Sons

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

SONS

Luke 3:23-38

23 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, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melki, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

NIV

What is the point of Luke telling us the complete lineage or genealogy of Joseph considering he had nothing to do with the birth of Jesus? Mary is the only human portion of Christ but as life has generally been recorded through the line of men it would seem this is why Luke gives us this record. Yet it is also interesting that Joseph was in the line of David, Noah and thus all the way back to Adam who was the son of God. Could the reason Mary found favor with God is she was betrothed to Joseph, a man in the line of David.  Many Scholars have examined this record against that of Matthews and there is much difference and discussion by Rabbinic scholars very knowledgeable both in Hebrew and the customs. We do not have the time nor the space to include all their study and discourse, yet we have to believe there is some reason for Luke to tell us all this. The one point which we should include is there is enough evidence this might actually be the lineage of Mary. This is due to the use of sons-in law being named as in the Rabbinical custom, daughters were not named. This is why Luke’s record differs from Matthew. Yet there has to be some life lesson we can learn from a record of genealogy.  The point is Jesus came from the line of Adam no matter how we look at it. Although it is true Adam was a created man, and Jesus was a conceived man, in the human sense, both are referred as the son of God, Adam a small son and Jesus a large Son because he is in fact God which is always capitalized. The point that God, from the very beginning, knew who he would come in the flesh through and made sure each man had the right son to have the right son and so forth in order that both Mary and Joseph would be engaged and thus bring forth Jesus in the town of Bethlehem and live in Nazareth in accordance with all of his inspired words spoken through his prophets. If we learn anything, we learn God is in control. He is in fact speaking into our lives, directing our paths in righteousness, so we will see him, both in the life we live here and in the life we will live in his Kingdom for all eternity. God has us in the palm of his hand, our life is that as he has directed it to be. We were born at the exact place and time, to the exact parents he chose so that we would be who we are and that we would find him. Of course that does not discount our free will or choice to refuse his invitation, but we still see him at work to bring us home. We are his sons.