Jesus’ Family Tree

There is a huge part of the narrative of Jesus’ birth that is almost always ignored every Christmas. There are 25 verses in Matthew devoted to the story of Jesus’ nativity. (There are 37, if one includes the story of the Wiseman which occurred sometime after Jesus’ birth). Seventeen of the twenty-five verses are rarely noted or shared. Those 17 verses are the genealogy of Jesus. I must be careful not to share too much in this blog because I am going to be preaching about Jesus’ genealogy today. Yet, it must be noted that Matthew began his gospel, the story of Jesus, and the story of Jesus’ birth with a genealogy. He began with Jesus’ family tree. Matthew immediately reveals his purpose—to establish Jesus’ right to the throne of David. Scrutiny reveals that Matthew is not trying to establish Jesus’ BIOLOGICAL claim to the throne. The genealogy is that of Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Matthew states that fact clearly. Why then share the genealogy of the man who adopted Jesus? Because, although Jesus was not a biological son of Joseph, legally the genealogy established that, as Joseph’s adopted son, Jesus had claim to David’s throne. Thus, Jesus is called the SON of David. Matthew is showing that Jesus is the rightful King, the Christ, the Anointed One, the Messiah. Today, there ought to be a renewed interest in Jesus’ genealogy. Because of online ancestry programs helpful in discovering one’s family tree and because of the growing inexpensiveness of DNA testing there is a bourgeoning interest in genealogy. So, why so little attention to Jesus’ genealogy? Well, in my estimation genealogies are like dreams. Each is extremely interested in his own dreams but has little patience or desire for listening to others recount their dreams. One thing that stokes people’s interest in their genealogies are the surprises they discover. I discovered that I share an ancestor with King Louis XI of France. I also discovered that I was not mostly English as my surname would suggest and I had supposed. I am mostly Swedish Germanic and Irish and Northwest European. (But, there I go boring you.) However, many of the surprises are disappointments. Each usually begins trying to prove a passed down belief of the family’s ancestry only to be surprised that someone they had been told was in their family tree wasn’t. A common occurrence of this is a belief that one has a famous Native American Chief as an ancestor. That’s been the family story for generations. Yet, research, DNA testing, or a combination of both reveal that the one who believed he was a descendant of the chief could not possibly be such a descendent. In fact, often that one will discover that he doesn’t even have Native American genes. None. I had been told that I was a descendent of President Andrew Jackson. When I read his biography, I discovered Andrew Jackson was childless. He did adopt his namesake, his wife’s nephew—which is a possibility. But, probably the family claim is apocryphal. Sometimes the surprise is that someone is in their family tree whom they had no idea was. My wife discovered that she had in hers someone of an ethnic ancestry that no one in her family had even dreamed of. A person begins research of his family tree to prove one thing but instead discovers another. There are surprises in Jesus’ family tree as well. Matthew traced Jesus’ family tree to document Jesus’ claim to David’s throne. In doing so, he included some remarkable folks he could have left out and still have established Jesus’ genealogy. Since who those folks are is a crucial part of my message this morning, and to share them would be a spoiler for my parishioners, I will leave you to read Matthew’s genealogy of Christ (Matt. 1:1-17) and to discover who they are. More interesting than who they are is the significance of Matthew’s including them. Matthew began listing Jesus’ genealogy to show His right to the throne, that He was, in fact, THE King. In doing so with those surprise entries in Jesus’ genealogy Matthew also shows that Jesus is the Savior of all people. Whatever their ethnicity. Whatever their background. Whatever their sin. Jesus’ genealogy shows He is the Savior of whosover will. He is the King/Savior and the Savior/King. I am glad Jesus’ genealogy shows He is King. I am also thrilled it shows anybody can be saved, made a member of the family of God. It is thrilling, not just to note who ended up in Jesus’ family tree, but spiritually whose family tree Jesus ends up in. Is He in yours?

Jesus’ Family Tree

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