“Genealogy”
Matthew 1:1-17
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of … and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
Have you ever gone on ancestry.com and checked out who and where you came from? What did you find? Was there someone famous in your history? Someone infamous?
Most people skim over the genealogies in the Bible, but if you read the names and who these relatives of Jesus were, you might be amazed from whom Jesus came from. Holy men, faithful women, powerful kings, some we know nothing about, and some controversial figures all are part of Jesus’ history.
But why are genealogies written into the Biblical narrative? To the Jewish people, genealogies were very important and up until 70 AD when the Temple was destroyed, everyone’s linage was recorded. Along with proving what tribe you belonged to, or what your role was in society would be, they were also looking and watching for the Messiah. If you wanted to be a priest or claimed you were royalty, you needed to be able to prove that you came from the tribe of Levites or from the line of King David. The key here is Jesus’ genealogy proves He is the son of David (royal kingdom) and son of Abraham (fulfilled covenant), concludes Joseph the husband of Mary. This is proof Jesus is the Messiah! (If you want to learn more about the genealogy of Jesus, check out this article: http://www.jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/v05-n06/genealogy)
Jesus’ genealogy also teaches us that just because there is someone bad in our past, doesn’t mean that we are destined to repeat that history. With the exception of Jesus and Mary, we are all sinners, it doesn’t matter how big or small. Who would have guessed that the Son of Man would have prostitutes and adulterer’s in His past? Just like the baby conceived in rape doesn’t mean that baby is bad or evil. Every person has every opportunity to choose to live a holy life just as you choose to live a holy life – all of us have the choice of free will to determine who we will become. Even though Jesus is true God, His human nature still had free will to choose to follow His Father or not; to be used as an instrument. That is why the devil was able to tempt Him. Jesus chose to obey His Father at all times. Even though we may have evil in our past and temptation in our future, we must turn away from sin, ask for forgiveness and follow in the footsteps of our Messiah.
Pray:
Dearest Lord, help me to not repeat the sins of the past, and break the cycle of sin handed down through the generations of my family. Help me turn towards Jesus and follow always in His ways. Help me to guide my family, whom I see repeating the cycle of sin, back towards you. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.