Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Matthew 1 Sermon
Sermon outline – 19th Dec 2010
Advent 4 – Matthew 1.(1-17) 18-25
The Family Tree
• Strange way to start a book – not even a brief family history, just a list of ancestors. Not exactly gripping. If you sent it to a potential publisher they might not get past the first page. And maybe this is why we usually give one of the other gospels to new Christians rather than Matt?
• Temptation is to skip the genealogy or just glance at it and decide it is simply to prove Jesus’s ancestry confirms he is the Messiah. Just a list of Israel’s noble kings and other leaders right back to Abraham, right?
• Wrong! Actually all kinds of characters – good, bad and ugly – and full of important details, pointing towards some of biggest gospel themes.
• Let’s listen to four characters from J’s family tree telling their own stories:-
Tamar’s story
All I wanted was justice, but the family of my dead husband denied me my right to marry his youngest brother and continue the family line of Judah. They didn’t care what happened to me or what was written in their law. Maybe its because I was a foreigner, an Aramean. In my desperation I resorted to deceit, tricking my father-in-law into thinking I was a prostitute and getting pregnant by him. He would have had me burned to death if I hadn’t kept his signet ring. Then he had to admit he was more guilty than me. I’m not proud of what I did but don’t judge me. God has shown me mercy. The family line had to continue because God has revealed that one of my descendents will save the world, I don’t know how, but God will do it.
Rahab’s story
I had a hard early life in Jericho and I’m not proud of my first job, working on the streets. I’m ashamed to say that my door was open to any man but, incredibly, that’s how God found me. Some Israelite spies came to hide in my house and begged me to hide them. They had been seen, and word got to our King, who demanded I turn them over, because they were a threat to our country. But somehow I knew that their God was the one true God and I decided to risk everything and put my trust in that God. I helped the spies escape and, true to their word they came back and saved me and all my parents’ household. I married one of the Israelites and came to know and trust their God as well as anyone. Somehow I know that one of my descendents will be the greatest King the world has ever seen. I don’t know how, but God will do it.
Ruth’s story
I’m a Moabite but my husband was Jewish. My heart was broken when he died young, but it was even harder for his mother, who lost her husband and her other son as well, one after the other. She sent us home to our own people, me and my sister-in-law. But somehow I knew I had to stay with her and her people. I don’t know where the words came from, but I really said them “wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” I meant it, and God has helped me keep that promise.
I found a new husband from Naomi’s family, a good kind man, Boaz. His mother Rahab is a foreigner too. I like her a lot and she has this crazy idea that one of our descendants will be a great King. But how could that happen?
Bathsheba’s story
The answer to your question is “Yes”, I did deliberately use my charms to attract King David - it wasn’t just his fault. I cheated on my first husband, poor noble Uriah, and what I did led indirectly to his death and the death of the first child I bore David. I’m not proud of any of that. David’s confession is in your Bibles (Psalm 51). Mine is not, but I confessed too and was forgiven and healed by God. God only knows why he accepted me, after what I’d done, but if there’s hope for me, there’s hope for anybody. In God’s mercy I was able to have another son with David. And somehow I know that the Son of David will be the Saviour of the world.
• What’s the first thing you notice about these four characters from the family tree of Jesus? Yes – all women. Surprising in a Jewish family record which would only usually name the men.
• Secondly at least two are definitely not Jewish (R and R), Tamar was probably not Jewish and Bathsheba was first married to a non-Jew. Again very surprising in a Jewish family history.
• Thirdly, a mixed group of saints and sinners. All changed history and furthered God’s plan through their intelligence and bravery, but apart from Ruth, they all had serious flaws too. Rahab worked as a prostitute, Tamar, in her quest for justice, deceived and slept with her Father-in-Law, Bathsheba probably deliberately courted the King’s attention and certainly committed adultery with him, while her noble husband was away fighting in the war.
• Matthew’s family tree of Joseph, the family into which Jesus was adopted, does not consist of a line of perfect, holy people, but flawed people – we’d see this even more clearly if we went through all the men too – murderers, liars, cheats and cowards, foreigners, outsiders and losers … so there is hope for us all, for the whole human race.
Joseph the bit-part player?
And what about Joseph, who speaks not a word in our Bibles and even in Nativity plays is usually no more than a walk on, walk off part, a strong, silent, rather docile type. But is this the right way to think about Joseph?
In Matthew’s eyes he is actually the main player in the story. Let’s hear it from Joseph himself:-
Joseph’s story
So as if it wasn’t bad enough growing up as an ordinary kid with a ‘royal’ family name – being teased; ‘King of the Planks’ they called me at carpentry school – this Mary, this young virgin my parents had chosen as a wife for me, got herself pregnant before I’d even been anywhere near her. Your Bibles might say I ‘considered’ this before deciding what to do, but that’s a poor translation of enthymeomai ; it should say I was angry and distressed about it. It was a disgrace
and I was fuming! … I know what people were all thinking and I could hear the sniggers behind my back.
