This weekend we started our Christmas message series at Zebulon Baptist Church. In this series we're looking at what a lot of people consider to be one of the more boring sections of Scripture. However, if you dig into it, you'll discover it's one of the most fascinating. In Matthew 1, the gospel writer is working to establish Jesus' bloodline in order to assert that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. However, as Matthew records Jesus' family tree, he includes people that for one don't have to be included, & secondly, that you wouldn't want to include if you didn't have to. These people are shady, scandalous characters lurking in Jesus' heritage. As you look you discover that Jesus' pedigree is filled with scandalous, sinful people. And these folks aren't run of the mill sinners. These people are monumental, award winning kind of sinners. So why would Matthew include these people if he didn't have to?
The answer to why Matthew included these people in Jesus' story is found in Matthew's story. Because you see, Matthew lived that kind of scandalous, shady life. He was a religious & social outcast because of the life he chose. In fact, Matthew's level of sin had its own category in his culture. Imagine "those people" that you sort of set aside because of their sin & set them apart from the rest of us sinners; well, that's who Matthew was. Then we see something happen in Matthew 9 that would have shocked everyone, including Jesus' disciples. Jesus invited Matthew to follow Him. That's right, Jesus, the perfect, holy, sinless Son of God, invited Matthew, the tax collector, the outcast, the irredeemable, to follow Him, to be a part of Jesus' inner circle. When you think about that, all of a sudden it becomes clear why Matthew would choose these scandalous characters in Jesus' family tree: Matthew understood them. Matthew was one of them. To him it made perfect since to include the scandalous & shameful in Jesus' bloodline & thus in the Christmas story.
"Sinners Are A Part Of Jesus' Story
Because They're The Point Of Jesus' Story."
Matthew didn't leave out the scandal that surrounded Jesus' family because most of us have some sort of skeleton in the closet as well. Most all of us have backstories we would rather not talk about. Some of us have family scandals, & here's the good news. Jesus had that stuff lurking in His backstory too. Jesus came for all those scandals & all the skeletons that we have in our closets. All the mistakes, all the foolish decisions, all the sin, that's why Jesus came. He came so that your backstory could have a happy ending. He came so that those shady, scandalous lives could be redeemed through His perfect, sinless sacrifice. It's only natural that a man like Matthew would understand & make sure that from the beginning of his gospel that everyone who read it would realize that Jesus came from a long line of sinners, but He came for those sinners. That means we are all invited, just like Matthew, to trust & to follow the perfect, sinless Son of God. How will you respond to that invitation?
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