The Genealogy of Jesus Christ, Part 2

by John Comer

Genealogy is not all written in the past tense. It also has to do with who you are at this present moment, and with your family now living.

These paragraphs are about the genealogy of Jesus Christ. You will find the past tense part of his genealogy in Matthew, Chapter 1, and Luke, Chapter 3. But for the moment, we’re looking at his “now” family, and chances are, you’re part of it, which should help keep you from thinking that genealogy is a bore.

Jesus is the Son of God and Christians are the children of God. We believers are brothers and sisters to each other, and brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ. Undeniably, Jesus is God’s son in a unique way, but the fact remains, he’s still our brother. Jesus often referred to his disciples as “my brothers.” He could have omitted the use of this term, but he didn’t. He said “brothers.”

Being part of a family can call for huge sacrifices. It certainly worked out that way for Jesus. Scripture says that since the children of God are made of flesh and blood, Jesus shared this condition with us. He was made like his brothers in every way, and even suffered through temptations just as we do. We need to remember that the human race had long since fallen into sin, and Jesus was sinless. Even so, he was not ashamed to call us brothers. Because he shared our humanity in this way, he was not only our brother, but also could be a merciful and faithful high priest for us, able to help us in all our troubles.

There is a psalm in which prophetically Jesus tells God that he will declare God’s name to “my brothers” and sing God’s praises in the presence of the congregation. It’s as though our brother Jesus opens our minds to the things of God, then stands among us in our worship leading our songs of praise to God, who is both his Father and ours. It would be good for us to remember this as we worship Sunday morning.

Genealogy is wonderful when God is your Father and Jesus is your brother. The two of them have demonstrated to us what family love is all about, and I suspect at least a part of their intention is that the rest of us brothers and sisters get on with being a loving family.