Matthew, also known as Levi, wrote the gospel for the purpose of showing that Jesus is the Messiah that the Jews had been waiting for. He shows how every prophecy from the Old testament regarding the Messiah is fulfilled through Christ Jesus. Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy from Abraham to Jesus.

A New Kind of Genealogy

Among the forty two men mentioned by Matthew in his trace back from Joseph to Abraham, he also mentions five women. This was unheard in that time period that women were part of someone’s genealogy. Perhaps Matthew was influenced by Jesus having seen the inclusion of a lot of womenfolks in his ministry. However, the five women who are mentioned are also those who did not have a such a good reputation.

The first woman mentioned was Tamar who disguised herself as a prostitute to trick her father-in-law Judah into giving her a legal heir (Genesis 38). The second woman mentioned was Rahab, the prostitute who helped bring down the city of Jericho by hiding spies in her house (Joshua 2). Third woman mentioned is Ruth, a Moabite, and an idol worshiper in her past life. Fourth is the woman who was the wife of Uriah and was the mother of David’s son Solomon, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). The last woman mentioned in this genealogy was Mary, who was perhaps perceived to be an immoral woman as she was pregnant out of wedlock (Matthew 1:20).

No one is perfect but what we need to know is that God can use anyone. We shouldn’t hold back ourselves from becoming a part of God’s plan, God has his ways to use us. We shouldn’t think that we cannot go to God now because we are not worthy, that is the deceiver fooling us in to believing that we are not worthy. But God calls us as we are.

We need to surrender ourselves to him in order for him to mold and use us. We should not think that there is no hope for us, as for this very reason, Christ came into this world to show us the light at the end of the tunnel.

The world may speak anything about us, our characters, our lives, but we shouldn’t get disheartened as this world is just our temporary home. We need to prepare ourselves for the everlasting life with our Saviour (Matthew 6:19-20).

Joseph – The Silent Hero

We see how the birth of Jesus came about. Mary, was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through Holy Spirit.

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18

With the whole world focusing on Virgin Mary, we fail to recognize the works of Joseph. Joseph was brought up in a society where women caught in adultery were not tolerated and were stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). He proved to be a Silent Hero in this situation. He decided on divorcing her privately instead of publicly disgracing her, which shows his humble nature.

Unlike other people during this time, like Mary and Zechariah, Joseph showed immediate acceptance to God’s plan after the angel of the Lord came in his dream and revealed God’s plan. We don’t see him questioning God like Mary did (Luke 1:34) or run away from His plan like Jonah (Jonah 1:3).

He readily took Mary home as his wife and took care of her and the unborn child. Though much has not been written about Joseph but what we can learn from his life is how God wants us to be willing and accept His plan in our lives.