Wake Up, Look Up

[Music]

hello everyone thanks for listening to

wake up lookup a podcast where we

connect events happening in real time to

the Gospel of Jesus Christ I'm Zach wck

and today's episode we're asking the

question can you outgrow your family

this is prompted by a New York Times

opinion piece I read this week but

actually

uh it's more prompted by the first

chapter of the Gospel of Matthew that's

because the opinion piece itself was

commenting on the family tree of Jesus

and how complicated it is how full of

tough stories it is and what we might

take away from that it's actually one of

my favorite things to think about and

talk about I want to take a second and

maybe be a little more pastoral than

news reporter in this episode of wake up

lookup because I think there's something

here for all of us I don't know if

you've spent a lot of time reading the

genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1

if you haven't and you have space you

might hit pause on this episode go read

it and then come back but even if you

get to it later what you're going to

find is a long list of names but many of

those names show up in the Old Testament

meaning you can read their stories and

their stories are particularly

complicated in fact there are four women

in the genealogy of Jesus and that's

pretty rare for the first century

typically you would go man to man in the

genealogy you would omit the women for

all the reasons you might imagine but

Matthew doesn't do that for Jesus and he

doesn't do that for a reason because

often it's the women who show the men's

sinfulness in their stories women like

Tamar whose story you can find in

Genesis or basba whose story you can

find in the writings about David these

are women who were sinned against women

who were victims of pretty awful and ha

things women whose stories are part of

Jesus's family tree meaning Jesus didn't

come from a pristine family now why is

that important well really for two

reasons and my guess is you need to hear

at least one if not both of these uh the

first is that uh in the church you

shouldn't have to hide the shame and

struggles of your family I think

sometimes in Christianity there can be

this idea that we need to present an

idic version of ourselves at least on

Sundays that even in the things we say

to our kids about what they wear how

they act at church we're wanting to work

so hard to present ourselves as air

quotes perfect families uh but why where

does that come from it doesn't come from

the Bible and it doesn't come from Jesus

because the very beginning of the very

first book about the life of Jesus he

leads s with the shame and struggles of

Jesus's family uh he has violence in his

family he has wickedness in his family

he has marital infidelity illegitimate

children in his family Matthew is saying

Hey to really understand this guy you

need to understand at least part of

where he comes from and if that's true

if Jesus wasn't hiding the shame and

sinfulness of his family then isn't him

who's encouraging us to do it instead

it's our pride it's our religion it's

the Judgment of those around us but of

course when we do that we make it so

that no one really gets to know us not

the real us only the sanitized version

but Jesus isn't coming to a sanitized

World he's coming to A real one a broken

one and he's encouraging us to meet him

there that's something I think a lot of

us need to hear but the second thing is

that you your future is not determined

by your family tree Jesus comes from a

sinful and shameful family but he isn't

sinful or shameful uh he is the greatest

man to ever live he's the son of God

through whom God will redeem all of his

people Jesus shows us that the gospel

takes people from broken families and

leads them to brighter Futures I wonder

how many of us feel as though we are

doomed to repeat the mistakes of

previous generations that someone with

our last name someone with our DNA our

genetics can't ever become bigger and

better than those who came before us but

that isn't coming from the Bible either

in fact one of my favorite things in 20

years of pastoral Ministry is seeing

family trees that are altered when moms

and dads men and women meet Jesus and

realize all the sudden there's something

in them that is stronger than their

genealogy stronger than their DNA and

stronger than their past listen Jesus is

coming in Matthew one in the midst of a

broken family is meant to give you hope

and I hope it will give you hope in the

new year you can transcend your family

you don't need to hide the struggles of

your family and if you're willing to

dream in both of those directions it

will be Jesus who meets you and leads

you there hey thanks so much for

watching this episode of wake up lookup

uh while you're here take a minute to

like And subscribe really helps us get

the word out don't hesitate to leave a

review wherever you might find this

podcast on an audio level and help

spread the word and hey while you're

here check out all the other content we

have at Christ Community Chapel on

YouTube some of those videos are popping

up on the screen now click on one

[Music]