It’s the very first verse of Scripture’s Second Testament. And it picks up — majestically, beautifully — right where the First Testament left off, providing the genealogy of “Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
The rest of Matthew’s gospel and the whole of the Second Testament rests on this opening line. A Messiah has arrived, and this Messiah is the Son of David and the Seed of Abraham. He is the new Solomon, a rightful King for a Kingdom that, as explained by the prophet Nathan, will have no end. Unlike Solomon before him, this new King will lead Israel forward in their true identity as God’s people — to spread God’s favor to the nations, extending their blessing and fulfilling their covenant relationship with God inaugurated in Abraham.
A blessing to the nations. A Kingdom that has no end. Such significance in that very first verse of Matthew’s gospel.
Merry Christmas.
http://paulglavic.wordpress.com/So what say you? I'm specifically asking about the take on "their true identity as God's people"...do you think the description of that identity given here is applicable to us/you?
I'm not sure how I feel...
Perhaps someone will say something that will help me gain clarity.
I hope you are all still "making merry":)
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1 comment:
Thanks for posting this Scot! Interesting stuff...
I guess what confused me first were the adjectives "majestically, beautifully - right where the First Testament left off." To me, there is a big break between the two testaments, both in style, content, and time line. Hundreds of years passed between the time of the prophets and the birth of Jesus. Malachi ends with a statement about the coming of Elijah, a great prophet to "turn the hearts of the fathers to their children" - which then is used as a descriptor of Jesus by the angel who appears to Zechariah, interestingly to describe John the Baptist, not Jesus. It seems to me to describe the jump from first to second testament as "majestic" or "beautiful" is an example of assuming everything in the Bible should be divine, instead of recognizing it for the jolting shift in gears that it is.
As far as the phrase "their true identity as God's people" - it seems that the author of the blog is thinking about Jesus' role as the perfect king. Certainly this is the emphasis of the early chapters of Matthew, given the genealogy tracing to King David, and then the Magi (kings from the east) coming to give Jesus gifts and worship him as king (not as "God").
I think it's interesting to think about the implications of whatever political/national leader as being the one who determines the identity of the people. Especially given American politics, Obama's recent Nobel Peace Prize, and the extremely divided nature of the American people, I'm not sure any one person sets our identity fully. But yet, if we follow Jesus the king of another kingdom - the kingdom of the heavens - then he does effectively change our identity, who we are, who we should be.
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