Fourth, each writer retained Christ's Hebraic and Universal Nature. Matthew, writing of his destiny as Jewish Messiah, nevertheless stressed his universal, history-long Authority in 28:18-20. Luke, while teaching Christ's Universal Authority, put his ancestry in a strictly Jewish milieu: a Jewish girl; a Jewish man; a Jewish village; a Jewish Sabbath; a Jewish circumcision, et al.
Fifth. While the names included often present pronunciation problems, one factor makes it worthwhile: no names are too hard to say since they belong to family members. And family history isn't boring when it's OUR family. Which makes the Gospels' genealogy fascinating. Those are names of brothers and sisters in FAITH. In God's spiritual family. In every generation. They are loved ones with the good fortune, without knowing it, of being ancestors of the Greatest Man ever to live. And we'll one day talk over the different spiritual journeys we've experienced while living a common faith in God! Sixth, the two authors included different names in the genealogical lines. Which means Matthew traced Joseph's descent from David's son Solomon and Luke Mary's from David's son Nathan. (Could David have named him after the prophet Nathan?) Since genealogical tables usually stressed men, Christ's descent included three women, two of them Gentiles, the other a pretended prostitute. However, the importance of Mary's is her descent also from David. Seventh, and last for this blog, Angel Gabriel appeared to Joseph, Mary's betrothed, not to Mary's father, with information regarding Mary's pregnancy. Though Mary still lived at home till the wedding. God ignored cultural expectations by at once relieving the family of responsibility WHILE imposing it on Joseph. In the common opinion of Nazareth, he assumed accountability for her condition, though innocent of it. And by taking her into his house apparently admitted it! That has a spiritual lesson. God may ask us to assume responsibility for a situation we didn't create, but to which he feels we can contribute spiritual help. IF called to such a role, consider it a compliment. Don't quibble. Don't protest. Don't plead inability. Don't offer an alternative. God knows both the situation and the one capable of serving HIM in it. Be like Joseph. Obey immediately, as he did THREE TIMES—when called to it. Fini
0 Comments
The Puritans landed at Plymouth Rock November 1620. Present-day descendants—amounting to at least hundreds in America—remember their ancestors as the original European settlers of New England. In 1992, a Connecticut family still farmed land their ancestors owned and on which they had grown food for General Washington's army. They still remember their origins.
The ancestry of Jesus deserves far more attention than it gets. This blog contains 3 of at least 9 spiritual lessons we can learn from Matthew's account, 1:1-17. One, each Gospel writer had a distinct purpose:
Two, as Hebrews 9:15 teaches:
Jesus literally sundered history into B.C. and A.D. which liberals today try to ignore by referring to A.D. as B.C.E.—before the common era. Their problem is, B.C. and A.D. don't constitute a simple equation. For without Christ's birth, ministry, death and resurrection ALL HISTORY would to this day be characterized by:
IF JESUS had not been BORN! Third, the genealogies prove Adam:
...the last regaining it by perfect obedience to God. Jesus as the LAST Adam to eliminate sin means no human WORKS can be the basis of entering Heaven. That obliterates the usual, "I'm a good person" explanation why people will get to Heaven. End Part I |
Archives
April 2024
Categories
All
|