OK, I have been round and round with the text for this week, Matthew 1: 1-17.
I started out with 4 main points and the title “Why Genealogy (History) Is Important”.
By the way, “History is His Story”.
I wish I had another week to continue mining the riches that God has given us in this seemingly insignificant passage. I have come to the conclusion that 4 Main Points is way too much to cover in one night and I have changed it to one main point, the title is now “Family Matters” with one main point, “Connection”.
“Although Jesus was Jewish, his theology is sometimes treated as if he were Christian. But Jesus never attended a church. He never celebrated Christmas. He never wore new clothes on Easter Sunday. His cultural orientation was rooted deeply in the faith experience of his people. His teachings of God’s love and the dignity of each human being were based on the foundations of Jewish religious thought during the Second Temple period. The more we learn about this fascinating period of history, the more we will know about Jesus. Jesus worshipped in the ssynagogue. He celebrated the passover. He ate kosher food. He offered prayers in the temple in Jerusalem. The Jewish religious heritage of Jesus impacted his life in every dimension of his daily experience”.
Brad H. Young in “Jesus The Jewish Theologian”
#1. This Passage (Matthew 1: 1-17) Provides Us with a Connection
Every day in the news, we hear about children gone astray because they feel disconnected from their family and the world. All families are unique and researching your family is a personal detective story. You discover characteristics about yourself that you have in common with an earlier ancestor.
“We live in a highly fragmented, relationally isolated society. People move, change jobs, get divorced, commute hours each day, travel around the Country weekly, then spend all their free time surfing through 1700 cable channels and millions of Internet sites, and all at the cost of relationships. We have increased our financial capitol, but it has cost us relational capitol. Add to it the other social trends of the past half-century, and you have a generation feeling painfully alone”.
John Burke in No Perfect People Allowed (Creating a come as you are culture in the church)
For adoptees, research can help them connect to their adoptive family. If you are a son or daughter of God you have been adopted.
Did you know that Jesus was adopted?