Jesus didn’t just say to make disciples. He also gave his own brief summary of the announcement that is the core of the gospel we are to use in making disciples: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (28:18). There, in 12 words, is Jesus’ gospel summary that needs to be broadcast to our world.

Scriptural genealogies—in addition to being a public Bible reader’s worst nightmare—have a bit of a reputation for being boring.

I can imagine that if Matthew had employed an experienced editor for his Gospel, that editor would have desperately tried to persuade him that starting with a genealogy was not the optimal way to grab the reader’s attention. “Not really going to keep people turning the page, Matty, is it?”

Matty, however, begs to differ.

“Wait, Tony, you don’t get it. Look at this genealogy. Isn’t it just outrageously intriguing?! I mean, what a family tree! And look where it ends up: ‘and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ’. Bam! That’s what I call an opening!”

And Matty is right about Matthew 1:16, of course. If we’ve read our Old Testaments and understand just how loaded with meaning that title is—“Christ”—we would recognize what an explosive start it is to the story of Jesus. What an astonishing claim to make right upfront!

In fact, all through Matthew’s Gospel it’s clear that he wants to present to us this Christ, God’s anointed king, who is inaugurating a new kingdom (3:2). ‘Kingdom’ is a word Matthew uses over 50 times, so, just on a pure word-count basis, it’s safe to say that the imminent new kingdom is a major idea he wants to communicate to his readers.

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