We have the gospel for Christmas day is the famous prologue to John's [Gospel] in
The beginning was the word the word was with God the word [was] God the word became flesh and dwelt among us
that of course is the
hinge upon which all the Christianity turns the God's eternal word enters into the sort of muck and mud and
Dysfunction of our human condition he really becomes
Flesh [I]
Find though that to get a better feel for that the sort of texture of it
It's good to go to the beginning of Matthew's gospel because John's statement can sound a little bit abstract the word became flesh
but if you look in
Matthew his gospel begins with his famous
genealogy all of the ancestors of
Jesus and keep in mind that if Jesus had a mother so God has a mother
it also means that God had a
Grandmother God had a great-grandfather
God had cousins
God had aunts God had weird uncles. God entered into all of the
Ambiguity of our human condition and the genealogy of Matthew really brings us out
I think very beautifully and mind you it's the first thing you read in Matthew
Which means the first thing you read in the whole new [testament] is this genealogy and I bet most of us I'm picking up
Matthew's Gospel would say oh yeah
Abraham became the father of Isaac and father of Jacob the father of Perez and Zerah [we] say yeah blah blah blah
Let's get to the you know Christmas story, but that's a mistake because this is a very telling
part of the Gospel
We hear for example
That one of Jesus ancestors is
Jacob now who is Jacob a great hero certainly one of the great Patriarchs of Israel?
But Jacob was also someone who famously
wrestled with God
We have a beautiful account genesis of Jacob wrestling all night with God and then being
wounded permanently as a result I
Bet there are a lot of people watching this video right now who have spent a lot of their lives wrestling with God?
Believe in God, yes, take God seriously yes, but have doubts have questions
Anxieties, maybe during times of failure and suffering you wonder God, what are you doing wrestle with God?
and maybe because [of] that you might even be
Spiritually wounded the way Jacob was wounded permanently by the struggle
Okay
Christ was pleased to have jacob this wrestler with God as one [of] his ancestors
He's pleased to have us who wrestled with God as members of his family
Who else has mentioned here? Which is really extraordinary is rahab one of Jesus ancestors is Rahab
Do you know her story?
She was a prostitute so when the israelites are coming into the promised land they have to conquer these cities and Rahab gave
Protection to the israelite spies, so when they finally come into the city she's she's preserved you know
you think anybody who wants to tell a sort of neat a
Politically correct cleansed story would find a way to drop Rahab out
Let's just not mention Rahab there
She is right in the beginning the new testament one of Jesus ancestors was a prostitute
Are there people listening right now? Who maybe feel look I'm such a sinner
What would God ever have to do with me? I'm not [a] mild sinner
I'm a serious sinner you know and so a long time ago. I just wrote off. God and God
I'm sure wrote me off. I
Don't know right there in the bible right there in the genealogy of Jesus we hear about Rahab, Jesus was pleased
To have a prostitute as one of his ancestors. I'm not approving
prostitution don't get me wrong, but he's
the Descendant of Rahab is
He pleased to have yes even serious sinners in his spiritual family
absolutely
you know houses mentioned here is
Ruth now ruth story, you can read in her book the book of ruth, and sit fascinating ruth is not an israelite. She was a
Moabite she was an outsider not at israelite
but she married into an israelite family and when her husband died she
Remained loyal to her mother-in-law, and [she] went back from her country to israel to live with the mother-in-law
Where'd she go? She [went] to a little town called Bethlehem?
and in that town she eventually married and she becomes the grandmother of
Jesse
Jesse who in turn is the father of David the greatest King in israelite history?
Jesus is the son of David well. He's the great David is the great grandson of ruth?
But they're people this to me right [now] watching this video who feel you know I'm kind of an outsider
I'm not in the in-group. [I'm] not one of the approved people. I'm a like a foreigner
I'm on the outskirts of things well, jesus is pleased to have as one [of] his ancestors ruth
Who is not israelite who was a moabite woman?
don't feel that you're unworthy of being in Christ family if you feel like an outsider and
then how about David
Who I already alluded to David clearly the greatest [king] in Israel arguably the greatest
figure period In the whole old testament
The slayer of Goliath the one who Gathered the tribes who conquered Jerusalem brought the ark of the covenant?
he's the archetypal king of Israel and
He's a murderer, and he's an adulterer read the story in second samuel about
Bathsheba and what David does you know in the wake of of his illicit affair with BathSheba?
[I] bet there [are] people listening to me right now watching this video who Perhaps are very powerful like David
Powerful in industry or business or politics and maybe you feel you've got a hidden sin. Maybe you've abused your power in some way
Jesus is pleased to have David this murderer an adulterer as his ancestor. He's pleased to have you [two]
As a member who's family here's a last one also in this genealogy, we hear about
Azor Alya Kim and Zadok who were they no one knows
No one knows who they were what they did I bet
There's some people lose to me right now watch this video feel like look
I miss nobody I mean what have I ever accomplished who am I well jesus is pleased to have these figures as his ancestors?
The point is the word becomes Flesh
Allow Matthew to tell you what that feels like and looks like what the texture [that] is it means that God?
pushes into our
very dysfunctional ambiguous family and see that isn't
compromised