These are the opening words of Matthew’s Gospel. He begins with the basics – the genealogy of Jesus. It will be a long list of 48 names stretching across 2,000 years.
Matthew wants to emphasize that Jesus is the Messiah, the long-awaited “Son of David” who would fulfill Old Testament prophecies. That’s why he works downward from Abraham, through David, to Jesus. (Luke, in his genealogy, starts with Jesus and works upward to Adam. He wants to emphasize that Jesus is the Son of God.)
Both Matthew and Luke drew upon popular traditions (rather than written records), and both adapted the data. They are trying to establish Jesus’ theological identity, not his DNA.
The list of name in Jesus’ genealogy includes a wide variety of people, not all of them perfect by any means. Jesus’ family had some skeleton sin the closet. Probably your family is not different. They’re still your family.
We’re about a week away from Christmas. This would be a good time to mend some family ties.
- Little Blue Book, December 17