A Son of Abraham ...

The Messiah must be a Jew.  This was the promise given to Abraham 2000 years before it would be fulfilled.  Abram (the Canaanite) not many years after the flood (Noah was still living), would search for the true God, and would find Him.  He would have his name changed to Abraham.  He would become the father of a nation, in point of fact, of several.  But through the nation of Israel would come the hope of this world, the Messiah.  So the Messiah must be a Jew.  He must trace His bloodline back through David all the way to Abraham.  His lineage must be preserved (or the records of it anyway) through the captivity in Babylon, and the days of slavery in Egypt.  This would require meticulous record keeping.  It would take a forensic accountant to uncover it, to reveal it, to prove it to those who might bring up a question about it.  This is where the skills of a former tax collector for Rome might now come in useful for something far more important.  And so Matthew enters the scene, and he offers a proof to those he will minister to.

In chapter one, verse 1 states … “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”  Matthew begins with what Jews will want to know most; is He one of us?  Is His bloodline pure?  For upstanding Jews to accept Jesus they must insure He was not part of the Samaritan ilk.  Jesus must share no gentile blood, no mix of Egypt, or Babylon.  He must be of pure blood, like themselves.  This was important to Jews.  But why?  The location of the land given to the Jewish people was central to the largest population base after the flood.  Only small numbers of native peoples migrated to the far ends of the world.  The bulk of peoples migrated much nearer and grew up as neighbors with each other.  To reach the most of them, the location of the people of Israel would play a central role.  The entire pick was designed not to seal the gospel or good news of a God who loves mankind, behind the walls of a pure bloodline religion.  It was picked in order to make sure every traveler from every land could know it.  Purity of blood was not supposed to equate with hoarding the good news of God.

But it did.  And in our day, we erect similar walls of purity for our church to hide behind.  Some erect the walls of doctrinal differences, and claim all those on the outside of what we believe, are simply not right with God.  To maintain purity, we must hide behind our walls, never venturing out to touch our brother, lest the purity of our ideas be tarnished.  In our day, some elect the walls of socio-economic status.  We fellowship only with those of like income, like interests, and like health.  We do not wish to be seen with the sick, the imprisoned or guilty, and those who cannot afford the lifestyles we have been blessed to receive.  We like our Jewish forefathers believe that poverty is a sign of God’s displeasure.  So mankind erects barriers for the gospel to hide behind, to keep it pure.

Matthew continues in verse 2 saying … “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren;”  This was the holy beginnings of the Jewish people.  Isaac and Jacob are nearly always mentioned in the same breath as Abraham himself.  And Judah would be one of only two tribes who remained pure after the other ten separated past Solomon the son of David’s rule.  The other ten would become Samaritans.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; [verse 4] And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; [verse 5] And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;”  From Judah, the generations are tracked through the slavery of Egypt, the Exodus, and the time of the Judges down to David’s father Jesse.  But alas, the bloodline now includes a few women of significantly less pure blood.  The harlot Rachab from the wall of Jericho is listed.  The daughter Ruth a Moabite is also included in the list.  Proof that our God includes those who seek His face, not just those who were supposed to be born to it.  Proof that starting life as a prostitute does mean one must end their life in the same condition.

 Matthew continues in verse 6 saying … “And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; [verse 7] And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; [verse 8] And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; [verse 9] And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; [verse 10] And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; [verse 11] And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon:”  Matthew calls out again for us that the wife of Urias is included in the bloodline of Jesus.  Great sin does not end our life, if great redemption is sought.  He carries through the names until the time of the captivity in Babylon is reached.

Matthew continues in verse 12 stating … “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; [verse 13] And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; [verse 14] And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; [verse 15] And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; [verse 16] And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.”  It is here where the fallacy in Jewish logic is revealed.  The bloodline of Joseph is traced and recorded, but Joseph will have no participation in the bloodline of Jesus, only Mary will do that.  Mary too, was from the house of David, and to be perfectly accurate it is her ancestry that should have been tracked.  But Jews will not accept the dominance of a female in the lineage.  So they accept Jesus based on the lineage of Joseph the husband of Mary, the adopted father.