I’d have been perfectly within my rights to have her stoned to death – Deuteronomy 22.24, you can look it up – and that’s what everybody thought I should do.
But I couldn’t do it. And something told me God didn’t want me to harm the girl. You know which Bible stories I enjoyed most when I was growing up? The Servant Songs of Isaiah. You’ve heard them;
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”
I guess that’s the God I’ve always believed in. A God who doesn’t stone the guilty… he saves them. His justice is healing, not punishment.
So I found a loophole in the Law allowing me to just divorce the girl quietly by writing out a certificate (Deuteronomy 24.1!) and that’s what I decided to do. Not a perfect solution but at least she’d survive, probably.
Then I had a dream straight from God, I’m absolutely certain it was. And then I knew … everything. Mary’s not even guilty, the Father of the child is not some stranger, but God. And I don’t have to be afraid. I know what I have to do. This is my destiny. I must love and protect and nurture them both. I must adopt this child as my own, into the family line of my ancestors Abraham and David – God hadn’t forgotten them after all. I must name the boy Jesus, which means “He Saves”. And I don’t know how he’ll do it but he will save them, everybody.
Conclusion
And so Joseph the bit-part player turns out to be an incredibly important player in the story of salvation. And what an example he sets for his adopted son and for those who will believe in him.
In humble circumstances yet of noble blood Joseph displays his nobility not by a show of power or an angry demand for his legal rights, but by showing mercy and living by faith in God’s promise. The words he then hears from God defy all logic, all evidence and yet he turns away from the cultural prejudice of his day and walks by faith.
The lives of Mary and Jesus are saved by the choices Joseph makes – the marriage, the adoption. Painful, difficult and unselfish choices which paved the way for the salvation of us all and our adoption into God’s family, God’s people.
What a plan! What a God!
Advent 4 – Matthew 1.(1-17) 18-25
The Family Tree
• Strange way to start a book – not even a brief family history, just a list of ancestors. Not exactly gripping. If you sent it to a potential publisher they might not get past the first page. And maybe this is why we usually give one of the other gospels to new Christians rather than Matt?
• Temptation is to skip the genealogy or just glance at it and decide it is simply to prove Jesus’s ancestry confirms he is the Messiah. Just a list of Israel’s noble kings and other leaders right back to Abraham, right?
• Wrong! Actually all kinds of characters – good, bad and ugly – and full of important details, pointing towards some of biggest gospel themes.
• Let’s listen to four characters from J’s family tree telling their own stories:-
Tamar’s story
All I wanted was justice, but the family of my dead husband denied me my right to marry his youngest brother and continue the family line of Judah. They didn’t care what happened to me or what was written in their law. Maybe its because I was a foreigner, an Aramean. In my desperation I resorted to deceit, tricking my father-in-law into thinking I was a prostitute and getting pregnant by him. He would have had me burned to death if I hadn’t kept his signet ring. Then he had to admit he was more guilty than me. I’m not proud of what I did but don’t judge me. God has shown me mercy. The family line had to continue because God has revealed that one of my descendents will save the world, I don’t know how, but God will do it.
Rahab’s story
I had a hard early life in Jericho and I’m not proud of my first job, working on the streets. I’m ashamed to say that my door was open to any man but, incredibly, that’s how God found me. Some Israelite spies came to hide in my house and begged me to hide them. They had been seen, and word got to our King, who demanded I turn them over, because they were a threat to our country. But somehow I knew that their God was the one true God and I decided to risk everything and put my trust in that God. I helped the spies escape and, true to their word they came back and saved me and all my parents’ household. I married one of the Israelites and came to know and trust their God as well as anyone. Somehow I know that one of my descendents will be the greatest King the world has ever seen. I don’t know how, but God will do it.
Ruth’s story
I’m a Moabite but my husband was Jewish. My heart was broken when he died young, but it was even harder for his mother, who lost her husband and her other son as well, one after the other. She sent us home to our own people, me and my sister-in-law. But somehow I knew I had to stay with her and her people. I don’t know where the words came from, but I really said them “wherever you go, I shall go, wherever you live, I shall live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.” I meant it, and God has helped me keep that promise.
I found a new husband from Naomi’s family, a good kind man, Boaz. His mother Rahab is a foreigner too. I like her a lot and she has this crazy idea that one of our descendants will be a great King. But how could that happen?
