The lovely Kaitlyn from The SoCal Gal invited me to do a guest post for her blog series: 12 Days of Christmas. I was more than happy to oblige. Hope you enjoy!
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The little girl slowly opened her eyes. The sun had yet to peep over the horizon. She was about to snuggle back into the covers when the faint smell of bacon caused her to sit up.
Why is Dad making breakfast so early? We don’t have to do school… oh!”
Suddenly remembering the significance of the day, she leapt out of bed and ran to her siblings’ rooms.
“It’s Christmas guys, get up!”
Three pairs of feet tumbled down the stairs and breathlessly wished their parents a “Merry Christmas!” before carefully examining the presents beside the tree.
“Eat your breakfast first kids,” their mother said, smiling at their eager faces.
Breakfast was dutifully consumed, but there was yet one thing left to do before tearing into the colorfully wrapped presents. Picking up a Bible, their father led them to the family room where they all sat next to the fire and listened as he read the Christmas story.
This scene is one which replays every year at our house, as it undoubtedly does in numerous other Christian households. While we no longer exchange gifts, one tradition still remains: reading the opening chapters of Matthew or Luke. I heard the Christmas story so many times growing up, that I knew it by heart.
At least I thought I did.
Several years ago, I decided to read through the Matthew account on my own. To my surprise, Matthew doesn’t start with the familiar words, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:” No, the opening verses of Matthew are, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar;…”
Several years ago, I decided to read through the Matthew account on my own. To my surprise, Matthew doesn’t start with the familiar words, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise:” No, the opening verses of Matthew are, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar;…”
The Christmas story starts with a genealogy!
I really appreciated this post, Gloria! You're right, the Christmas story is so much more. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed it Jessica! Thanks for reading. :)
DeleteThat's a pretty cool post, Gloria. Good job writing it! :) Have you also thought about how Jesus is portrayed in each of the gospels? He's manifested as:
ReplyDeleteKing in Matthew,
Servant in Mark,
Man in Luke,
God in John.
Because Jesus is shown as a king in Matthew, it is fitting that there would be a genealogy right in the beginning. If someone was going to be your king, wouldn't you like to know where he was coming from?
In Mark, we wouldn't expect to see a genealogy because no one really cares where a servant comes from. Their lineage is not as important as a king. A servant serves others.
In Luke, Jesus establishes his full human rights and natural lineage. In John, the first chapter starts out with "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." God didn't have a beginning or an end. He was from the beginning, even before the beginning, and he always will be. He has no genealogy in John---it traces back to "from everlasting".
John 8:58- "Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."
Well, I hope you didn't mind that extremely long comment. Maybe you've already seen that before, or maybe it was new. As I read your post, those thoughts were flowing in my head and I wanted to share them with you in case you hadn't noticed that before. :) I think the gospels are so neat. I love how they're not 4 different accounts; just the same account written by 4 different people. :)
I hope you had a lovely Christmas, Gloria.
With much love in our Lord,
Ashley
Wow, I hadn't noticed that before! It's fascinating to see how God used four different writers to emphasize different aspects of Christ and His ministry. Thanks so much for sharing Ashley!
DeleteWow, Ashley - excuse me for eavesdropping, but that is such an interesting observation! Thanks for sharing; I'll be keeping it in mind. Isn't it so powerful how every little detail in the Bible is significant?!
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