Matthew then notices the symmetry of the numbers recounting the generations in verse 17 saying … “ 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.”  14 times 3 or 42 generations from Abraham to Jesus.  42 generations to span around 2000 years of our history.  The work of the forensic account was complete.  The purity of the bloodline of Jesus was enumerated, not just to apply a list of names of father to son; but to fulfill the promises made to Abraham, to Ruth, to David, to Solomon.  Many of the generations that precede the birth of Jesus have been promised to participate in it through their descendants.  This is not just a single generation affair, it spans the millennia.  Fulfillment has already begun.

The Messiah must be a Jew.  The Messiah is.  For any who had a question about His lineage, Matthew has singlehandedly put their fears or doubts to rest.  But why?  Does the fact that I descend from someone great make me great?  We would all like to think so.  But the deeds of David belong to David, not to his son, or to me.  The faith of Abraham belongs to Abraham not to me.  I did not offer my firstborn as a sacrifice to our Lord at His command.  I can barely get out of bed to honor the Lord I serve.  Hardly seems like the faith of Abraham in comparison.  But the comparisons hardly end there.  How many of us look back to our church fathers, the founders of our faith, at the great deeds they have done and take some sort of pride in them, as if we participated in those acts as well?  We didn’t. 

The church founders who accomplished so great deeds of faith and study belong to them not me.  Just because I subscribe to the same set of doctrines they discovered does not make me some sort of pioneer.  At best it makes me a plagiarist.  Because I hold similar beliefs does mean I have had to tread the road of faith and personal discovery with Jesus that they did.  My road is my own.  What I do, what I will be remembered for (if I am remembered at all) will be what I have offered to the world.  The purity of my heritage means nothing without an execution of greatness from me as well.  Our Jewish forefathers, who held to the right religion before we did, who held the right scriptures we still read and base our thinking upon; they had an advantage of birthright, but without action decay into history without so much as an afterthought.

We can call ourselves a son or daughter of God because of what Jesus Christ did for us.  But in so referring to ourselves, do we rightly represent the Father we claim lineage to?  Do we too, burn with a passion for loving others?  Not just the easy folks to love, like family, church members, and co-workers (and I understand easy is relative), but to love strangers, and enemies, and people with different political beliefs that horrifically conflict with our own.  Loving others gets tricky sometimes.  Am I willing to give up everything I have for someone I hardly know, or hardly like, or can’t stand?  Jesus did.  Jesus did not think twice about it.  It is not the bloodline that distinguishes the life of Christ, it is what He did with His own while He was here.  It is that He loved people who called themselves His enemies.  He loved the guy who spit in His face.  He loved the guy who put a nail through His hands and feet.  He loved the religious leader who had ALL the doctrine completely wrong and lived like a complete hypocrite.  And He loves me, even with all the crap that makes up my life.  His life is remembered, because when you think of Him, you cannot hardly stop talking about how much He loved.

When we think of ourselves as a son or daughter of God, is the first description of what that means, a passionate way of loving that takes over how we live.  If so, you are destined to be remembered.  It may be the only measurement of a life worth taking.  Matthew had a lot more to say about that …

 

The Origin of Life (witness number seventeen) ...

Where do you come from?  Is your heritage of birth something you take pride in?  Or perhaps, is the lineage of the great patriarchs of your faith something you have grown comfortable resting within, leaning on, and somehow have come to believe their faith and accomplishments transfers in some way to you?  The Pharisees in the days of Christ had this in their Patriarch Abraham.  He was both progenitor and founding icon of the Jewish system of belief.  And thus the Pharisees took pride in their lineage; and in the comparative wisdom of their faith over the ideas of the heathen, idol-worshipping, ignorant lot of the surrounding nation states.  The Pharisees reasoned they descended from greatness, and therefore must also be great in some way.  But are we any different?

While our parentage may not trace back to Abraham, the founding icons of our various faiths are often something we take pride in.  Whether it be a particular Papal leader, or Martin Luther, or John Wesley, or Joseph Smith, or Ellen White, or Billy Graham, or Joel Osteen; often modern Christians seem to look backwards for those who performed great deeds of sacrifice, or spoke great words of inspiration, or penned great books of enlightenment.  We believe, like our spiritual Pharisee forefathers, that the actions of the founding fathers of our particular faith, transfer to us a richness of heritage that somehow allow us to share in their deeds.  But most of us, have accomplished no such similar feats of faith or inspiration.  In truth, our only connection to them, may be that we share their ideals, while falling short of their actions and examples.  The idea, that we are somehow “better” because of where we come from, is a delusion the devil is all too happy to foster within us.  For the idea lulls us into inaction, and causes us to measure our faith and “goodness” against those around us, who because they do not share our brand of Christianity, must by definition be “ignorant”.  Comparative holiness, is not holy at all.  The myth that where we come from matters was a myth Christ must now redirect.

