1.18-25

[youversion]Matthew 1:18-25[/youversion] | A teenage mom claiming, “It’s God’s child, I swear.” goes over about as good now as it would have 2000 years ago! But Joseph, being a righteous man, remains calm, treats Mary with kindness and somehow manages to fall asleep that night. Somewhere in the night he is told through a dream to take Mary home as his wife and that the child she has conceived is from the Spirit of God. So, follow this… you go from falling asleep crushed, thinking your fiancee is ummmmm… how do we say this lightly… a “not-so-faithful-woman”; to being told, in your dream, by an angel, that this is God’s child. Yeah, uh, Wow! How do you start that breakfast conversation!?
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The Ballad of Matthew’s Begats

1.1-17

[youversion]Matthew 1:1-17[/youversion] | Have you ever wondered why Matthew begins with a list of names? What purpose would he have in beginning his story with all the boring stuff? C’mon… be honest… don’t you read past all of those names and get to the good part where angels are showing up and wise men are traveling in? But what if Matthew had a reason for listing out all of those names? What if they were there for a really, really important reason and the place we just yada, yada through is actually one of the most important pieces of the story?

In fact, these first seventeen verses of Matthew ARE the story.
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