There’s an old tale from more than a century and a half ago, penned by Victor Hugo. The tale is about a child born with a massive wart over his right eye and a severely deformed spine. His name? Quasimodo. His nickname? The hunchback of Notre Dame.

Abandoned, as a baby, Quasimodo is found by the arch deacon, Claude Frollo, who raises the child to be the bellringer of his cathedral. Because the bells are loud, Quasimodo goes deaf.

The general population of Paris see Quasimodo as a monster, and this monster falls in love with the beautiful Gypsy girl, Esmeralda. Even though Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda when she is entangled in a murder, by the end he does not earn her love or compassion. When Frollo allows the sixteen year old Esmeralda to be falsely accused and hanged, Quasimodo the hunchback murders Frollo by pushing him off the cathedral.

At the end of the tale, Quasimodo leaves the cathedral forever and visits the mass grave where the bodies of the condemned are dumped, and he dies clutching Esmeralda’s corpse. Years later, the skeletons are found, intertwined.

Though we don’t look like it, we all sometimes feel like a hunchback. Do you ever have moments where you feel insecure on the inside and you start feeling a little anxious, maybe even panicky, about the fact that you might not be or do what you really want to be or do?

For some of us, our hunchback is physical. Am I pretty enough?. Or for guys, am I strong enough? Are those muscles or tendons?

Or for some of us the hunchback is intellectual. Your identity rests in your GPA or your IQ.

Or it’s relational. I’m doomed to be a single person for the rest of my life with a cat and chocolate as my eternal company.

For some of us, it’s occupational. You wonder if that potential employer is really interested in hiring you, or if he’s just being grossly over-polite.

Still for many of us—our hunchback is spiritual. We’ve done things or thought things, or wanted things that makes us feel spiritually unacceptable. Dirty. Guilty. And even afraid. And we wonder: “Have I gone so far into my sin that God can’t use me anymore?” or “Will I ever find victory over this sin that keeps pulling me down?” or “Am I of any value to God? Is my life even useful, or is it more like a freezer to an Eskimo?”

Those questions are not strange nor unnatural. In fact, those same questions were asked by many of the forty-two people we are going to meet in the book of Matthew. Through the lives of these people, you will see that no matter how bad or wicked you have been, your life does not have to end up a skeleton in a dump yard. You can stand pure, guilt-free, and confident before God Himself. And Matthew 1:1-17 shows how.

A Giant Family Tree

Matthew begins his gospel with one of those long lists of people, half of them that require a Bible dictionary just to pronounce...the kind of passage you probably do your devotions in all the time.

Why does Matthew start with a family tree? Matthew writes to convince his Jewish readers that Jesus is the Messiah. To do this, Jesus has to come through the line of Abraham and David.

In Jewish culture, lineage was a big deal. To not know your lineage would be like walking around without a Social Security number or a drivers’ license. If this was important for the common Jew, how much more important it was for the Messiah of the Jews!

But Matthew does something else that the Jews would not expect. In fact, it was so unconventional it was embarrassing. He included foreigners, harlots, prostitutes, adulterers, idol-worshipping foreigners, and murderers. That was unconventional. Even to include the names of women in the family tree was unconventional.

This authenticates that Matthew did not make up the story about Jesus. That he was not afraid to include the names of people who were far from perfect, people who's lives read like ancient day soap operas, indicates that Matthew was not flowering up his account to get people to believe. He was being dead honest. But it also taught a truth that we cannot afford to miss...

From this long line of people, we learn three lessons about what God can do with a spiritual humpback.

Lesson #1: God can forgive and favor you who love Him.

• Verse two mentions Abraham. God told him, “Leave the comfort of your country, your hometown, your relatives, and even your own family, and go to this land...that I’m telling you nothing about.” And so Abraham got out his laptop and googled this land to find out what it was like...oh no! Abraham got up and went! When Abraham was around one hundred years old (Rom 4:19) and Sarah his wife not only unable to conceive a child but way past the age of child-bearing, God said, “Abraham, you’re going to have a child.” And Abraham believed (Gen 15:1-6). When Isaac was just a boy, God told Abraham, “Sacrifice your son.” This is the son through whom all of God’s promises about Abraham’s descendants becoming a great nation would be fulfilled. Yet Abraham obeyed God all the way to the last second before God stopped him (Gen 22). Abraham’s faith was so great that the author of Hebrews tells us that Abraham believed that God would raise Isaac back from the dead (Heb 11:19). There is no doubt that Abraham loved God with all his heart.

