Finding Jesus in a long line of failures...

Instead of Jesus’ birth, why does the Christmas story in Matthew’s gospel begin with a long list of the names of failed people. Matthew chapter 1 begins, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Then Matthew lists 41 names of Jesus’ ancestors beginning with Abraham.

I’ll admit that my family doesn’t gather around the tree on Christmas morning and read this list of names. But, we do celebrate the Jesus found in the promises of God that these names represent. As great as some of these men were, they were each and every one, a sinner; a failure in God’s eyes. So is everyone. That’s right. We find Jesus at the end of a long line of failures. But, the Jesus we find is called the “son of Abraham”.

That means that Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises that God made to Abraham; promises of hope to sinners like us. What are they? In the book of Genesis, God promised that the son of Abraham would be a blessing to many nations, to all people who call Him Lord. God promised that the son of Abraham would make His people righteous before God by faith. And God promised that Jesus would be their perfect King, forever.

At the end of a long list of failures you can find the very hope of God this Christmas, when you find Jesus Christ, the son of Abraham!

Come find Jesus and the hope of God with us this Sunday at 10am and again Christmas Eve at 7pm, at Christ Fellowship Church.