We are now in the middle of another week. Can I encourage you to put aside some time for prayer and reflection on our world today, and to remember each other in our prayers? We always have plenty to pray for.
Matthew 1:1: …the son of David, the Son of Abraham
Our race does matter. God created each of us to be who we are in Christ with our racial identity as part of that creation in the image of God. Genesis 1:31 states: God saw all that He had made and it was very good. The tragedy of racism is that those in power promoting it and those who feel powerless both have a distorted image of their identity as human beings. It is very hard in a society where racial stereotypes are sadly still in evidence to avoid being influenced by it. Having a balanced understanding of who we are is something we can achieve with the help of the Holy Spirit.
Matthew’s Gospel was written by a Jew almost certainly for Jewish followers of Jesus together with Jews interested in exploring Jesus’ identity. They would have loved the prospect of exploring a genealogy whereas for most of us it is not normally viewed as exciting reading! A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1).
The Jews were particularly careful to preserve details of their ancestral heritage. This was much more than a hobby; proof of their ancestry confirmed their link to the father of the nation, Abraham, and entitled them to claim the biblical promises for themselves. In this respect the uniqueness of the Jews as the chosen people of God stands out in the records of human history.
Matthew’s Gospel was written by a former tax collector and collaborator with the Romans called Levi. Mark (2:13-17) and Luke (5:27-32) record the story of his conversion.
Mark’s account stated that: Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to him, and he began to teach them. 14 As he walked along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. Follow me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. 15 While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners’? 17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Levi was becoming a very wealthy man, but also increasingly lonely, like one of his fellow collaborators Zacchaeus in Jericho. He was stunned that the popular rabbi Jesus of Nazareth would defy the social conventions and speak to a collaborator, let alone invite him to become a disciple. Jesus almost certainly changed his name to Matthew, meaning ‘gift of God’. It was recognition that an aimless life, in spiritual terms, had now gained a sense of direction and purpose.
Matthew had become convinced that Jesus was not only significant for him, but also for the whole Jewish nation. This point is made crystal clear in Matthew 1:1: A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.
This verse and its carefully chosen words is a very clear pointer to the fact of what Matthew understands about the person of Jesus. First of all, he refers to Jesus Christ. The latter name is a title not a family name meaning ‘the Messiah’ or ‘the anointed one’, with reference to the person prophesied about in the Old Testament. This is the person our ancestors longed to see coming in their generation. This is the person about whom a whole list of revelations were given through the prophets concerning His birth, life, death and resurrection, from the place of His birth, for example, given by Micah (Micah 5:2), an eighth century BC prophet; to the nature of his birth (Isaiah 7:14 / Matthew 1:20-23) to the nature of His mission (Isaiah 61:1-3 / Luke 4:17-21); to the manner of His death (Psalm 22 / Isaiah 53); to the fact that His body would not decay in the tomb (Psalm 16:10 /Acts 2:25-28).
The basic biography of Jesus could have been written before He was born from these Old Testament prophecies. Is there any other human being over the centuries whose life story, in terms of its major events, that could have been written prior to their birth? I don’t think so. Time and again in this gospel quotations are prefaced from the Old Testament with words like: then what was said by the prophet…was fulfilled (for example Matthew 1:22; 2:15, 17 and 23).
Jesus is the Messiah, the Saviour, said Matthew. The question for each of us is this: what difference does it make to your life? He is the one whose birth led to the chronology of the world being divided up between events before it and those after it. Is He your Saviour and Messiah? As the angel would say later to Joseph: Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.21She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:20-21). Have you had your sins forgiven? They can be if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Our song for reflection today is: ‘The Lord is my salvation’
Brian Talbot
Pointers for Prayer
- We praise God for the reduction in numbers of people contracting the Covid-19 virus and a consequent decline in the numbers of deaths in our country. We are deeply grateful to the NHS and Social Care staff who continue to support those who have contracted this illness. However, we also pray for wisdom for the Governments in our country as health care services that have been put on hold are restarted enabling doctors’ surgeries and dental practices to reopen.
- We remember other countries struggling with this crisis especially Brazil with its alarmingly high number of infections and deaths and the city of Beijing in China where there is a serious new outbreak of fresh infections.
- We pray for wisdom for our Police Forces, together with local Government and legal authorities, when decisions are taken regarding matters of law and order at the present time including encouraging better practice from a minority who ignore the lock down guidance and in policing demonstrations and other responses following the killing of George Floyd on 25 May in Minneapolis. We pray for those teaching in our schools, colleges and universities, seeking to prepare for the next academic year at a time when the future is so unclear, together with young people and their families attempting to juggle work and family life alongside supporting their children in their school work.
- We pray for our schools, colleges and universities as they endeavour to try and plan ahead for the return of children and students to continue their education in their premises as well as in ongoing online forms of learning.
- We pray for employers and employees in so many workplaces with deep concerns how their work might take place safely in the coming months. We also remember those now out of work and young people seeking to gain their first jobs that each might find a place of work that fits their gifts and experience.
- We continue to pray for the families that have been bereaved, in particular the Nyguist and Marshall families and ask for God’s strength and comfort in their time of sorrow, in particular as they prepare for John’s funeral on Monday 22 June and Bill’s on Tuesday 23 June.
- We continue to remember those who are unwell and pray for God’s healing and restoration of health and strength, in particular for Ali Torbet’s mum.
- We pray for those struggling with continuing isolation in their homes or residential homes and older members of the church in particular who are finding the strains of recent months particularly difficult.
- We pray too for the missionary families we are associated with and in particular pray for Helen and Wit in Northern Thailand as they join us by zoom for morning worship on Sunday 28 June 2020
- We pray for ourselves and our families and our own specific needs; also that we always make time each day to read His word and spend time in His presence in prayer.
- We pray in advance for the online meetings and activities for all ages in our church family throughout this week and the service next Sunday
Brian Talbot