Word to the Wise
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 - December 17
[Gen 49:2, 8-10 and Matt 1:1-17]"The scepter shall never depart from Judah, nor the mace from between his legs, while tribute is brought to him, and he receives the people's homage." [Genesis] The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham....[Matthew]
Ancestry could be a source of authority in a person in the Middle East. There was curiosity about Jesus' ancestry because of the promises made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Genesis and to David who was their descendant, especially from Jacob's son, Judah. The evangelist Matthew was anxious to show how Jesus was the fulfillment of all of these prophecies, hence he began his gospel portrait of Jesus with a genealogy which forms a kind of frame within which the rest of the portrait can be understood. Jesus is the Messiah promised from the beginnings of God's revelation to Abraham. He is (The genealogy in the Gospel According to Luke traces Jesus' ancestry all the way back to Adam!!) Thus, the genealogy is more theological than historical.
Ancestry nowadays is more important in forensic science where DNA plays a role in identifying a person or their relationship to someone. One hears the social comment, "It's in my DNA." Efforts are being made to recreate prehistoric creatures from DNA samples taken from their bones! But Jesus' DNA is not the issue for Matthew, to be sure. It is his person and theological identity. We bring the whole Bible with us to the stable in Bethlehem! AMEN