Christ and his Family Tree

Opening Question:

Family trees. What’s the point of tracing your heritage? What’s the point of looking at family trees?

I have found out that most of the time, you can find out some interesting facts about your family when you do a family tree. In fact, this isn’t dating way back, but looking at Anne’s family tree, we were able to look back at her ancestors. And, did you know that Anne’s Great grandfather was the President/Prime Minister of Yugoslavia? He was. He was the Prime Minister from 1932-1934. Look him up on the web – Milan Srskic. I know that is Anne’s dad’s name, but that was also the name of her great grandfather. To go a little bit more, Anne’s grandfather was very influential in politics and was making some noise when, one day, he went to work never to return. Anne’s dad ended up being sent over to America where some relatives took him in at a very young age. He’s never been back to that area until this past spring.

You find out a lot about people based on their history. They are who they are today based on life experiences and the people in their lives.

Today, we are going to look at another family tree. Since it is Christmas season, I thought it would be good to look at the whose who of Jesus’ past. What do we learn from Jesus’ family tree? Who were some of the cast of characters in Jesus’ past? Let’s find out.

Scripture

I’m not going to read you the whole family history of Jesus. However, I want to highlight some people from Jesus’ family tree:

1. Ruth (Matthew 1:5 – Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,)
What do we know about Ruth? (Genesis 19:30-38; Ruth 1-4)

She was born through a history of incest. That’s right, her relative got her dad, Lot, drunk so that he ended up sleeping with her and got her pregnant so she could have a baby. Out of that history, years later, she was born.

2. David (Matthew 1:6 – and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,)
- What do we know about David? (Read 1 Samuel 16,17; 2 Samuel 11)

He killed Goliath and became King of Israel – not bad
Then he used his power, as King, to have an affair with a soldier’s wife. Once he found out that she was pregnant, he assured that the soldier – her husband – would be killed in battle by having him placed on the front lines of battle – not so good

3. Tamar (Matthew 1:3 – Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,)
- What do we know about Tamar? (Genesis 38:6-16)

Tamar was frustrated with being without a child. After all, her 2 previous husbands were killed.
So, she took matters into her own hands, prostituted herself and became pregnant by her dead husband’s father

This doesn’t look like the family line of God does it? It looks more like the Hall of Shame than the Hall of Champions.

Now trust me, there are plenty of other people in his lineage that weren’t like these. But these are just 3 I selected here. In fact, what does this show you about Jesus’ history? How do you think having these people in Jesus’ life impacted him? (Let students answer)

It impacted his life enough because he committed his life to helping others – in particular, people who were the social outcasts.

Application

Jesus comes from a lineage of outcasts, fallen kings and prostitutes. They aren’t all those types of people, but there are enough of them to show you that he wasn’t raised from Kings and trained to be royalty. No, he was raised from normal people, with everyday struggles.

To me, that means that he can relate to us. He understands us.

Although he was destined to be king, he wasn’t trained to be above us or raised to by royalty. No, he grew up from a carpenter dad who probably struggled to make ends meet. He grew up from mom who probably had to escape rumors about her infidelity. After all, who has ever heard of a virgin giving birth?

Not only did he grow up with it, but he dedicated his life to ministering to the outcasts, the “people that didn’t matter”.

So, as you go home today, I want you to take this home: Jesus can relate to the circumstances you are in. He understands what you go through. How? Because he lived through it and grew up with it.

Jesus isn’t someone who is “too good” for you who looks down on you when you mess up. He is someone who can relate to you and help you through all things.

Hebrews 2:18 – "Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted."

He knows what you are going through and he can help you through it all.

The question you will have to answer now is, will you let him? Will you let him come into your life and help you through it, one day at a time? Or will you brush him aside and continue to take your chance at your way?

Remember, as I pointed out at the beginning, you are today based on life experiences and your history. Starting this week, let’s change our experiences and the course of our history by putting 100% trust into Christ and his ability to help us and lead us. Let’s not waste another day, week, month or year. He knows what you are going through and can help you through it. Let’s put our trust in Him.

Pray