Learn to Love Lineage

As I dig deeper and deeper into the Old Testament, I've come to enjoy something I never anticipated enjoying: lineage. When you're staring down long lists of names in Numbers, Nehemiah, or Chronicles, the initial temptation is to skip over them. But -- surprise, surprise! -- those names mean something. And, since Jesus means something to us, so too should all those records of people.

Take a look at Luke 3. The author traces through history, connecting Jesus all the way back to Adam. Or, more accurately, God, who is the first. We don't meet each of these people in the Bible, but I've started to recognize the ones who do after studying Genesis. And of those, so many of those individuals do not seem like good candidates to put before Jesus.

We can break this down into three overarching facts:

Fact #1: So many of Jesus's ancestors were unlikely.

It seemed as though Isaac would never be born. Jacob was not supposed to be the heir to Isaac's inheritance. Perez was not supposed to be the first-born. And yet, despite all the odds of barrenness and birthright and birth, God made a way for them to live and carry on as part of the chosen family tree, always subverting our expectations.

Fact #2: So many of Jesus's ancestors were mess-ups.

David is a well-known figure in the Bible. He wrote many psalms and participated as a great leader in Israel. At the same time, he also made critical mistakes that ruined him, tarnishing his name forever. Even Noah, the last remnant of the faithful before the flood, messed up once back on land. Abraham also a few classic lies he used on multiple occasions (never tell someone your wife is your sister). Yes, the names we know best leading up to Jesus had plenty of flaws.

Fact #3: So many of Jesus's ancestors were, at some point, villains.

I find Judah the most unlikely person in Jesus's lineage. Judah was the fourth son born to Leah (who Jacob did not love like her sister, Rachel). He later came to hate and sell Joseph into slavery, the brother who ended up saving all of Egypt during a horrible famine. When we first meet him, we do not understand Judah to be the nicest person. But he did grow. He made mistakes without being rejected from God's plan. Instead, he ends up redeemed and chosen and written into the very lineage of Jesus.

And, a bonus Fact #4: These people don't matter as much as Jesus. But we are like them. And each of them, written down in the Bible, prove God's faithfulness and abundance. Lineage is therefore more than a collection of people we have never met -- it is proof, it is a mirror, and it is hope that God uses the smallest links to chain us back to Him.