The Birth of the King
Matthew 1 & 2

The Story Continues
 
"A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father  . . . . of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam  . . . .  Asa, . . . . Jehoshaphat . . . . Jehoram, . . . Uzziah . . . . Jotham . . . . Ahaz . . . . Hezekiah, Hezekiah . . . . Manasseh, Manasseh . . . . Amon, . . . . Josiah . . . . . . Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah  . . . . Shealtiel,  . . . Zerubbabel the father . . . . . of  Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ."   Matthew 1:1-17(NIV)

3 + 14

The first book of the New Testament is Matthew, which, not surprisingly, references the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament) more than the other three gospels.
 
He starts by remembering all the people out of whom God created a nation which He would use to bring all people on earth back “home”, back to himself, the Father of us all.  

Beginning with Abraham there are three groupings of names (Before the Monarchy, between David and the Exile, and after the exile) each grouping with 14 names each. Matthew did not list every name (“mother/father of” also means ancestor of ) but puts the genealogy together in an orderly way for the purpose of showing that God has a plan and that plan will hold and come to completion. The orderly plan also implies to readers that the birth of Jesus is culmination of that plan just at the right time and just at the right place. (Luke’s genealogy differs, it is thought, in that it traces Jesus back through Mary’s ancestors) 

Do you notice that people we would consider unworthy or embarrassments to one’s ancestry are included? Judah, Reheboam, Manasseh, Jeconiah are not the role models you would roll out for your children. Yet they are there. . . . . just like you and I are there, part of God’s family tree through Jesus. And I suspect God is not ashamed to call you or me his beloved daughter or son. 

Prayer

“Lord, it is astonishing, astonishing, astonishing that you would choose to enter the mess of humanity and the mess that is me and choose to adopt me as your own. Yet, this you have done. Please help to accept your acceptance of me and then to pass that acceptance on to others. In Jesus’ name. Amen”