And so in John’s gospel account, in chapter eight, in verse 37, we resume the Sermon Christ would give in dialogue with His Pharisee accusers.  Christ had already identified Himself as the origin of light, and then the origin of truth.  Now He must add to this, that He was the origin of life itself.  The Pharisees offered the idea that since they descended from Abraham, they were somehow better than those around them, not bound to any man, or to sin itself.  Their pride, and self-reliance, stemmed from a false idea of transference from their ancestry.  But Jesus could not allow this idea to stand, if they were to be saved, they must cease from looking backwards, and begin to see the source of their salvation was standing in front of them.  We must seek the origin of life, and abandon the origins of pride.  So in verse 37 Christ responds to them … “I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. [verse 38] I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.”

Ancestry does not transfer to us, when our actions are in conflict with the source of salvation.  Abraham had been saved by faith (as pointed out in the book of Hebrews).  It was not faith in himself, that had saved Abraham, it was faith that God would save him.  This was faith the Pharisees had abandoned in their day, they were not looking to be saved by any Messiah from outside of themselves.  They did not believe they needed to be saved from themselves or from evil.  The only freedom they were looking for was from Roman oppression.  As far as spiritual matters went, they were fully comfortable that the forms of religion Abraham had given them were enough to keep them pure.  Here Christ cuts through the pretenses and articulates their supposedly hidden plans and motives – they plan to kill Him.  He then goes further and offers motive; they want to do this, because they do not want to accept the ideas or words of Christ, that they are in fact servants of sin, bound to it, and require salvation from outside of themselves.  The only response evil has for love is to kill it.  Their ancestry offers nothing to stop this.

Christ then identifies that the source of all evil began with the “father” of evil.  He contrasts the deeds of love that His Father is pleased by, with the intentions of these religious leaders to kill Him, in order to maintain their wealth, power, and control over the people.  Those actions trace to a source far earlier than Abraham, they trace back to Lucifer.  When once Lucifer chose to break trust with God, and pursue a course of self instead of service, evil was born into him, and into the universe.  The choice not to love was at the heart of evil itself.  And the addictive, degenerative nature of evil, spiraled Lucifer out of control, until Satan was the only name that fit him.  It was Satan who now stood masked within the crowds standing in that temple.  He strongly influenced the minds of religious leaders, who refused to accept the love standing in front of them, and instead only fueled their hatred as a response.  Their actions were not the heritage of one saved by faith, but instead the heritage of one steeped in evil.

In verse 39 they repeat to Jesus … “They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. …”  This was all they had to offer to Christ who only seconds before had revealed plans and motives they thought were completely hidden to Him and the crowd.  The best defense they could muster.  But then, often when we are caught in our sin, when our true motives are revealed publicly to our surprise, we have little to say.  It takes our minds time, to find a lie that might cover our sins, or make us appear less evil than we truly are.  But as Christ was speaking truth, he needed no time to think to continue; and so he responds continuing in verse 39 … “Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. [verse 40] But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. [verse 41] Ye do the deeds of your father.”  Ouch.  The source of their intent to murder Christ could not be traced back to Abraham in any way.  All those present knew that Abraham was not a murderer.

The beauty of the truth Christ had offered them came from His Father.  The beauty of salvation, the offer of love, the chance to be “made free” from sin by Him, the Truth, and the Light, was something Christ brought to them in concert with His Father.  He contrasts His own record of action and love with what they intend and again points out that only the devil is the author of this kind of behavior.  At this revelation, they forget for a moment that they do not to accept that Christ descended from God the Father.  They fully understood what He was pointing out, and they were not going to sit still for it.  So instead they too want to claim God as their father continuing in verse 41 … “Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.”  Again they introduce ideas of their own about how holiness is achieved.  They claim that since their parents were married, and committed no sin in the origin of their birth, they are somehow pure and descend from God the Father.  This was a not too subtle dig at the idea that Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph were married.  In effect, they are calling Christ’s birth into ill repute compared with their own.  They continue to ignore the revelation that they intend to kill Christ, and that this alone could not be reconciled with the God of love.

