Monday
May182009
Matthew 1:1-25
Monday, May 18, 2009 at 2:20 PM
MATTHEW 1:1-25
What do we know about Matthew
His primary purpose was to convince the people that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was the one that everyone at that time was waiting for.
Matthew starts out with the genology of Jesus because this is what the Jewish people knew and knowing Jesus's genology gives him credibility. To the Jewish people where someone came from is very important, more then it is today. Some interesting things to note is that the genology is full of all sorts of people. There are women and people with questionable characteristics, like Jacob. This also goes to show that our history does not matter to God. It does not determine who we will be, but our choices today will determine who we will be. It can be challenging as our past may make some choices harder then other, but they are still there for us to take.
We see in verse 18 - 25 that Joseph was a very godly man. He was expecting this great wife in Mary only to find out that she was pregnant and that he certainly was not the father. In Jewish law she was to be publically humiliated and perhaps even stoned to death if found guilty. However, this is not what Joseph did as he was going to divorce her quietly so that she would not be "exposed to public disgrace". Clearly this is not what Joseph intended when he agreed to marry Mary. Not many people would be very joyous about marrying someone who was pregnant with someone else's child, along with all the hearsay and such that comes along with it. However, Joseph was able to put that behind him in the face of God and put what he wanted aside to obey God's command. I think for us there are some things that God has been telling us to put aside, but we want to keep it for various reasons. God is looking for us to trust in him and believe that He is offering something better. As we see in Joseph's life he became the father of Jesus and what more could God want for us.
What do we know about Matthew
His primary purpose was to convince the people that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was the one that everyone at that time was waiting for.
Matthew starts out with the genology of Jesus because this is what the Jewish people knew and knowing Jesus's genology gives him credibility. To the Jewish people where someone came from is very important, more then it is today. Some interesting things to note is that the genology is full of all sorts of people. There are women and people with questionable characteristics, like Jacob. This also goes to show that our history does not matter to God. It does not determine who we will be, but our choices today will determine who we will be. It can be challenging as our past may make some choices harder then other, but they are still there for us to take.
We see in verse 18 - 25 that Joseph was a very godly man. He was expecting this great wife in Mary only to find out that she was pregnant and that he certainly was not the father. In Jewish law she was to be publically humiliated and perhaps even stoned to death if found guilty. However, this is not what Joseph did as he was going to divorce her quietly so that she would not be "exposed to public disgrace". Clearly this is not what Joseph intended when he agreed to marry Mary. Not many people would be very joyous about marrying someone who was pregnant with someone else's child, along with all the hearsay and such that comes along with it. However, Joseph was able to put that behind him in the face of God and put what he wanted aside to obey God's command. I think for us there are some things that God has been telling us to put aside, but we want to keep it for various reasons. God is looking for us to trust in him and believe that He is offering something better. As we see in Joseph's life he became the father of Jesus and what more could God want for us.
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