• Verse five lists Boaz. Instead of fearing the majority who would ostracize him and make him the subject of town gossip for marrying Ruth, a foreigner from a child-sacrificing, idol-worshipping nation, Boaz saw beneath the color of her skin a loyal woman who had given up everything to believe in Yahweh, the God of Israel. His love for her burned so hot that he jeopardized his own name and heritage to marry a foreigner (Ruth 4:5-6). Boaz loved God.

• Verse nine lists Hezekiah, a Judean king who restored temple worship (2 Chron 29), re-instituted the Passover (2 Chron 30), wreaked havoc on idol worship (2 Chron 31), and marked history as a man who “trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel; so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor among those who were before him” (2 Kin 18:5). Hezekiah loved God.

• Verse ten lists Hezekiah’s great grandson, Josiah, who demonstrated unprecedented conviction over the law of God (2 Kin 22:8-13) by covenanting before God to follow Him with all his heart (2 Kin 23:1-3), by making war on idolatry (2 Kin 23:4-20), and by re-establishing the Passover (2 Kin 23:21-27). Josiah loved God.

• Zerubbabel listed in verse twelve is the man of God who led the rebuilding of the temple in Ezra 3-6. Scripture does nothing but praise Zerubbabel for his faithfulness and obedience to the Lord (Hag 1:14; Zech 4:9; Ezra 3:8-13) as God’s chosen signet ring (Hag 2:23). Zerubbabel loved God.

• Joseph, the legal father of Jesus from verse 16 loved God. The depth of his faithfulness rose to the top when Mary became pregnant and he thought she had cheated on him. Instead of getting her condemned and stoned, something he could have justified with Old Testament law, Matthew tells us that instead, “Joseph...being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly” (Matt 1:19). Joseph lived as one who understood what it means to receive mercy.

These men loved God. They remind us of the ones prophet Hanani spoke of, “For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those who heart is completely His” (2 Chron 16:9).

Yet even though these men are rightly heroes, they would have considered themselves anything but this, for they too had faults and were people whose lives were marked by sins, few as they may be. They too were spiritual humpbacks. But God forgave them and favored them!

It would be easy to stop here and leave many of us destitute and guilty. I may love God, but what if I blow it really bad? That brings us to the second lesson...

Lesson #2: God can forgive and favor you who have blown it.

• The Jacob mentioned in verse two is not the kind of guy your parents asked you to be like. The guy was a snake. His name which means “heel-grabber” fit him well (Gen 27:36) for his life carved a trail of deception and trickery. Yet God said, “Jacob I have loved” (Rom 9:13). In spite of Jacob’s sin, God chose him and showered him with blessing.

• Judah’s life (verse 2) demonstrates another man who loved God yet whose reputation was tarnished by grievous error. He slept with Tamar his daughter-in-law who posed as a prostitute and the product of that scandal was Perez, a child in the line of Christ. Although Judah’s life at times reads like an ancient soap opera, God still loved Judah and made him leader of all his brothers (Gen 49:8-10).

• In verse six, Matthew writes, “David was the father of Solomon...” and then adds what at first seems redundant: “...by Bathsheba who had been the wife of Uriah.” Why does Matthew include this statement that automatically reminds the Jewish reader of two scandals in one: adultery and murder? It is unquestionable that Matthew honestly and intentionally informs his readers that the Anointed One comes through a line marked by adultery and murder.

These three men had two things in common: they loved God and their reputations were tarnished by dark blotches of rebellion. They were men loved by God who blew it badly. Before any sin, any addition, or any failure makes you wonder if you’ve moved beyond God’s grace or rendered you useless in His plan, consider these men who blew it terribly and yet still through their line came the very Messiah who would bring them salvation!

Lesson #3: God can forgive and favor you who have a terrible past.

Rahab (verse 5) made a living giving her body to men before she converted to Yahweh the God of Israel (Josh 2:9-13). Ruth descended from a nation who sacrificed children to the wicked god Molech (Lev 18:21). Mary, though innocent, suffered a reputation as an adulteress which explains why the Jews said to Jesus, “We were not born of fornication” (John 8:41). Hint, hint, “but You are.”

