Who Is This Jesus? January 1 Readings: John 1:1-14, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38

Readings for Today

Context:

I’ve done a fair amount of genealogical research on my family recently, tracing the four branches of my family back as far as I could. My father’s paternal line ends the quickest, in Pennsylvania about 4 generations ago. His maternal line goes back into colonial Pennsylvania then back to Germany. My mother’s paternal line came from England in the early 1800s and settled in the St. Louis area. Her maternal line is our richest vein, going back to the Mayflower and European royalty (address me as Your Royal Highness, please!).

Our readings today trace the genealogy of Jesus. The Matthew passage traces Jesus' genealogy back through the royal line to Abraham, establishing his right to be the king in the line of David. The geneaology in Luke goes all the way back to Adam, showing Jesus to be the Son of Man, the one who came to save all the world. It was common to assign one genealogy to Mary and one to Joseph, but recent scholars are less likely to do that, attributing the differences to the two fathers listed for Joseph - perhaps one a natural father and the other an adopted father (second marriage). On the information we have, we will never know for certain. We do know that Matthew goes to Abraham and establishes Jesus' right as king, while luke goes to Adam and establishes Jesus as Savior of the world.

But is his divine genealogy that is most significant, and is clarified in John 1:1-14. This Jesus, the supposed son of Joseph, Mary's precious boy, was no ordinary child. He was more, much more. He was the Logos, the Word of God. He was God’s message to us. He was God, come in a human body, to shine the line of God in the darkness of sin and reveal the truth of God to a world in need.

This passage clarifies Jesus’ nature:

• He is God – the divine God-man. (v1)
• He is pre-existent, un-created. (2)
• He is the agent of God in creation of this world. (3)
• He is life. (4)
• He is victorious over this sinful and rebellious (darkened) world. (5).
• Though rejected by men, he is the full revelation of the glory of God to us. (14).

Devotional - Who Is This Jesus? 

There is a tendency to jump over the genealogies because they are…well…genealogies. They are boring. A list of names, many of which we know nothing about and which mean nothing to us. But there is an interesting phenomenon in the genealogy in Matthew 1, the royal genealogy of Jesus. There are only four mothers mentioned in the entire thing. Forty-two generations (14 from Abraham to David, 14 from David to Babylon, and 14 from Babylon to Christ) and there are only 4 women mentioned besides Mary.

There is something else significant about these four women – each of them has a past, a moral black-mark against their name. There was Tamar, who seduced and became impregnated by her father-in-law. Rahab is mentioned, and this is one of the only times her last name isn’t given as “the harlot.” Ruth, a woman of respectable character but a Moabitess, from one of the Canaanite nations that was a sworn enemy of the Israelites. Bathsheba is not even named, but is called “the wife of Uriah.” An incestuous seductress. A prostitute. A Moabitess. An adulteress. Four women mentioned in the line of Jesus and not a one of them the kind of woman most Jews would want to trumpet as their forebears.

When I discuss my ancestors I talk about Charlemagne (yes, if Ancestry.com is correct) and the Merovingian kings. I talk about Deacon Thomas Blossom and his daughter Elizabeth who journeyed on the Mayflower (the second one). But I don’t go back through and look for prostitutes and adulterers!

And odd thing. Why did Matthew do this? The fact is that many of the men in the line of Jesus were just as stained, just as fallen. There are not many heroes without clay feet!

The lesson? It is not our earthly heritage, our earthly talents, our past, our abilities, our resources, or any other human factor that matters in the kingdom of God. What matters is not who I am in this world but whether or not I am in Christ. In Christ the stain of my sin and failure is gone. In Christ my weakness becomes strength. In Christ my despair turns to hope. A Moabitess joins the Royal line. A prostitute loses her label. An adulteress is the mother of the King.

Thank you, Father, for your saving grace, and your restoring power. Thank you that in Christ what I was is not what I am and it most certainly does not define what I am going to be. Praise your name!

Think about It:

Our reading begins with one of the mountaintop portions of the NT. Meditate on John 1 and write down as many of the characteristics and qualities of Jesus Christ as you can identify in those 14 verses. I’ve given you a head start with the first 6. There are many more.

Who is this Jesus Christ we worship?