1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The message from God’s Word as we begin our Advent Midweek Series studying Jesus’ family tree is taken from Matthew 1:1 & 6 where Matthew writes, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. . . . Jesse [was] the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.” (Mt 1:1, 6) The message is entitled, “Jesus: The Son of David,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. King Edward VIII of England is not the heroic king who led the British against war and oppression. He was not the famed leader who put the needs of the people before the crown. He was not the inspiration for a Shakespearean play or for folk singers or movie producers. King Edward VIII was a disappointing king who resigned his throne just to marry a divorced woman. Names like Henry V and Richard the Lionheart and Elizabeth I and even Elizabeth II will be remembered through the ages, but not Edward. Edward is barely little more than a black mark on—the British monarchy.
3. St. Matthew introduces Jesus to his readers by tracing the lineage of the promised Messiah through kings and patriarchs, heroes and disappointments. He begins his Gospel with the words, “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1). The evangelist packs great meaning into that one sentence, it is here that he goes back to Jesus’ ancestors and the prophecies of the long-promised Savior. Jesus came to be greater than David and Abraham by ushering in a kingdom that shall have no end. God’s plan before the foundation of the world was that one of David and Abraham’s own descendants would be the One who would redeem God’s people.
4. There is great interest in genealogies today. In the past, such interest was usually confined to one dutiful family member who would gather all the information together and begin reconstructing the family tree. But, genealogy websites have simplified such work so that even the most casual observers are able to explore their family histories and better understand their pasts. The scientific advances of DNA are also allowing people to explore more than just one or two branches of the family tree and also to understand how all the generations of the past have come together in each unique, individual family member.
5. In these weeks of Advent, the sermons will help us unpack the significance of Jesus’ genealogy and how God was at work weaving his plan of salvation throughout the history of his chosen people—as he reveals in the Old Testament all the way through Joseph and Mary. Tonight, we’ll see how David’s son is David’s lord and rules on David’s throne forever.
6. Unlike King Edward VIII of England, King David is considered the great hero of Judah and Israel. After those kingdoms fell on account of their sinfulness and unbelief, many waited in hope that one of David’s descendants would come to restore Israel to its former glory. They hoped for a warrior king who would crush their enemies and make them a nation that was again to be feared. Make Israel great again we can hear them say.
7. But why does Matthew call Jesus the Son of David when he was the descendant of other kings as well? Jesus was also a descendant of Manasseh, the king who led Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the Amorites and the nations before them. Why did Matthew not want to focus on, let’s just say, Manasseh, the king who sacrificed his own sons to false gods and filled Jerusalem with blood from one side of the city to the other? No one wants to remember King Manasseh because he was a failure, a part of history that most would prefer to forget. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, like so many before him, and like still others who would follow him. He was like King Edward: an embarrassment, a shameful excuse for a king.
8. But Matthew includes the genealogy because he wants to remind us that Jesus came to save and redeem all, the greatest heroes and the worst failures. We could just as easily call Jesus the Son of Manasseh because it would remind us that Jesus’ purpose in coming to this earth was not to return Judah and Israel to their former glory but to establish an eternal kingdom that is founded not on account of power and might, but mercy and grace. He came to rescue all of those whose hearts were stained by sin.
9. David, the man after God’s own heart, also did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. The boy who slew the giant Goliath would need someone to rescue him. King David would be reminded by the prophet Nathan of his own sin and his own need for a Savior. Confronted by his own sin, David acknowledges that he was sinful from the time that he was conceived (Ps 51:5). The great and mighty King David would bow before God in repentance, begging God not to banish him from the Lord’s presence nor take the Holy Spirit from him (Ps 51:11).
10. David, the shepherd who struck down both lion and bear, was easy prey for the prowling lion Satan, and so, David needed a greater Shepherd to strike down the devil. The conquering King David who triumphed over all his foes could not master sin or death, and so he would need one to triumph over these foes for him. The man who had everything he could imagine and to whom God would have even given more was not content with that which he had received. Instead, he took Bathsheba as his own wife, even though that meant murdering her husband. He did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord. But, God was merciful and restored him by forgiving him of all his sins for the sake of his descendant who was to come.
11. During one of the confrontations between Jesus and the Pharisees, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They answered, “The son of David” (Mt 22:42). But then Jesus responded by quoting Psalm 110 and asking them how David could call his own descendant his Lord. The Pharisees never would understand. But the mighty King David believed that his own descendant would be infinitely greater than he, would indeed come to be his Lord.
12. Peter also quoted this psalm in his Pentecost sermon about the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Peter noted that David’s own descendants would reign on his throne. But this descendant and king would be different from his father David who died and is buried to this day. David’s Son was raised from the dead and ascended to the heavenly Father’s right hand.
13. Isaiah prophesied the Messiah reigning on David’s throne forever: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore” (Is 9:6–7).
14. While Jesus is the Son of David and the Son of Manasseh, he is an altogether different kind of king. He is the only righteous King, whose kingdom will have no end. He is the One who comes to save the high and mighty who fall from their thrones and the meek and lowly who have no strength of their own. There is no one righteous before God, not even the great King David. Therefore, God would send one who would become our righteousness. As the prophet Jeremiah foretold, “In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness’ ” (Jer 23:6).
15. Jesus is also a King with a crown of thorns adorning his head. He was covered not in beautiful robes but in sin and shame. He was the Son sacrificed for the sins of his father’s Manasseh and David. The Lion of Judah became the Lamb who was slain. The King who put the needs of the people before the crown. In fact, he gave up his crown and abdicated the throne, not for his own selfish desires, but that he might save the nation. Jesus Christ is the King who put the needs of the people before the crown because it was better that one man should die for the nation than that the entire nation would perish, even if it meant it was the King who died. So, the King took on the form of a servant and became obedient unto death, even death upon a cross. On that day, the inscription over his head was the only thing that would mark Jesus as a king. But there the Son of David died. He died for David and Manasseh, kings and queens, peasants and paupers, rich and poor, strong and weak, young and old, for sinners from every family.
16. You are also sons and daughters of David, for you have inherited from David his sin and shame. But Jesus, the Son of David, came to save all who share in David’s weakness, in his frailty, in his sin—not just the father, but all of his sinful children. So, Matthew begins his Gospel, which focuses on the kingdom of God coming near to us, by calling Jesus the Son of David. For Jesus ushers in the kingdom of heaven that is proclaimed in his Word and given to us by grace and received by faith. Therefore, we can join with King David and sing, “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations” (Ps 145:13). Thanks be to God that Christ’s kingdom has come among us also! Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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