Modern Day Magi

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. - Ecclesiastes 12:13-14............. Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. - Acts 17:11

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Why is it important that Mary is Jesus mother?

I know I am getting sidetracked already but I felt that a response was needed to a comment made by Puritan Belief in response to my last post about Matthew chapter 1.

I also felt that responding as a new post would allow the length and structure needed.

So why is it important that Mary is Jesus mother?

Firstly we must look at Jesus as the Son of David.
Several places in scripture refer to Jesus as the Son of David (Matt 1:1, 9:27, 20:30, Mark 10:47, 12:35, Luke 18:38 and Luke 20:41) The word son here does not mean literal son but is a term used to identify a descendant. For example, in this context, I could be considered the son of my great-grandfather. Even though he is not actually my father.

Luke 20:41 questions the place of Jesus as a son of David so I will address that separately, after the others.

It is important that Jesus is a direct descendant of David because it was prophesied that the messiah would be from the royal line of David. (2 Samuel 7:12-16; Psalm 89:3-4; Psalm 132:11; Isaiah 9:6-7) Thus it follows that if Jesus is not a descendant of David then Jesus can't be the messiah as He doesn't fit all the requirements. Jesus however, is the Messiah so therefore He MUST be a direct-blood descendant of David.
BUT the genealogy found in Matthew has a problem if it is to prove Jesus to be the Messiah through line of David, namely Jeconiah. The problem with this guy is found in Jeremiah 22:30.

This is what the LORD says: "Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah."

D'oh! God had committed himself to producing the Messiah though the line of David but later also cursed the line of David from which Joseph, Jesus' father descends. Sounds like a catch 22, God shot himself in the foot there. Now if the Messiah is from the line of Jechoniah then God is a liar but if Jesus is not from the line of David He is a liar too.

Enter the significance of Mary.
The genealogy of Jesus found in Luke 3: 23-38 is different to the one found in Matthew 1: 1-17. Luke includes the line from Adam to Abraham, then they are the same until David, Matthew goes through Solomon, David's first son of Bathsheba, while Luke goes through Nathan, David's second son of Bathsheba. So Matthew went through the first surviving son, Solomon, through Rehoboam and onto Jechoniah, the subject of God's blood curse from Jeremiah 22:30. It finally ends with Joseph, who is the LEGAL father of Jesus but not the Blood father, Jesus was born from a Virgin Birth. The curse was on the blood line of Jechonia, Joseph's ancestor, but Jesus is not of the bloodline of his adoptive father Joseph.

When Luke gets to David though he follows the blood line of his second son the Bathsheba, Nathan and on through Heli who was the father of Mary and the father-in-law of Joseph. When Luke (3:23) refers to Heli as the father of Joseph he uses the Greek word nomizo which means "reckoned as by law" indicating Heli is the father-in-law of Joseph not his actual father. Thus this genealogy is of Mary not Joseph, the Virgin birth, placing Jesus in the blood-line of David through his mother Mary, back to Nathan, David's son keeps the messiah in the royal blood line of David but bypasses the curse on Jechoniah's line.

Also in the Garden of Eden, once God discovers Adam and Eve after the infamous fruit incident He prophesies that Jesus will come from a Virgin birth and be the offspring or seed of the woman. Odd considering children are considered the offspring of their fathers. This prophesy is evidence that while not from the bloodline of Joseph, and being divinely conceived Jesus was still human as He is of the "seed of the woman".

Why is Jesus' Humanity important?
Well if Jesus was not human then why is it important that He was sinless? If Jesus was not human it is nothing special that He was without sin as becomes then a being incapable of sin. Jesus was and is sinless but that does not mean He was incapable of sin. The devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness, meaning that Jesus struggled with the temptations. He did not fail, but provided an example that through Him we too can overcome temptations the devil throws our way. It is important that Jesus was Human because He died. This is the basis for a Christian's salvation, the fact the Jesus dies for our sin. If Jesus was not human, and was solely the immortal, neverending God how could he die? How could he then conquer death and pay the wages of our sin? Jesus could do these things as He is BOTH human and divine, a little hard to understand, but God is bigger than our understanding sometimes.

Jesus was both human and divine, don't get me wrong, but His humanity is as vital to our salvation as His divinity. Jesus is only human through the fact that he is the seed of Mary, her son.

Now back to Luke 20:41-44 This passage question Jesus' sonship to David by noting a short controversy between Jesus and the leadership. Previous attempts to stump him had failed, but now Jesus will silence his opponents with a question about the most important figure in Jewish promise, the Son of David, Messiah. It is Jesus' turn to ask a question and seek answers. How will the leadership fare in the hot seat? Jesus raises a rabbinic antinomy. The question is asked both before and after a quotation of Psalm 110:1. "How is it that they say the Christ is the Son of David? David himself declares in the Book of Psalms, `The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ‘David calls him `Lord.' How then can he be his son?" Jesus' goal is not to deny either premise but to show a relationship between two concepts that otherwise might appear to be in tension. In effect, Jesus is saying, more important than Jesus being David's son is that he is David's Lord. Or to answer Jesus' final question: that he is David's son is less significant (as significant as this is) than that he is David's Lord. Davidic sonship is not being denied; in fact, Davidic sonship is an important concept (Luke 1:31-35; Acts 13:23-39; Rom 1:2-4). Rather, the point is Messiah's authority, and thus by implication Jesus' exalted position.

7 Comments:

  • At 1/26/2006 01:49:00 pm, Blogger TheDen said…

    Wow! That's intense. I'm gonna have to chew on that for a little while. Very insightful and intelligent post. Praise God.

     
  • At 1/27/2006 03:54:00 am, Blogger Gordon said…

    Very well prepared and presented post. Excellent work, brother!

     
  • At 1/27/2006 05:03:00 am, Blogger Doug E. said…

    Well stated! I loved how you brought out the apparent contradiction in scripture to draw us all in. Then stated the truth.

    God Bless,

    Doug

     
  • At 1/27/2006 10:33:00 am, Blogger Correy said…

    Almost identical to the Catholic Catechism.

    This is exactly what theden meant when he said "I kinda think he's missing the point about Mary."

     
  • At 1/27/2006 10:37:00 pm, Blogger TheDen said…

    What MDM is writing is not found in my Catechism of the Catholic Church. I had never even regarded Mary from his perspective. I definitely don't disagree with him.

     
  • At 1/28/2006 01:08:00 am, Blogger Modern Day Magi said…

    thanks theden.
    i dont have a copy of the catholic catechism and as such would have had to surf the net to check.

    on a broader note i appreciate any and all input which is encouraging or of a more constructive nature(its no good o surround ouself with 'yes-men' when searching for the truth) may god bless you all and please continue adding your comments, they let me know if im on the right track or not.

    PB, although it seems we dissagree on this particular topic you are not excluded from my thanks. i value your input, and insight here at Modern day magi and greatly enjoy reading your blog.

     
  • At 1/28/2006 03:22:00 am, Blogger Jim said…

    MDM,

    Very well thought out presentation of the lineage of Jesus. I'm not sure what is so Catholic about this? You were simply stating the connection between David and Jesus proving His kingship and right to the throne of Israel.

     

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