In verse 42 Jesus responds … “Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.”  Notice that Jesus does not respond defensively to the slight about His own birth.  But instead restates that His birth was orchestrated by God the Father.  He was not here by chance, but by design.  And He further reveals that “love” is the hallmark of descending from His Father.  For His Father is the Father of love.  I wonder how often the reputation of modern Christians is associated with a people who are known first and foremost for the love they show to the world around them.  More often, the association that springs to mind when contemplating modern Christianity is one of judgment, condemnation, and a propensity to “defend” our moral rights with the full force of the power of the state to compel by law.  Perhaps we too have lost sight, of what the hallmark of following our God reveals most within us.  If we too descend from God, we would “love” and not judge or condemn.

In verse 43 Jesus continues … “Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.”  When we walk away from Christ, when we look to self, and our heritage to save us, instead of to the source of Light and Truth, we become unable to perceive truth even when it is right in front of us.  This was the state of the Pharisees that day.  Is it also the state of our faith today?  Have we too decided to look into the mirror to find relief from sin, and a source of truth and light?   Jesus continues in verse 44 … “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. [verse 45] And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.”  When we look to self, we embrace the path of Satan.  It is self-gratification that lies behind every deed of depravity and evil.  It is the quest to please self, that can embrace the idea, that we could take from others if we believe it is something we need.  It is the embrace of self, that would allow us to rationalize that if we need to kill another to take what we deserve, or defend what is ours, that these actions are acceptable.  And to cover our deeds, both to others, and to ourselves, we embrace the lies we tell ourselves.  The path of Satan rejects truth, because it prefers a lie.  A lie feels better than a revelation of the evil of “who” we are.  Darkness for our deeds is better than light that shows them for what they really look like, and who they hurt as we commit them.  This was the contrast the savior was laying out for the men who were on that day refusing to see Light, or hear truth.

In verse 46 Jesus continued … “Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? [verse 47] He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.”  Here Christ challenges them to prove that anything He has said or done is something that is sin.  This is particularly poignant since one of the supposed crimes Christ committed was to restore a lame man to complete health on the Sabbath day.  Despite their dislike of this action, none of the educated men of the law, were able to prove this act of love was in any way wrong.  Jesus then asserts a logical conclusion, if He is speaking the truth (otherwise they could prove He lied and was sinful), then the fact that they refuse to hear Him and His truth, indicates “who” they can truly trace their origins back to.  Those who look to God, hear God; those who look away do not.

This infuriated the Pharisee accusers who stood in that crowd.  They would now question his Jewish purity by calling Him a Samaritan, and take it further to say He was completely crazy, perhaps possessed by a devil as in verse 48 they retort … “Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”  My guess is the Samaritan reference was based on His known interactions with the Samaritan woman and her village, as well as the fact that Christ was raised in Nazareth (where no good thing had ever come from).  Again the Jews are attempting to say that His origin makes Him unfit to be the Messiah.  They ignore their own intentions and motives, and instead try to cast focus on the qualities of Christ they believe make Him unfit by comparison.  How often do we modern Christians when caught in our sins, try to cast the blame on others who either joined us in our sins, or committed “worse” ones that we are aware of.  We do nothing to accept our own condition, and instead try to rationalize that we are still better than some other folks we know.  Comparative holiness is not holiness at all.

Jesus simply responded in verse 49 … “Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me. [verse 50] And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.”  Ouch.  Did you hear that modern Christians, and the guy who stares back at me in the mirror; there is “one” that seeketh and judgeth – It is not Christ that does that – it is the father they serve – Satan.  When Christians are known more for their judgment than their love, it is not Christ they truly serve, but His enemy instead.  The hallmark of those who follow the God of love, is that they love, without precondition or restraint.  The hallmark of those who demand justice, and seek to judge, is of the enemy of love, not its author.  Forgiveness after all, is an expression of continued love, in the face of wrong doing and pain and hurt.  This is the response our God offers our slights, our misdeeds, and our actions that cause Him and everyone pain as we try to serve self.  He does not judge, He is bent on redemption and salvation and reform and freedom from this condition.  Sin condemns itself.  It needs no help from God on this matter.  It is Satan who demands we “pay” for what we have done, and continue to do.  It is Satan who relishes when we spend our time focused on the sin of others, rather than on how to love them back to Christ.  The lesson of the rebuke of Christ to the religious leaders of His day, is NO less relevant to us today.

