Matthew 1-4<\/a><\/p>\nDaily Thought<\/b><\/p>\n
Matthew begins with what is important to a Jew, \u201cThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham\u201d (Matthew 1:1). The Hebrew people are not as concerned with what you do as where you come from;\u00a0specifically who was your father and your father\u2019s father. They are notably patriarchal. It was a bit of a surprise, then, to find four moms in the family tree: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the unnamed (though everyone knows it was Bathsheba) wife of Uriah (Matthew 1:3, 6); all the more scandalous because they were mostly women of scandal and non-Jews.<\/p>\n
Most shocking is the fifth woman, a virgin \u201cfound to be with child from the Holy Spirit\u201d (Matthew 1:20). Joseph will be the husband of Mary, but not the father of Jesus, and his role is secondary in the story, the B-side of the hit single. Conductor Leonard Bernstein opined, \u201csecond fiddle\u201d is the most difficult instrument to play, \u201cEvery one wants to be first violinist, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm – that\u2019s a problem. And if we have no second fiddle, we have no harmony.\u201d Joseph played a faithful harmony, \u201cwhen Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus\u201d (Matthew 1:24). We do not know a great deal of Joseph, but what we do know is Joseph played his part well, he obeyed when God spoke.<\/p>\n
The scandals, the women, the second fiddles, and the Gentiles in the genealogy set the stage for a Savior who came to save not merely the privileged, but the outcasts, not the well, \u201cbut those who are sick; not to call the righteous, but sinners\u201d (Matthew 9:12-13). This is good news because Jesus came to save the lost, like me.<\/p>\n
Daily Prayer<\/b><\/p>\n
My Lord and Savior, You came not as expected, not in majesty, but humility. I\u2019m so glad you choose the company of sinners over saints. Otherwise, I would never have met You. Thank You for meeting me where I am. You loved me that much. Teach me faith and obedience, to follow Your commands for they are good, to live in harmony with Your Spirit.<\/p>\n
May I be an ambassador of Your good news, an example of what You do in the life of one who is saved. May I love as You love, almost scandalously, going to unexpected places and bringing good news to the sick, the outcasts, the marginalized, to the sinners like me.<\/p>\n
Amen<\/p>\n
Daily Question<\/b><\/p>\n
Do you think you can sin too much to be saved by God?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Daily Reading Matthew 1-4 Daily Thought Matthew begins with what is important to a Jew, \u201cThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham\u201d (Matthew 1:1). The Hebrew people are not as concerned with what you do as where you come from;\u00a0specifically who was your father and your … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Scandalous”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1595,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[441,168,8],"class_list":["post-2701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-thought","tag-lost","tag-salvation","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\nScandalous - In the beginning God<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/davemprice.com\/?p=2701\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scandalous - In the beginning God\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Daily Reading Matthew 1-4 Daily Thought Matthew begins with what is important to a Jew, \u201cThe book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham\u201d (Matthew 1:1). 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