During the month of December, Christians, for many centuries, have celebrated an event that changed the course of history forever: The birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
While each of the writers of the New Testament gospels presents the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry in unique ways, Matthew and Luke both give details that display the connection between Jesus’ humanity and divinity (known as the “hypostatic union”). Jesus was fully human and fully God at the same time.
When most people read the “Christmas Story” from Matthew’s point of view, they skip the genealogy section and start reading at verse 18 about Mary’s betrothal, the immaculate conception, and Joseph’s dream about angels.
And when they read from the Book of Luke, they do not often include Luke 3:23-38, which is another version of Jesus’ genealogy. Why do we skip these verses? Is it because the words might confuse the six-year-old that they get to read the nativity story on the radio?
Is it because most people cannot pronounce the names? Is it because we might get lost in all the “begets” and “begats” (at least in the classic King James Version)?
While those reasons might be valid, we normally do not read those passages because we simply do not understand their value. But if we always skip over the genealogies of Jesus, we risk also skipping over the gospel writers’ demonstration of Jesus’ humanity, royalty, and deity.
Are the Genealogies of Jesus Underrated?
Just as many people today are interested in their family history for a variety of reasons, it was common in the Jewish culture to care about someone’s lineage in order to establish their heritage, inheritance, and rights.
In the same way, Matthew’s record shows us how Jesus had a legal claim to the throne of David. Luke (the doctor) connects Jesus’ humanity all the way back to the first man, Adam. This leaves John and Mark (in their own, different ways) to present the deity as well as the servanthood of Jesus.
So, while the genealogies may not fit well in your December devotions, they may not make it into your Christmas Eve candle-lit readings, and we may never sing songs about them, the lineages of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are in the Bible for a reason.
For example, if you were to take the time and look up each person in Matthew’s list from Abraham to Joseph, you would find many stories of how God worked through completely ordinary people who were willing to do his will, such as:
- Kings like Uzziah; Shepherds like Abraham; Wise people like Solomon.
- Workers like Boaz; Men like Jesse; Women like Tamar.
- Leaders like Zerubbabel; Unlikely people like Bathsheba; Outsiders like Ruth.
- Prostitutes like Rahab; Liars like Isaac; Murderers like David.
- Commonplace men like Joseph; Diverse women like Mary.
Aside from being regular people and sinners, though, every person in this list had something in common: They were recipients of the grace and favor of God who used them for his glory in spite of their shortcomings.
And the glory that God specifically used them for was to be part of the lineage of his Son, Jesus, when he was born into this world.
The genealogy of Jesus in Luke shows us that he was born as a common man into an average family. His mother was a young, pregnant virgin (two words you would normally never see together), and his stepfather was a regular trade worker from a small town.
In addition, Jesus’ name itself was very common at the time (similar to Joshua). Jesus was fully human, which means that he felt happiness and pleasure as well as sadness and pain. He had to eat, sleep, and do everything else just like us. He even had to deal with temptation just like us (although it seems to be more intense).
On the other hand, the genealogy in Matthew points to the fact that he was the Messiah-King who was prophesied to come.
The mixture of the stories of the people in the list was itself miraculous because of how many different routes the Messianic prophecies had to take as they were woven by God like a scarlet thread through thousands of years of human history and sinful choice.
For example, in Genesis 49, a dying Jacob passed over three of his sons (including his rightful firstborn) to bless an unlikely Judah and prophecy that it would be only through him that a lion-like leader would come and bring peace, joy, and prosperity.
This is where the nickname “Lion of Judah” comes from, as we see in Revelation 5:5. Jesus’ lineage shows his legal claim to the throne.
Of course, those genealogies only tell part of the story. Mark uses many stories to show how Jesus was the humble, obedient, and “suffering servant” in addition to being a King. But John’s gospel account has a completely different kind of genealogy or lineage to show the deity of Jesus. He wrote:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-14, ESV).
Why Is This Important?
So, while Jesus was fully human, he was also fully God. If you had been listening on the day that Mary and Joseph had to camp out behind the inn in Jerusalem, you would have heard the great choir of heavenly hosts heralding the birth of the Son of God.
If your nose was clear, you might have smelled the crowd of dirty shepherds as they made their way into the manger to see the Son of God. If you had been watching on the day that the wise men showed up at the child’s house, you would have seen the strangest, brightest star in the sky pointing you to the Son of God like a fire in the night.
While this baby seemed to be born in a natural way, he was conceived (or given) to Mary by the Holy Spirit in the most supernatural way within the most supernatural plan.
This baby was God who put on flesh and blood. He was the Immanuel (or “God with us”) that was prophesied to come (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23). The Son of God left the communion of his Father and the splendor of Heaven to be born into this sinful world.
Why did he do it? Because he loved us so much to come and die for our sins and rise again to offer us new life. And thank God.
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