Bathsheba’s story
The answer to your question is “Yes”, I did deliberately use my charms to attract King David - it wasn’t just his fault. I cheated on my first husband, poor noble Uriah, and what I did led indirectly to his death and the death of the first child I bore David. I’m not proud of any of that. David’s confession is in your Bibles (Psalm 51). Mine is not, but I confessed too and was forgiven and healed by God. God only knows why he accepted me, after what I’d done, but if there’s hope for me, there’s hope for anybody. In God’s mercy I was able to have another son with David. And somehow I know that the Son of David will be the Saviour of the world.
• What’s the first thing you notice about these four characters from the family tree of Jesus? Yes – all women. Surprising in a Jewish family record which would only usually name the men.
• Secondly at least two are definitely not Jewish (R and R), Tamar was probably not Jewish and Bathsheba was first married to a non-Jew. Again very surprising in a Jewish family history.
• Thirdly, a mixed group of saints and sinners. All changed history and furthered God’s plan through their intelligence and bravery, but apart from Ruth, they all had serious flaws too. Rahab worked as a prostitute, Tamar, in her quest for justice, deceived and slept with her Father-in-Law, Bathsheba probably deliberately courted the King’s attention and certainly committed adultery with him, while her noble husband was away fighting in the war.
• Matthew’s family tree of Joseph, the family into which Jesus was adopted, does not consist of a line of perfect, holy people, but flawed people – we’d see this even more clearly if we went through all the men too – murderers, liars, cheats and cowards, foreigners, outsiders and losers … so there is hope for us all, for the whole human race.
Joseph the bit-part player?
And what about Joseph, who speaks not a word in our Bibles and even in Nativity plays is usually no more than a walk on, walk off part, a strong, silent, rather docile type. But is this the right way to think about Joseph?
In Matthew’s eyes he is actually the main player in the story. Let’s hear it from Joseph himself:-
Joseph’s story
So as if it wasn’t bad enough growing up as an ordinary kid with a ‘royal’ family name – being teased; ‘King of the Planks’ they called me at carpentry school – this Mary, this young virgin my parents had chosen as a wife for me, got herself pregnant before I’d even been anywhere near her. Your Bibles might say I ‘considered’ this before deciding what to do, but that’s a poor translation of enthymeomai ; it should say I was angry and distressed about it. It was a disgrace
and I was fuming! … I know what people were all thinking and I could hear the sniggers behind my back.
I’d have been perfectly within my rights to have her stoned to death – Deuteronomy 22.24, you can look it up – and that’s what everybody thought I should do.
But I couldn’t do it. And something told me God didn’t want me to harm the girl. You know which Bible stories I enjoyed most when I was growing up? The Servant Songs of Isaiah. You’ve heard them;
“Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations. He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break and a smouldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be discouraged till he establishes justice on earth. In his law the islands will put their hope.”
I guess that’s the God I’ve always believed in. A God who doesn’t stone the guilty… he saves them. His justice is healing, not punishment.
So I found a loophole in the Law allowing me to just divorce the girl quietly by writing out a certificate (Deuteronomy 24.1!) and that’s what I decided to do. Not a perfect solution but at least she’d survive, probably.
Then I had a dream straight from God, I’m absolutely certain it was. And then I knew … everything. Mary’s not even guilty, the Father of the child is not some stranger, but God. And I don’t have to be afraid. I know what I have to do. This is my destiny. I must love and protect and nurture them both. I must adopt this child as my own, into the family line of my ancestors Abraham and David – God hadn’t forgotten them after all. I must name the boy Jesus, which means “He Saves”. And I don’t know how he’ll do it but he will save them, everybody.
Conclusion
And so Joseph the bit-part player turns out to be an incredibly important player in the story of salvation. And what an example he sets for his adopted son and for those who will believe in him.
In humble circumstances yet of noble blood Joseph displays his nobility not by a show of power or an angry demand for his legal rights, but by showing mercy and living by faith in God’s promise. The words he then hears from God defy all logic, all evidence and yet he turns away from the cultural prejudice of his day and walks by faith.
The lives of Mary and Jesus are saved by the choices Joseph makes – the marriage, the adoption. Painful, difficult and unselfish choices which paved the way for the salvation of us all and our adoption into God’s family, God’s people.
What a plan! What a God!
Monday, December 6, 2010
Slowing down with Matthew and Hauerwas
Forced to slow down this week because of conjunctivitis and losing my voice. Ah well, not a bad thing. New year of church calendar has started and we concentrate on Matthew's gospel. Stanley Hauerwas is my guide, with his excellent SCM Theological Commentary. A book full of wisdom and humility which draws you deeper into the gospel's meaning. So, thankyou Professor Hauerwas, and thank you God for slowing me down!
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