Is your family as messy as Jesus’?
So a couple of obvious observations to start: Strangely the genealogies have different names included in them, start and end at different places and one goes from Jesus backwards and the other from Abraham forwards.
The simplest explanation is that these two genealogies have two different purposes. Matthew’s genealogy is that of Joseph and is designed to show us that Jesus is a legitimate and legal heir to David’s kingdom. Matthew’s list is shorter because it doesn’t go as far back and it omits a couple names. Luke’s genealogy on the other hand goes all the way back to Adam showing that all humanity has a shared heritage if you go back far enough. But strangely there are two different names for the father of Joseph, Heli and Jacob. One suggestion is that this genealogy is that of Mary and doesn’t say Mary because that was against the genealogy conventions at the time. Another suggestion is that Heli is Mary’s father and that he had no legal heir so Joseph was adopted by Mary’s father.
This is interesting (or not) - people in the Ancient Near East valued their ancestors far more than we do. I can only trace my personal genealogy back to my great-grandfather, much less to the beginning of time. I’m sure I could spend some time on the internet and figure more out but it’s just not on my radar. Today in the Middle East they still value their ancestors more than we do. A Muslim I know explained to me that his middle name is his father’s name and his last name is his grandfathers. One commentator figured that some tribes in the Middle East can recite ten to fifteen generations back.
But why does that all matter? Well it matters that Jesus was a real person with a real history. His family didn’t just perfectly materialize so he could be untouched by history. Within Jesus’ line we find wicked king and murders, great leaders and wimpy leaders, rich and poor, prostitutes and a whole bunch of average people we know nothing about. Not the kind of family that you would expect the sinless, all-powerful king of the universe to be born into!
We also see that Jesus is born in the line of David. God promised David that his kingdom would be established forever. Jesus has come to make good on God’s promise, to rule and reign over all the Earth.
Questions for Reflection
• Does the fact that Jesus was born into a ‘normal’ messy family give you any comfort about your own family?
• Is the fact that God keeps his promises, even though sometimes it takes a long time encouraging to you?
• Do you think God can create a legacy out of your family even will the nuts in there?
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