The Divine Crash

Today was great.  We finished preaching through Matthew backwards, we started before Easter and now we talked about the Genealogies.  On the surface this Genealogy looks boring, it is simply a list of people who are related to Jesus. Or is it more than that? You can listen to it here.

First is that the cursed house of Ahab is left out. Three entire generations are skipped.  These are the house of Ahab and Ahab was cursed to the third generation.  This means that there are more than 14 generations that Matthew says are 14 generations.  However, Matthew probably leaves them out because they are cursed and as such never to be spoken of.

We know this, we have family like this.  How many family do we leave off our Christmas list? Ignore? Or are embarrassing to us? So we leave them out.

But then Jesus’ family is a mess. Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, David.  A family full of prostitutes, murderers, and seducers. Yet God used them to bring about the Messiah.

Josiah the good King was related to Jesus he found the law but how do the chosen people of God lose the law? I dunno, but we have lost the law when we claim to follow Jesus then don’t love others.

Yet, Jesus died for those family members. Jesus forgave them. Jesus saved them.

Jesus was the generation that changed his family line forever.

Maybe you are the changing generation.  Maybe your family history is full of mistakes.  Maybe you have made the same mistake over and over and you need to change for your kids.  It is only because of Jesus you can do this.

Jesus showed it was possible to change the future in spite of your past.  In, through, and because of Jesus you canchange your future.

Then I talked about how our actions affect our children’s children and we can either create a history that only God can overcome or create a pathway that God desires for us and is better for us and for our Great-grandchildren.

On the surface, our families look normal and boring. Yet, just beneath the surface is where we hide all the embarrassment that we find in everyone’s family, even Jesus’ family.

My benediction at the end of church was this: “May you go, knowing that Jesus loves you and your family.  If you have hidden family strife that no one talks about then may this be the time that you go to make peace with them.”

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Sermon by RevBT