Who is this Jesus?

In a quest to revisit Jesus, as presented by the Bible and not necessarily by churches and religious people. I begin in the first book and first chapter of the New Testament in the Bible, Matthew 1.

So who was Matthew? A tax collector. The Word in Life Study Bible says "In Matthew, He (Jesus) had a direct entree into the underworld of Jewish society, a class of people untouched by the religious legalists but deeply in need of a Savior." Lets just think about what life for Matthew must have been like, nobody likes taxes, and as the collector he certainly wouldn't have been looked upon very fondly. He would have been looked at with suspicion, and I don't imagine he would have been on the top of the list of people to inivite to go hang out. We wouldn't find him at the highclass parties in Roman society. He was working for the horribly repressive and destructive Roman Empire! Not exactly a popularity card for himself! We'd find him downtown, slumping around spending his money frivously and meaninglessly. His friends, if he had any would be other people who were looked down upon, maybe the poor, prostitutes, gamblers and those with addictions, those people that "religion" wouldn't be touching at all. Yet, after he meets Jesus he leaves this life, follows Jesus, becomes a Pastor and writes what ends up being, the first book of the New Testament, and introduction to life after the law of Moses! Wow.

Ok. Back to Matthew 1. Here I am reminded of Jesus geneology. Ok, not reminded but it is thrust in our faces! I mean who starts out a book with a long list of where the person came from? Woops! did Matthew notice that he got Tamar and Rahab in there, I mean they were WOMEN and did he remember what THEY had been up to?! and what about "the Wife of Uriah, sounds ambigious but that was actually Bathsheba, and we all know what a pickle she got into with King David. Interesting that Matthew introduces Jesus to us by making sure we know that Jesus came from a mixed ethnic background with histories to be proud of, and others where He could have wanted to hang his head a bit. All falliable humans.

Interesting...That He was to be named "Immanuel" which means "God with us" God-With-Us, I can't help but feel a sense of peace when I hear that, God-With-Us. Jesus didn't come to take us out of our mess and pain and hurt, not to judge us and condem us, not to set up a bunch of rediculous rules we can't succeed at, but to sit beside us, love us, wrap His arms around us, and pay the punishment for us; and "Jesus" "He will save His people from their sins"; and "Messiah" meaning "Savior".

Do you think it is significant that after Matthew explains Jesus' family tree, and how God told Joseph through an angel what the baby's name would be Matthew reiterates that Joseph did call him Jesus? verse 25: "...And he (Joseph) called His name Jesus." Wow what a sentence! Joseph recognized that this child would be "God with us", "save His people from their sins" and "Savior"to all those who ask, so he obeyed and "called His name Jesus.