The Unexpected: Advent

Matthew prepares us for Jesus' birth by recounting those who came before Jesus. However, Matthew's account differs with other accounts of Jesus' lineage in the Bible. When you look closely, Matthew has included numerous unexpected names. What do these names tell us about Jesus and how can the stories behind these names prepare us for Jesus' return?

Sermon Outline

I. Advent - Time of preparation for Jesus

II. Matthew prepares us for Jesus through a genealogy
A. Matthew's genealogy is different than others in the Bible.
B. Doesn't line up with the historical documents in the Bible.
1. Kings have the wrong names.
2. The number of Kings doesn't add up.
3. Matthew includes women.

III. Matthew includes the "wrong" women.
A. Sara, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah would be more standard.
B. Matthew doesn't include them. Instead he includes:
1. Tamar - She is part of scandalous story.
2. Rahab - She is def. not Jewish and part of a scandalous story.
3. Ruth - Maybe part of a scandalous story, def. not Jewish.
4. Wife of Urriah - Likely not Jewish, scandal, and Matthew may dislike her.
C. Matthew includes shocking people to introduce Jesus to us.

IV. Whatever you may think Jesus came to do, Matthew makes clear that Jesus entered the world to extend God's mercy.
A. Bruner quote - "God's mercy is deep and wide."
B. When law comes into conflict with mercy, Mercy always wins, according to Jesus in Matthew.

V. When we celebrate Jesus entering into the world, we celebrate God's mercy.
A. God decided to work through surprising people.
B. How might God surprise you now?
C. Through whom might God surprise you now?

Stories of Women in the OT

Pastor Jon mentioned a number of stories that Matthew references. These stories can be found in:

Tamar - Gen. 38
Rahab - Joshua 2
Ruth - Book of Ruth
Wife of Urriah (Bathsheeba) - 2 Samuel 11

Notice that each of these stories features a woman who is either not Jewish or is part of a scandalous situation.

Typically, if one were to mention four women in Jewish writing, the four women would be Sara, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel - the wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Matthew chose to highlight four other, very different women.

Quote from Dale Bruner:

Reflecting on the inclusion of the four women in Matthew's genealogy, New Testament scholar Dale Bruner writes:

"...Matthew's "New Genesis" gives us, as it were, four new matriarchs, and all of them preach the gospel of God's deep (forgiven-sinners) and wide (included-gentiles) mercy."

According to Bruner, the teaching to glean from this is that God wants a very wide, very deep mercy front and center in Jesus' story. A mercy that both encompasses and is enacted by the most surprising of people.

GROWTH GROUP / PERSONAL REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. Have you looked closely at Matthews Genealogy before? If so, what was your impression of it?

2. Matthew includes 4 unexpected women in his genealogy. All four women are either not Jewish or are parts of a scandalous story. What point do you think Matthew is trying to make by highlighting these women in Jesus' lineage?

3. NT Scholar Dale Bruner says that Matthew is emphasizing God's "deep and wide" mercy. Do you agree with Bruner? How does this understanding of the genealogy change your perception of God's mercy?

4. Is there someone, or a group of people, that you can model God's mercy to better than you have? Who are they? In what ways could you concretely show God's mercy?

NEXT STEPS

1. Make a list of the people you think God would be least likely to work through.

2. Are there any common factors among those people? What are they?

3. Pray that God would work through those very people to help you understand how deep and wide God's mercy is.

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