Day 287: Matthew 1, 2 and 3

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about (NIV 1984, Matthew 1:18).

How does a story begin? If this were a fairy tale it might start: Once upon a time… Instead, it reads: This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. But is that how it really starts? Matthew includes Christ’s genealogy, boring to most American readers, but fascinating to Matthew’s original audience – the Jews. This is Jesus’ Once Before a Time…

Yes, every story begins somewhere, but what about before that?

Jesus’ family tree includes some ancestors of which anyone would be proud. It boasts patriarchs and pretty much all the kings of Judah starting with David and marching down through the years to Jehoiachin. Of course, no one would brag about being related to some of those kings, but at least they were kings.

Then there were some odd players to show up in a genealogical chart. There was Rahab, a prostitute turned hero of Israel; Tamar, a widow turned prostitute; Ruth, a foreigner (her people would be barred from the temple); and Bathsheba, who got pregnant with King David’s son when she was still married to Uriah the Hittite. Awkward. What a cast of characters.

It goes to show that no one need be limited by his family tree. Your story was being written long before you were born... and your story is the Once Before a Time of your grandchildren.

TODAY’S MEDITATION

Thank God for the characters he used to write your “Once Before a Time.”