Let’s revisit something we’ve considered somewhat before.

Sometimes when reading the Bible, we can be dismissive of things like genealogies and other things which seem to be of no importance. It is true, not every part of Scripture holds equal importance. Israel’s dietary laws don’t have quite the accessible impact of Genesis 1:1 or Rom. 1:16-17 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

But just because we do not catch the use of something right away doesn’t mean God was careless in including it. It just means we don’t get it yet. He does not speak superfluously.

So it is with this opening chapter of Matthew. In it, Matthew is establishing some foundational truths about the identity of Jesus that inform everything else in his Gospel. We don’t want to miss them.

Let me suggest just a few things here.

In the first place, Matthew is establishing Jesus’ authentic Jewishness.

In the 2nd place, Jesus’ lineage makes Him fit to sit on the throne of David, to be King of The Jews should they recognize Him as such.

So Matthew’s aim in this entire 1st chapter is to answer the question – Who is Jesus?

1 – vs. 1 / a. He is the King of Israel. God’s perfect ruler.

b. The Fullness of the promise given to Abraham in person.

2 – vss. 2-16 / In every way a partaker of our humanity. And yet without sin.

3 – vs. 17 / a. The Promise of the Father.

b. God’s Presence with us in our exile.

c. The Accomplish-er of our Salvation – our Messiah.

4 – vs. 18 A participant in our shame, without sin or shame of His own.

5 – vs. 19 / Undesired.

6 – vs. 20 / Unaccepted apart from divine revelation.

7 – vs. 21 / Savior.

In the third place, we see Jesus as descended from kings, scoundrels, nobodies, men, women, Jews, Gentiles, faithful, faithless, a prostitute, nomads, warriors, prophets, farmers, those who lived in ease, those who lived in poverty, those who accomplished much, those who left nothing behind but their names. The shunned and the accepted, the steadfast and the mercurial, the creative and the dull, intellectuals and uneducated commoners.

Christ Jesus came in the likeness and lineage of fallen, broken, sin-cursed humankind. There are none who cannot be touched by Him, nor reconciled to the Father through Him. The miracle of the incarnation. What a Savior!