Only an all-wise and awesome God can take a line of people riddled with faults and errors, and through them bring a Messiah who would die for the sins of the world, even for the sins of His ancestors! No sin is so great, no mistake so stupid, no act so devious that it can mess up the awesome plan God has for all who turn to Him. God is not the author of sin, but by this family tree we see that God used sin to fulfill His all-wise and merciful purpose. This means you can run to Him for forgiveness and trust Him even in the darkest hour!

What about the outright wicked?

What about the people who didn’t seem to be forgiven at all? What about Solomon and Uzziah, two kings who came out the gate at at the front of the line but crashed and burned at the end? What about Ahaz who sacrificed his own children to false gods (2 Kin 16:3), or Amon and Jeconiah who were evil to the bone?

The problem was not that they were spiritual humpbacks. We all are. The problem was that they refused to admit their spiritual depravity and turn to God’s provision to cleanse and forgive them. Did God use them to bring the Messiah? Yes! But they never received the forgiveness from the very Messiah their line produced.

Why the 3 fourteens?

It was not considered unethical for Matthew to disclude many people from this family tree, and no doubt hundreds of years are unaccounted for by the omissions. But Matthew’s goal was not to pen an exhaustive list of Jesus’ line but to make a point through the line. First, just like the point of his book, Matthew writes to prove that Jesus of Nazareth is in the line of Abraham and David. The Jews knew the Old Testament and no man could hope to be the Messiah unless he came through the line of these two men. Matthew did not need to include every man in the family tree to make this point, so he lists only the best known characters, people whom his readers would recognize.

Second, Matthew writes to prove that humanity could never accomplish what God alone can do through Jesus the Messiah. Matthew breaks the pedigree into three periods:

Abraham to David - pre kingdom period
David to Babylon - kingdom building period
Babylon to Messiah  - kingdom declining period

William Hendriksen provides a helpful description:  

In the first set of fourteen “we are shown the origin of David’s house; in the second, it’s rise and decline; in the last, its eclipse.²

In spite of the many outstanding men of God in this family tree, not one was holy or worth enough to bring forth the kingdom that God promised Abraham and David. This simple outline demonstrates that in spite of all of Israel’s efforts, a once glorious kingdom only ended in dust. But through this line God was now bringing forth Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, who would some day raise up an everlasting kingdom, unassailable and eternal.

No Sin Irreversible

My wife Kimberly carved out a precious two hours of her day to cut the boys' hair.

Four year old Atalie liked what she saw, grabbed a pair of hair-cutting scissors, held up a hefty chunk of the mane attached to her new toy pony's head, and cut it off. If Mama could do it to the boys, what could be more harmless than doing it to an innocent pony doll?

Atalie did not understand that her action was irreversible. It could not be fixed. But no sin, no matter how gross or how selfish, is irreparable. God can not only take away your sin but use it for His awesome purposes!

If He could use the Jacob the heel-grabbing manipulator, Perez the product of Judah sleeping with his daughter-in-law whom he thought was a prostitute, Ruth the foreigner from a nation who worshipped a god whom they'd sacrifice babies to, Solomon the son of Bathsheba whose name recalls David's adultery and murder, Uzziah the humble king who turned proud and ended up living in a quarantined shack the rest of his life because of his leprosy, Mary the girl who claimed she got pregnant by the Holy Ghost—a claim in her day that would have left her branded as a blasphemer and a whore who deserved death by stoning—if God could use this motley, sin-stained, very messed up line of people to produce Jesus Christ the Messiah, then He will have no problem forgiving your sin and ultimately turning it to your benefit and good. All you have to do is turn to Him, believe in His Son, and accept His grace.

Mercy for the Hunchback

If you travel to Paris and visit the great cathedral, Notre Dame, you will find a small sculpture of Quasimodo, a man who represents our ugliest actions and most grievous thoughts.

But if you travel to Frombork Poland, you will find a tombstone of Copernicus, the man who discovered that the sun stands at the center of our universe. On his tombstone are the words, “Oh Lord, the faith thou didst give to St. Paul, I cannot ask; but, Lord, the grace thou didst show unto the dying robber, that, Lord, show to me.”

Because Frombork admitted he was a spiritual hunchback he found mercy in God through Jesus Christ.

Endnotes

William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew in New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973), 109.