most inspiring story of a spiritual hero. Next he mentions Rahab, a prostitute and a Gentile at that. If Matthew really wanted to make Jesus seem Messiah like, he wouldn't be bringing up these non-Jews and certainly would avoid all the sinful stories in Jesus' family. He is supposed to be a King! Don't mention those things.

The last thing I want to point out is that Matthew also says that Jesus came from "David... the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah". For those of you who don't know the story, David was a great king who saw a married woman bathing on a roof and slept with her, getting her pregnant. He then had her husband, Uriah, one of his most trusted soldiers, killed in battle so he could marry her without causing a stir, hiding his sin. David who in many ways is the best man in Jewish history, was a murderer and an adulterer. Matthew not only mentions David but points out his sin and how Jesus came from a sinful family.

So what's the point. What I want you guys to get is that Jesus came to save you from generational sin. Maybe you look at your family and you think "I don't want to end up like them". Maybe your dad abandoned you when you were young and you hate him for it. You vow that you won't do that to your kids. Maybe you felt that nothing was ever good enough for your mom and so you are angry at her and made promises that you wouldn't be like her. The truth is that without Jesus, you are going to repeat the same mistakes and your kids will repeat the same mistakes. But Jesus came to change that cycle. Jesus came to create a legacy. When you get saved, your heart changes, and through continual repentance and regeneration, you can change the course of your family and your kid's kids. Jesus came from a broken home, and yet he was perfect throughout his whole life. He redeemed his families legacy of adulterous murderers. Not only that but he is wanting to change your heart and redeem your family legacy as well. I believe that it is so important to think on this. Instead of accepting your family sin or making claims that you will never do what your dad did, we need to turn to our Heavenly father and let him redeem our families.

If anyone is dealing with issues that they want prayer or discipleship for, you can email me at jonathan.ullberg@gmail.com or talk to a leader on Tuesday night/Sunday morning. We want to work out what repentance and redemption look like in your life and we are here for you.

Just remember, Jesus came from a broken family situation.