The Gospel of Matthew opens with a list many readers are tempted to skip. Name after name, generation after generation, until the list finally reaches the birth of Jesus. Yet Matthew places the genealogy first to demonstrate that while Jesus is fully God, He is also fully man. He is the Son of God and the Son of Mary.
Jesus has a family tree just like the rest of us do and if you’ve ever had the opportunity to dig into your family history, you may eventually discover that you have had family members in the past that you hope you don’t take after.
Jesus’ genealogy prepares our hearts for what Christmas truly means because before angels appear and before shepherds run to Bethlehem, Scripture reminds us exactly where Jesus chose to enter the human story. This genealogy tells the truth about the kind of people God uses and the kind of world Jesus came to save.
Though he Himself has no sin, Jesus was born into a family line marked by sin, failure, and brokenness. Abraham struggled with fear. Jacob, whose name means deceiver, unsurprisingly built his life on deception. David abused his position of power and actively caused the death of an innocent man. These names were not hidden, but instead were written plainly into the story of redemption.
The genealogy includes women whose lives carried deep pain and social stigma. Tamar was wronged and ignored. Ruth came from a people long associated with shame and exclusion. Bathsheba is mentioned indirectly through David’s sin. Mary herself faced misunderstanding and quiet suffering as she trusted God with her reputation and future.
This matters not only because it shows Jesus’ lineage as the fulfillment of God’s promises (something very important!) but also because it tells us something essential about grace. God did not wait for humanity to improve or, “get it together,” before sending a Savior. The Law was given to open our eyes to see that sin is unconquerable by human ability and to understand our dire need for divine intervention. To that end, Jesus entered the mess of human history willingly and purposefully.
At Christmas, this reminds us that Jesus did not come only for those who appear righteous. He came for the overlooked, the wounded, and the repentant.
Matthew begins his Gospel by calling Jesus the son of Abraham and the son of David. These names anchor the story in God’s promises. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring. God promised David that a King would come whose kingdom would never end. The genealogy declares that God keeps His word across generations, even when His people stumble.
By the time the genealogy reaches Joseph and Mary, the message is clear. Jesus inherits a real human history. He is intimately connected to sinners and sufferers. Yet He enters the world without sin, to bear the weight of humanity’s brokenness.
Jesus stepped into a family line like ours so He could redeem families like ours. He entered a story shaped by generations of failure so He could offer forgiveness.
We all have parts of our past that we wish could be erased. We may see our failures or those of our family as spiritual liabilities. We may assume those years somehow disqualify us from being useful in His kingdom. For many, the hearts desire is that these parts of the past could be erased. But what Christ offers is not erasure of the brokenness, He offers something far greater. He offers the redemption of the past and the power of His Spirit to use it for good. We are invited to receive His comfort in order that we may share that comfort with others
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4
When we bring our brokenness to God, may we do so in faith that He is more than able to comfort us and to redeem, that He would use us to comfort others. May He empower us to speak honestly about grace because we need it desperately. God did not waste those chapters of your life. He has redeemed them in Christ. The very places we are tempted to hide can become places where hope is able to be cultivated in someone else. In Christ, even our broken history is a testimony of mercy.
The message of the genealogy reverberates through the rest of the Gospel. God came into the world to save sinners. If God could bring the Savior through a lineage filled with broken people, then no life is beyond His redemptive reach. The names at the beginning of Matthew prepare us to receive the good news at the heart of Christmas. A Savior has come, and He comes for people like us.