The Birth of Jesus

DAY 1 (Matthew 1-2): The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament, and tells the story of Jesus Christ, whose ministry began around 30 AD. We're beginning "in the middle", so to speak, because from a Christian perspective the entire Bible points toward the life, death and resurrection of this man. Matthew's Gospel begins with the genealogy of Jesus, containing many historical names which would have been familiar to Jewish readers. Now to us it might sound a little bit boring, but there's actually an important mystery hidden in this list of forty-one names.