Some of the more challenging passages of Scripture to preach or teach are genealogies. It is not easy to draw life lessons from lists of names. However, the way the Apostle Matthew arranges the genealogy of Jesus shows us several things. Firstly, it establishes the identity of Jesus, emphasizing his royal credentials. Secondly, Matthew has an absurdly balanced genealogy, but he abandons his symmetry in order to include a few brothers and mothers into a genealogy that often only includes fathers and sons. These individuals that Matthew includes in the genealogy have been added for a reason, and we explore that in this lesson.