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Tasmanian Anglican

February 2004

 

A Quick Word

Luke 3:23-38 - The Genealogy of Jesus

by Paul Grayston

 

 

How's your family history?

It's as if we are twenty minutes into a gripping movie only to have the projectionist take it into his head to subject us to the credits before returning us to the action.

And film credits are so long these days, right down to the caterers and carpenters (and what are 'gaffers' and 'best boys' anyway?). We are just getting involved in Luke's Gospel when the story halts for a massive list of names. Impatient readers will skip over this genealogy of Jesus in Chapter Three. But it is worth resisting this temptation to take time to have a closer look.

Genealogies trip us up quite frequently in the Bible, and are just as prominent in other ancient writings. These lists of names were originally a powerful historical record.

Character and values

To appreciate how names can retell history, ponder these examples: Breshnev/Andropov/Chernenko/Gorbachev/Yeltsin; or: McMahon/Whitlam/Fraser/Hawke.

Or take a list of your parish's incumbents. Names conjure up history and in Luke's version of Jesus' genealogy there are several intertwined history lessons.

Firstly, we 'listen in' on private family history. We wonder who Mattathias and Semein and Josech and Joda and others were and what they did. Jesus and his family knew! Perhaps in your family, as in mine, stories about ancestors are passed down, stories which have a deep effect on our character and values.

Then there is the more public history. Names like Zerubbabel, so prominent at the time of the return from the Exile, King David, Ruth's husband Boaz, the Patriarchs, Jacob, Isaac and Abraham, Shem and Noah. These great figures remind us of God's dealings with his people at critical times and impress upon us how Jesus' coming was the outworking of a long-term plan.

Compelling

Next, Luke contrives to write all of us into this family tree in a striking way. The only non-Jewish writer in the Bible, Luke alone traces Jesus' family all the way back to Adam. We are all descendents of Adam, Jew and Gentile alike, and so all of us are linked into this family tree of Jesus who indeed came to save all mankind.

Finally, the genealogy closes with the words 'Son of God', echoing the Father's announcement 'You are my Son' at Jesus' Baptism in the immediately preceding passage.

The genealogy of Our Lord as presented by Luke tells its own compelling story. God the Son became part of a particular human family and so part of the human family as a whole. His ministry is the culmination of God's dealings with his people down the ages. Our Saviour and Lord is also our Brother. The Son of God is one with us, and Saviour of us all.

During this 'Year of Luke' I hope we will explore together more highways and byways of this most beautiful and complete of the four Gospels.