December 17 – Luke 3:23-37. Adoption into the Lineage.

December 17 – Luke 3:23-37. Adoption into the Lineage.

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 
     the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josek, the son of Joda, 
     the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 
     the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 
     the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 
     the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
     the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 
     the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Luke was very interested in presenting things as accurately as possible.  Genealogies were used in ancient times to establish the identity of a person.  While the genealogy in Matthew begins with Abraham, Luke reverses the order, beginning with Jesus and leading back to Adam … the original creation … the original son of God. Then, he does something phenomenal and traces Jesus’ lineage straight to God.

He identifies Jesus strongly as the Son of God.  There can be no question as to who this man is.

Now why do these genealogies differ so much? There are a lot of solutions given, but one that has a great deal of support is that Mary had no brothers. Her father – Eli (Heli in this translation) adopted Joseph as his own son.  Matthew gives Joseph’s ancestry by birth – Luke by adoption.

This is profound for our understanding of our relationship with God.  Just as Joseph was adopted into the lineage (even though he also had his own lineage), so are we adopted into the Kingdom of God.

Jesus has come.  No matter how you trace his genealogy, he is the Son of God … he is descended from the patriarchs, the men and women blessed by God to lead their people into His presence.  Jesus will complete this mission.