But in a last plea to those who hate Him, despise Him, and are bent on killing Him; Christ reveals one more truth to them regarding origins.  He reveals that life itself originates within Him.  In verse 51 He continues … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.”  Christ is not talking about the mortal death that comes with age or misfortune.  He is referring to the only death that matters, the second death, the death that results in eternal non-existence.  Those who followed Him that day all died and sleep in their graves.  But sleep lasts but an instant for those engaged in it.  When they awake to the resurrection of the righteous, they will sleep no more the sleep of death.  Those however, who refuse the offer of redemption and salvation, will awake only to see the result of their choices played out for a short time.  They will then taste of the eternal death in the lake of fire until finally death itself is consumed there.  This second death is the only one that truly matters, for from its grasp there will be no escape, or additional resurrection.  It is the eternal sleep of the second death that Christ is here referring to.  It is that death that those who believe on Him will never taste.  For Christ reveals here, he is the origin of our life.

The listening Pharisees however, did not see this larger view.  They thought only that Christ was making an offer of immediate immortality, and believed now for sure they had Him.  In verse 52 they answer … “Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. [verse 53] Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?”  This was an attempt to get the other people listening, to see Christ as having an ego the size of the great outdoors.  If they could get the people to believe this was pride talking, they could win the debate.  Human mortality was something they were certain of, the idea of a second death never crossed their minds, nor did the concept that God being the author of all life, could restore that which evil had taken away.

To their attempts at associating Him with pride Jesus responds in verse 54 … “Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: [verse 55] Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.”  Christ is not here to seek glory for Himself, but for His Father.  It is the revelation of the love of God the Father that glorifies Him.  If those who stood accusing Christ, truly knew the love of God His Father, they would have rejoiced at the offers of love Christ was extending to them and to all who would choose to believe.  But the proof is in the pudding as they say, those accusers were all too happy to lie to themselves and to those around them about where the origins of Christ were. 

The learned men in front of Him, had studied Abraham well, and were familiar with the stories of sojourning, looking for the promised land.  They knew of his trip to Egypt and the miraculous way in which God restored Sarah back to him from the grasp of the Pharoah.  They knew of the miraculous birth of Isaac when both parents were long thought to be beyond the ability to conceive.  They knew of the visit by God and his two angels on the way to survey the evil of Sodom, and the deal which Abraham proposed to God to spare the city if only 10 righteous people could be found in it.  Jesus now appeals to their study as he further states in verse 56 … “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.”

Christ is here referring to the visit He paid Abraham while traveling to survey the city of Sodom.  It was to Abraham’s great joy that He was able to spend time with His God, face to face, attempting to serve a meal to His honored guests.  Christ here reveals it was Him who Abraham met with on that day, and with Him that Abraham tried to negotiate a deal around Sodom.  But His accusers could not accept this idea either.  Human logic dictates that Christ is nowhere near old enough to have met Abraham.  They counter Him in verse 57 saying … “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?”  They expected this would end the argument in their favor.  First they believed Christ was boasting about being able to offer life to those who would believe on Him.  Then they thought they had Him, on claiming to have seen Abraham.  For sure they had proven to the crowd that Christ was a mad man at the least.  They never imagined the response that would follow.  To quote the words offered Moses when He asked for the name of God to reveal to the Israelites who would want to know who sent him to them, Jesus now applies to Himself.

In verse 58 He exclaims … “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”  Only God had ever uttered these words.  Only God could legitimately state them, as only He would be our creator, the author of the life given to us as a gift.  Being the “I am” was a term that could ONLY be associated with God.  And the response of evil in the face of love, was to kill it.  The Pharisees would not hear this idea, and in a fruitless effort to silence the truth, they took up stones to stone Him with.  Had it been the appointed time of His sacrifice, they might have succeeded.  Surely the devil longed to see God’s creations reject His offers of salvation, and take up stones to kill their very creator.  It would be the ultimate irony to have the objects of so great love, kill that love as a response.  But the time was not yet.  And so Jesus hid himself from them and left the temple, passing right through the midst of them.  John does not omit this detail, because again, it is a miracle that the mob was unable to kill Him.  It is beyond the realm of human possibility that He could have passed right through the middle of a mob bent on stoning Him, without so much as a pebble being cast His way.  His offer of light, of truth that changes who we are, of life that has no end and of love to His accusers was rejected again.  But love is never too busy to notice one in need …