Roots; or, Home Is Where Your Share Is

Roots; or, Home Is Where Your Share Is
JOSHUA 17:12- 19:21

Waiting for the jazz to start last night, I was reading a book about the opening chapters of Matthew’s Gospel (other people who are on their own stare at their iPhones). It noted how the list of names occupying the bulk of the first chapter is a compressed narrative; it summarizes the entire Old Testament story from Abraham to David and from David to the exile and from the exile to Jesus’ birth, to convey how Israel’s story leads to Jesus’ story and how Jesus’ story issues from Israel’s story. There are other ways of reading Israel’s story; believing in Jesus is what makes you read it that way. But there are no other ways of understanding Jesus. You have to read the story that lies behind him. I once met someone who came to faith in Christ through reading these opening verses of Matthew. Most Christians would think this weird; we skip over them, not realizing their key significance for understanding him. This person was herself Jewish. For Gentiles it was just a list of names, but these verses enabled her to see that Jesus could be her Messiah...