In the final week of this series, Here We Go Again, we are looking at Jesus' family tree. Many would have expected Jesus, the Son of God, to come from a line full of the most perfect, seemingly important people. Instead, Jesus' lineage consisted of unexpected, imperfect people. As we read about Jesus' genealogy, we are reminded that God does not work despite our weaknesses; He works and makes His power known through our weaknesses.
Who are some of the people you can remember from the genealogy of Jesus, and what do you know about them?
1. Why were genealogies important in Jesus’ day?
2. Read Matthew 1:2-17. What people in this genealogy stand out to you? Why?
Matthew 1:2-17
2 Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. 4 Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. 5 Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse. 6 Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). 7 Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa. 8 Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Jehoram. Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. 9 Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah. 11 Josiah was the father of Jehoiachin and his brothers (born at the time of the exile to Babylon). 12 After the Babylonian exile: Jehoiachin was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. 14 Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Akim. Akim was the father of Eliud. 15 Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. 16 Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. 17 All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah.
3. What people in this genealogy might be seen like “broken branches” in Jesus’ family tree? Why?
4. Read 1 Corinthians 1:26-29. What does this passage of Scripture teach regarding whom God uses and why?
1 Corinthians 1:26-29
Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.
1. Who is someone you know who might be seen as "weak" in the eyes of the world but has had an impact on your life?
2. What is an area in which you feel weak? How might God be using you today, despite your weakness?
3. How would understanding that God works through your weaknesses impact how you live your daily life?
If you truly believed that God was working through your weaknesses today, what difference would it make? What is one practical step you would take going forward if you walked in confidence that God worked through your weaknesses? Share that with your group and commit to taking that step this week. When you are finished, pray together. Thank God for how he works in your life through the weaknesses that you have, and ask Him to continue working in each one of your lives.
God's family tree contains imperfect people whom God worked through to accomplish big things. Let's examine three of the people in Jesus' timeline to understand just how God worked through their weaknesses.
One of the most complicated and complex people in Jesus' timeline was David. You see, David accomplished many great things for the Lord, but he also committed grave sins. Even still, God worked through David to accomplish big things and eventually become one of the most influential people in Jesus' timeline.
1. Read Psalm 51:9-19, a passage of Scripture that David wrote after being called out for his sins of adultery and murder.
Psalm 51:9-19
9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. 11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. 13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you. 14 Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves; then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness. 15 Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you. 16 You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. 17 The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God. 18 Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will be pleased with sacrifices offered in the right spirit— with burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. Then bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.
2. Summarize David’s message in this passage of Scripture.
3. What attitude did David demonstrate in this passage of Scripture?
4. What does this passage of Scripture demonstrate about the types of people God uses?
One of the most shocking inclusions of Jesus’ family tree, for more than one reason, was Rahab. You see, Rahab was a woman with a sordid past as a prostitute. Despite her past, God saw her faith and honored that faith, seeing fit to include her in Jesus’ lineage.
1. Read Joshua 2:1-16.
Joshua 2:1-16
Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp at Acacia Grove. He instructed them, “Scout out the land on the other side of the Jordan River, especially around Jericho.” So the two men set out and came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there that night. 2 But someone told the king of Jericho, “Some Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab: “Bring out the men who have come into your house, for they have come here to spy out the whole land.” 4 Rahab had hidden the two men, but she replied, “Yes, the men were here earlier, but I didn’t know where they were from. 5 They left the town at dusk, as the gates were about to close. I don’t know where they went. If you hurry, you can probably catch up with them.” 6 (Actually, she had taken them up to the roof and hidden them beneath bundles of flax she had laid out.) 7 So the king’s men went looking for the spies along the road leading to the shallow crossings of the Jordan River. And as soon as the king’s men had left, the gate of Jericho was shut. 8 Before the spies went to sleep that night, Rahab went up on the roof to talk with them. 9 “I know the Lord has given you this land,” she told them. “We are all afraid of you. Everyone in the land is living in terror. 10 For we have heard how the Lord made a dry path for you through the Red Sea when you left Egypt. And we know what you did to Sihon and Og, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River, whose people you completely destroyed. 11 No wonder our hearts have melted in fear! No one has the courage to fight after hearing such things. For the Lord your God is the supreme God of the heavens above and the earth below. 12 “Now swear to me by the Lord that you will be kind to me and my family since I have helped you. Give me some guarantee that 13 when Jericho is conquered, you will let me live, along with my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all their families.” 14 “We offer our own lives as a guarantee for your safety,” the men agreed. “If you don’t betray us, we will keep our promise and be kind to you when the Lord gives us the land.” 15 Then, since Rahab’s house was built into the town wall, she let them down by a rope through the window. 16 “Escape to the hill country,” she told them. “Hide there for three days from the men searching for you. Then, when they have returned, you can go on your way.
2. Summarize Rahab and her actions in this passage of Scripture.
3. How did Rahab demonstrate courage and faith in this passage of Scripture?
The final person that we are going to look at in Jesus’ family tree is Ruth. She may have seemed like a broken branch to those around her, but she was far from weak. Ruth was a woman of great strength and faith when it seemed that she had lost everything, including her husband and her homeland. God honored her faith and allowed her to be a vital part of the family tree of Jesus.
1. Read Ruth 1:1-18.
Ruth 1:1-18
In the days when the judges ruled in Israel, a severe famine came upon the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah left his home and went to live in the country of Moab, taking his wife and two sons with him. 2 The man’s name was Elimelech, and his wife was Naomi. Their two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in the land of Judah. And when they reached Moab, they settled there. 3 Then Elimelech died, and Naomi was left with her two sons. 4 The two sons married Moabite women. One married a woman named Orpah, and the other a woman named Ruth. But about ten years later, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion died. This left Naomi alone, without her two sons or her husband. 6 Then Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had blessed his people in Judah by giving them good crops again. So Naomi and her daughters-in-law got ready to leave Moab to return to her homeland. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she set out from the place where she had been living, and they took the road that would lead them back to Judah. 8 But on the way, Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back to your mothers’ homes. And may the Lord reward you for your kindness to your husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord bless you with the security of another marriage.” Then she kissed them good-bye, and they all broke down and wept. 10 “No,” they said. “We want to go with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi replied, “Why should you go on with me? Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? 12 No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes, for I am too old to marry again. And even if it were possible, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? 13 Would you wait for them to grow up and refuse to marry someone else? No, of course not, my daughters! Things are far more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord himself has raised his fist against me.” 14 And again they wept together, and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law good-bye. But Ruth clung tightly to Naomi. 15 “Look,” Naomi said to her, “your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods. You should do the same.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. 17 Wherever you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!” 18 When Naomi saw that Ruth was determined to go with her, she said nothing more.
2. What did Ruth sacrifice in order to follow Naomi?
3. How did Ruth’s actions honor God?
1. What surprised you about these people who were included in Jesus’ family tree?
2. What common characteristics do you see in all three people that might have gotten God's attention and allowed them to be a part of Jesus' family tree?
3. What is one step you can take to follow the example of these three imperfect yet faithful people?
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