Tell the Story
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ
1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,1 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,2 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,3 and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,4 and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
The Birth of Jesus Christ
18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ5 took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed6 to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.
Footnotes
[1] 1:3
[2] 1:7
[3] 1:10
[4] 1:12
[5] 1:18
[6] 1:18
The beginning of the Bible began with, well, a beginning. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” That’s the first verse in Genesis, the first book of the Bible.
The New Testament begins with another beginning. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ.” That’s the first verse in Matthew, the first book in the New Testament. Genealogy is a big word that has to do with tracing your family tree. And that’s what we see at the start of the New Testament.
But here’s something special that your parents may not even know. The word that Matthew used when he wrote the verse is actually the word genesis. That’s right. Just like the first book of the Bible. The story Matthew wants to tell is about a new start, a new genesis, a new beginning.
Except this new beginning is definitely still connected to the old beginning. Jesus didn’t come out of nowhere, like a baby just fell from the sky (that would hurt). He wasn’t created with a magic wand or in a science lab. Jesus was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was from the tribe of Judah and the house of David. He had in his family tree mothers with strange stories like Tamar’s, amazing stories like Ruth’s, and sad stories like Bathsheba’s. Jesus was a real Jewish boy born into a real Jewish family with a real genealogy full of real promises and real people with real problems.
Jesus was just like us. And he was unlike us. That’s how things work when you are God and man. Jesus was born like boys and girls are born, but his birth was unlike any before or since.
Mary and Joseph were engaged to be married. But before they even had a wedding, Mary was pregnant! This didn’t seem right, so Joseph had a plan to quietly break up with Mary.
But before he could do that, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She’s not done anything wrong. The child within her is from the Holy Spirit.” If that weren’t enough to make Joseph the carpenter drop his hammer on his big toe, the angel had more to say: “Mary is going to have a son, and you should call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
Things were about to happen that people had hoped to see happen for a long time. Centuries earlier the prophet Isaiah predicted that a virgin would have a son and he would be called Immanuel, God with us. In other words, a young woman with no earthly way to be pregnant would give birth to a heavenly child.
Joseph woke up and did everything the angel told him to do. Mary had a son, and they named him Jesus, which means “the Lord saves.” That was the perfect name for a perfect Savior—and a perfect new beginning to the story God had been writing even before the beginning of time.
