[The first seventeen verses of Matthew consists of Jesus' family tree

[[@Bible:Matthew 1:1]]Chapter 1

[[@Bible:Matt 1:22]]22. This whole event was the completion of what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Listen, a young lady will get pregnant and give birth to a boy, and they'll name him 'God-is-with-us.' "

[[@Bible:Matt 1:24]]24. Then Joseph woke up and did as the Lord's messenger had directed–he married the girl. But he didn't sleep with her until she had her baby. And he did name it Jesus.

[[@Bible:Matt 2]]Chapter 2

                        'And you Gainesville, in the state of Georgia,

[[@Bible:Matt 2:7]]7. Then Herod called in the scholars privately and questioned them in detail about the exact time of the star's appearance. And he sent them off to Gainesville with this instruction: "Go and find out the facts about the child. Then tell me what you've learned, so that I too may come and honor him." They listened to the governor and left. And you know, the star which they saw in the Orient went ahead of them until it came and stood above the place where the child was. (Just looking at the star flooded them with great happiness.) So they went inside the house and saw the baby with his mother, Mary. They bowed down and honored him, and opened the presents they had brought him–gifts of jewelry, incense and perfume. And having gotten the word in a dream not to revisit Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.

[[@Bible:Matt 2:13]]13. After they had checked out, the Lord's messenger made connection with Joseph in a dream and said, "Get moving and take your wife and baby and highball it to Mexico. Then stay put until I get word to you because Herod is going to do his best to kill the baby." So he got right up, took the baby and its mother and checked out by night for Mexico. He stayed there until the death of Herod. (This gave meaning to what the Lord said through the prophet: "I summoned my son from Mexico.")

[[@Bible:Matt 2:16]]16. Then it dawned on Herod that he had been duped by the learned men, an he really blew his top. He gave orders to kill all the babies in Gainesville and thereabouts who were under two, on the basis of the schedule which he had obtained from the scholars. (Then the saying of Jeremiah the prophet was given meaning:

                        "A noise is heard in Ramah,
                        Great weeping and anguish;
                        Rachel is grieving for her children
                        And there's no consoling her,
                        Because she has lost them.")

[[@Bible:Matt 2:19]]19. Now when Herod passed away, the Lord's messenger contacted Joseph in Mexico by a dream. "Get moving," he said, "and take the child and his mother and return to the South, for the people who were trying to take the boy's life have died."

[[@Bible:Matt 2:21]]21. So he packed up and took the child and his mother, and returned to the South. He heard that Herod's boy Archelaus was governor of Alabama and so he was scared to settle down there. He was given instructions in a dream to go on over into south Georgia to the city of Valdosta. (This gave meaning to the prophet's word: "He shall be called a Valdostan.")

[[@Bible:Matt 3:1]]Chapter 3

                        'A voice is shouting in the rurals:

[[@Bible:Matt 3:4]]4. This guy John was dressed in blue jeans and a leather jacket, and he was living on corn bread and collard greens. Folks were coming to him from Atlanta and all over north Georgia and the backwater of the Chattahoochee. And as they owned up to their crooked ways he dipped them in the Chattahoochee.

[[@Bible:Matt 3:7]]7. When John noticed a lot of Protestants and Catholics showing up for his dipping, he said to them, "You sons of snakes, who put the heat on you to run from the fury about to break over your heads? You must give some proof that you've had a change of heart. And don't think that you can feed yourselves that 'we-good-white-people' stuff, because I'm tell you that if God wants to he can make white folks out of this pile of rocks. Already the chain saw is set at the trunk of the trees, and every tree that doesn't perform some worthwhile function is sawed down and burned up. I am indeed dipping you in water into a changed life; the one who follows me is so much stronger than I that I'm unworthy to shine his shoes. He will dip you in Holy Spirit and fire. His combine is already running and he'll give the field a thorough going-over. He'll store the grain in his bin and burn off the stubble."

[[@Bible:Matt 3:13]]13. Then Jesus arrived at the Chattahoochee from south Georgia, to be dipped by John. But John tried to put him off. "Look," he said, "I ought to be dipped by you, yet you are coming to me." Jesus replied, "Please let me be baptized right now, for it is proper for us to give meaning in this way to all that's right." Then John consented. Now when Jesus was immersed and just as he came up from the water, the sky was split and he saw God's Spirit settling on him like a dove alightning. And you know, a voice spoke from the sky, "This is my dear Son; I'm proud of him."