The Word This Week
Matt 1:1…
Sometimes when we come to a big lump of names in the Bible, we tend to lift our eyes from the page and move along to the narrative. (The first 8 chapters of 1st Chronicles comes to mind.)
We might say, “What difference does this make to me?”
That’s a fair question – and one which deserves an answer.
The answer is: It should mean everything to you. Your whole life depends upon it, and your afterlife certainly does.
We begin by understanding the Jewish people were immaculate record-keepers. (It is part of the reason they were God’s chosen people.) They may not have even known WHY they were such record-keepers, but it was part of their nature – a culturally defining distinction of who they were as a people.
These are the people God trusted with His WORD, to keep it and maintain it with exactitude through centuries of time. There has never been a people on the face of the earth both charged with, and capable of, such accurate record-keeping.
Their fascination with genealogies is something to behold. Many in our day have a similar fascination, with the rise of websites linked to DNA research which can provide your genetic and some of your historic background.
But in our case – who really cares besides you? And even for you it is just a minor sort of point of reference for your life going forward. You can tell your grandchildren where you come from.
In Jesus’ case it is far more important – and absolutely relevant to each one of us. Two of the three synoptic Gospels begin with the genealogy of Jesus for this reason.
The Jews may not have known it while they were doing it, but their fascination with keeping familial genealogies was inspired by God and absolutely essential in proving Jesus is the Christ.
Apart from these genealogies, meticulously recorded by both Matthew and Luke, we would not have a legal leg to stand upon pertaining to Jesus being the Christ apart from the marvelous stories of His teaching and His healing ad His ministry life, death, burial, and resurrection and ascension.
But we would be lacking the essential legal proof Jesus is Who He says He is based upon Who He is descended from. These genealogies, overlooked – and perhaps even considered boring by some, provide the essential legal basis to prove Jesus IS the Christ – and therefore that you may have eternal life in His NAME.
Pastor Bill
Sometimes when we come to a big lump of names in the Bible, we tend to lift our eyes from the page and move along to the narrative. (The first 8 chapters of 1st Chronicles comes to mind.)
We might say, “What difference does this make to me?”
That’s a fair question – and one which deserves an answer.
The answer is: It should mean everything to you. Your whole life depends upon it, and your afterlife certainly does.
We begin by understanding the Jewish people were immaculate record-keepers. (It is part of the reason they were God’s chosen people.) They may not have even known WHY they were such record-keepers, but it was part of their nature – a culturally defining distinction of who they were as a people.
These are the people God trusted with His WORD, to keep it and maintain it with exactitude through centuries of time. There has never been a people on the face of the earth both charged with, and capable of, such accurate record-keeping.
Their fascination with genealogies is something to behold. Many in our day have a similar fascination, with the rise of websites linked to DNA research which can provide your genetic and some of your historic background.
But in our case – who really cares besides you? And even for you it is just a minor sort of point of reference for your life going forward. You can tell your grandchildren where you come from.
In Jesus’ case it is far more important – and absolutely relevant to each one of us. Two of the three synoptic Gospels begin with the genealogy of Jesus for this reason.
The Jews may not have known it while they were doing it, but their fascination with keeping familial genealogies was inspired by God and absolutely essential in proving Jesus is the Christ.
Apart from these genealogies, meticulously recorded by both Matthew and Luke, we would not have a legal leg to stand upon pertaining to Jesus being the Christ apart from the marvelous stories of His teaching and His healing ad His ministry life, death, burial, and resurrection and ascension.
But we would be lacking the essential legal proof Jesus is Who He says He is based upon Who He is descended from. These genealogies, overlooked – and perhaps even considered boring by some, provide the essential legal basis to prove Jesus IS the Christ – and therefore that you may have eternal life in His NAME.
Pastor Bill