The gospel of Matthew is a story starts very differently than Luke’s. It’s the same story, but it’s almost as if Matthew wants to give the background; paint the big picture.  He begins the story of Christ’s birth with genealogy, a family tree.  And in the genealogy, Matthew includes some pretty interesting people; people with a past; those who had a less than stellar reputation.

So as Matthew begins to unfold the story, it seems he wanted people to understand the nature of this gospel he was writing; because even he, like many in the family tree of Jesus, had a past and Matthew wants his audience, including you, to understand the hopeful message of the gospel is the reason why Jesus came.