CHRISTMAS: EXPECTATION (Matthew 1)
Before you start
MEETING AIM To explore what Matthew 1 tells us about Christmas, why genealogy is important, and to raise expectation of both Jesus and what we can learn in the Christmas story.
PREPARATION Rehearse dramatic reading of Matthew 1:1-17. (Thoroughly) clean out a can of pet food and refill it with chocolate custard. Refill a can of beans with strawberry jam, and a can of chicken soup with butterscotch Angel Delight. Have a spoon handy.
What's the big idea?
EXPECTATIONS10 mins Ask three volunteers to come to the front and blind fold them. Explain that you’re going to feed them something and they must guess what it is. Produce the three pre-prepared cans (see ‘Preparation’) so that the rest of the group can see. One at a time, ask the volunteers to taste the food (you might need to feed them with a spoon) and tell you what they think it is. The rest of the group should be surpised!
WHAT’S AHEAD?5 mins In groups, have the young people jot down their expectations of the upcoming Christmas. It might involve presents, games, family members, traditions. Take feedback. Be sensitive to group members who might not be looking forward to the festive season. Say: looking around, it’s easy to get the impression that Christmas is all about buying things at bargain prices, but what did Christmas mean to the people who encountered it first? That’s what we’re going to look at over the next few weeks.
FAMILY TIES6 mins Read Matthew 1:1-17 in a dramatic way, making it sound like you’re nearly finished before you launch into the next line. It can become quite humorous and is a good way to get the group engaging with the text. Alternatively, ask the group the read Matthew 1:1-17, taking two verses each until it’s all read. They’ll likely protest or be bored by the end of it! Say: we don’t expect much from lists of names we find difficult to pronounce, but it gives us more clues about what’s going on than you realise…
Explain: In Bible times, your family background said a lot about the sort of person you were, and the sort of person you were expected to be. The writer, Matthew, includes information on Jesus’ family background because he wants to make a point to his audience, and he’s writing primarily to Jews. But what’s the point of tracing the family back through Joseph, who wasn’t Jesus’ real father anyway? More about that later…
COMMUNICATING20 mins Set the task of creating a two-minute presentation on a given topic, e.g. Facebook. One group has to prepare a talk that would be appropriate for adults, one for children, one for teenagers. (If you need more groups, add categories e.g. for people who have never heard of Facebook, for founder Mark Zuckerberg). Give them ten minutes to prepare then ask groups to present. Say: each group talked about the same topic, but their presentations were different. They highlighted different things depending on who they were communicating to.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?10 mins Read vs. 22-3 and ask: what do think this is about? Take feedback. Ask whether anyone knows where the quotation is from. Read Isaiah 7. (Maybe throw in a round of ‘Bible Cowboy’ as an incentive to find Isaiah 7. Everyone holds their bibles on their hip, like a cowboy would a gun. When you say ‘draw’ they begin searching. The first person to find the right page shouts ‘Yeeehah!’ and is awarded a small prize). Read Isaiah 7:13-17. Ask: why does Matthew, the Gospel writer, refer to this passage? (He is making the link between the baby talked about in Isaiah and the baby born to Mary and Joseph).
KEY POINT 1 People were expecting Jesus. The Gospel writer, Matthew, is making a point about Jesus’ heritage, which is important because it helps us to understand who He is. By drawing up Jesus’ family tree, the Gospel writer, Matthew, is connecting Jesus to the promise one in the Old Testament, the ‘messiah’ (‘anointed one’).
UNEXPECTED TIES3 mins Re-look over 1:1-17. Ask: how many names did you recognise from the list (vs. 1-17)? Write down the names where they can be seen. Briefly talk through that characters named – e.g. the great King David. Ask: were you surprised by anyone on the list? Say: the list includes four unlikely women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Ask: what do you know about these women. Give a quick explanation of – Rahab was a prostitute, Ruth was a gentile! Ask: what does this tells us about Jesus? Say: God doesn’t exclude the unlikely and despised. God uses people to accomplish his plans, not matter what their past.
EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED20 mins Say: Remember the cans at the beginning? Though we might be expecting something, it might not turn out as we imagined it would. Mary and Joseph were two young, committed Jews. It’s likely they too were aware of the prophecies of a coming messiah. They didn’t seem to know they’d be involved! Have the group spread out and listen as you or a team member read 1:18-25. Encourage them to consider the story through the eyes of either Mary or Joseph. Have them chat in groups about what it might have felt like from each perspective. Take feedback.
KEY POINT 2 Jesus’ entrance into the world didn’t go unnoticed. It meant different things to different people, and required different things from different people. Not only were people expecting Jesus, they also had to prepare for Him.
BE EXPECTANT10-15 mins Say: Advent is a time of waiting and preparation in the church calendar. How do we prepare ourselves for Jesus today? Spend some time thinking about how you’d like to grow spiritually this Christmas season and write it on a piece of paper. Take the paper home and put it somewhere prominent to remind you to pray.
Notes for adapting:For younger groups… Alter your descriptions of the women in the geneaology to something more age-appropriate.
For older groups… Spend more time discussing the impact Jesus’ coming had on Mary and Joseph and what that reality might have been like.
For unchurched young people… Talk about family and belonging as an introduction to the geneaology information. If appropriate, let them know of Christmas services around the area they can get involved in. Keep the closing prayer activity and challenge them to try praying!
For churched young people… Encourage them to dig deeper into other well-known Biblical stories as they have the Nativity.
Helen Crawford is a freelance writer and a voluntary youth leader in her local church.
