The Collect
O God, whose blessed Son made himself known to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Readings:
Psalm 25
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+25&version=KJV
Exodus 18:13–27
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+18%3A13%E2%80%9327&version=KJV
Gospel: Matthew 1:1–17; 3:1–6
1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
2 Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;
3 And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram;
4 And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon;
5 And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;
6 And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias;7 And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa;
8 And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias;
9 And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias;
10 And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias;
11 And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:
12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel;
13 And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor;
14 And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud;
15 And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob;
16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations.
Matthew 3:1-6
1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,
2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
4 And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Commentary:
The compilers of the Lectionary, saw fit, to begin this week with a review of the Gospels starting with the first Book of the New Testament. And as faithful readers of the Bible know, Matthew begins with a genealogy, the listing of who begat who from the time of Abraham to that of the birth of Christ.
Matthew Henry, the 17th century theologian who authored an exhaustive commentary on the entire Bible, wrote that while the Old Testament begins with a book explaining the generation of the world, the New Testament begins with a book of the generation of him that made the world.
“The principal intention of it. It is not an endless or needless genealogy; it is not a vain-glorious one, as those of great men commonly are. Stemmata, quid faciunt?—Of what avail are ancient pedigrees? It is like a pedigree given in evidence, to prove a title, and make out a claim; the design is to prove that our Lord Jesus is the son of David, and the son of Abraham, and therefore of that nation and family out of which the Messiah was to arise. Abraham and David were, in their day, the great trustees of the promise relating to the Messiah. The promise of the blessing was made to Abraham and his seed, of the dominion to David and his seed; and they who would have an interest in Christ, as the son of Abraham, in whom all the families of the earth are to be blessed, must be faithful, loyal subjects to him as the son of David, by whom all the families of the earth are to be ruled. It was promised to Abraham that Christ should descend from him (Gen. 12:3; 22:18), and to David that he should descend from him (2 Sa. 7:12; Ps. 89:3, etc.; 132:11); and therefore, unless it can be proved that Jesus is a son of David, and a son of Abraham, we cannot admit him to be the Messiah.” (Henry)
To reiterate Henry’s opinion more succinctly, Matthew was seeking to provide a provenience for the claim of the followers of Christ that he (Jesus) was indeed the Messiah promised by the prophets, progeny of the Hebrew Patriarchs Abraham and David. Not only does Matthew accomplish this feat, but along with the other Gospel writers, a record by eye witnesses is presented to the reader detailing evidence of the divinity of Jesus through the miraculous works of Christ during his ministry, the fulfilling of ancient prophecies, and the glorious triumph over death itself by Christ through his resurrection and ascension into heaven.
Today we examine the genealogy of Christ, and then skipping over his birth and early life, we look at the beginnings of his ministry at his Baptism in the river Jordan by John the Baptist.
“John the Baptist took his place on stage just before Jesus’ birth. John was born six months before Jesus. He was a kinsman of Jesus––a cousin, perhaps––or an uncle (Luke 1:36). But John and Jesus were close in age, and would be close friends as grown men. I think that they grew up together––and played together as children.” (Donovan)
Matthew begins his third chapter with only a background of the work of John the Baptist.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (vs. 1-3)
Take note of “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”. As we noted, Matthew only provides a summary background on John the Baptist, as does Mark and John the Apostle; Luke, however goes a step further explaining the marvelous origins of the story.
After a brief dedication to his disciple Theophilus, whom he was writing to, Luke explains how the angel Gabriel first appeared to the Jewish Priest named Zacharias, the later to Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Elizabeth the wife of Zacharias, was childless and being of advanced age was thought to be beyond the hope of having a child. Never the less, the angel informed Zacharias “Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. ” (Luke 1:13-17)
Likewise, Luke tells us that, “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” (vs. 26-32)
Note the hint of the establishment of a pattern here. [1] first the angel appears to Elizabeth (through Zacharias) then Mary. [2] Elizabeth gives birth to John then presumably 6 months later Mary gives birth to Jesus. Keeping in mind that Matthew states the John was to “Prepare ye the way of the Lord” we see this pattern repeated in the Baptist starting his ministry preparing the way for Jesus to begin his ministry.
Even in death, we see this pattern repeated; John was beheaded by orders from Herod Antipas, then later Jesus was crucified at the request of the Chief Priests, Pharisees, and with the collusion of the officers of the court of Herod.
We spoke earlier of how the Gospel writers sought to provide proof of Jesus’ divinity by illustrating the fulfillment of prophecy. Matthew begins this aspect of his Gospel by point out how John was the one foretold of by Elias, by quoting from Isaiah 40:3 “The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ” Instead of preaching in the temple and synagogues, John worked in the countryside, the rough undeveloped areas thought of as wilderness.
“And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (v. 2)
“Now repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand; the gospel dispensation of the covenant of grace, the opening of the kingdom of heaven to all believers, by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a kingdom of which Christ is the Sovereign, and we must be the willing, loyal subjects of it. It is a kingdom of heaven, not of this world, a spiritual kingdom: its original from heaven, its tendency to heaven. John preached this as at hand; then it was at the door; to us it is come, by the pouring out of the Spirit, and the full exhibition of the riches of gospel-grace.” (Henry)
“John began preaching “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). Listen to that one more time. John preached, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Jesus followed shortly afterwards, preaching, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). Did you get that? First John preaches repentance––then Jesus preaches repentance––John first, then Jesus. But even though John the Baptist was first in sequence, he was never first in importance. ” (Donovan)
Although today’s study ends with the introduction of John the Baptist, Matthew Henry, in my opinion summed up the best part of this study thus:
“The general summary of all this genealogy we have, v. 17, where it is summed up in three fourteens, signalized by remarkable periods. In the first fourteen, we have the family of David rising, and looking forth as the morning; in the second, we have it flourishing in its meridian lustre; in the third, we have it declining and growing less and less, dwindling into the family of a poor carpenter, and then Christ shines forth out of it, the glory of his people Israel.”
Benediction
Blessed Lord, who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant us so to hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which you have given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Thought for the Day:
“When our hearts turn to our ancestors, something changes inside us. We feel part of something greater than ourselves.”
—Russell M. Nelson
***
“The sacrifice our ancestors gave yesterday gave us today and our tomorrow.”
—Stephen Robert Kuta
Announcements:
Bible Studies From The Daily Office, is an outreach ministry designed to encourage the viewer to read one Old Testament or Epistle, a Psalm, and a Gospel selection everyday. Following each Gospel reading is a commentary designed to help the reader understand the traditional meaning of God’s Holy Word.
…………
If you like our work, please click on the Like and Follow, or Subscribe buttons—we do not receive any funding for this, nor do we openly solicit tithes or donations—but by liking and subscribing to our pages, you help to raise our rankings in the search engines so that a larger audience may find our work, especially those individuals who may need this inspiration.
The Way Of The Lord 