Jesus’ Family Tree
An Orderly Account: Encountering Jesus in the Gospel of Luke
Luke 3:23-38
Grab Their Attention
Where did you come from? No, I’m not asking what part of the city you currently live in and drove from this morning. Nor am I asking about the town you grew up in or moved from. I’m thinking more about your ancestry. Who were your parents, and who were their parents? Where were your ancestors during pivotal moments in US history: World War II, or I, or during the Revolutionary War?
What did they do for a living? Many last names are based upon family trades. Smith, Baker, Carpenter, Miller, Cooper, and Wright all originate from vocations.
Where was their country and people of origin? Many companies allow you to send a swab of your DNA which they will decode and tell you what percent of various ethnicities you are. This week I asked AI what it could tell me about my own last name, Homesley. Apparently, it’s of English descent from the root, “Holm” for “island” and paired with “ley” meaning meadow.
Most of the time, our search for our ancestry is more or less recreational. Ours isn’t a cultural committed to preservation, so many of us don’t know much about our personal history. So, it’s fun to put the puzzle pieces together.
For a few, the search for genealogical records is less recreational and more psychological. They are trying to understand themselves. They want to know why they are the way they are and believe there may be clues buried in the past.
Or maybe we search out our ancestors to find our own purpose. There’s a sense that even if we’re insignificant, at least somebody, some time, and some place wasn’t… and I’m connected to them.
Raise the Need, State the Destination, Signposts
As we open our Bibles to Luke 3, today we’re studying the ancestry of Jesus Christ. Unlike our culture, first century Judaism fixated on ancestry and genealogical records.
The book of Genesis alone, contains 10 genealogical lists. The Old Testament as a whole contains 32. In ancient Israel, genealogical records were how you took possession of your inheritance, identified claims to property and land, it’s how you were certified as a priest (proving you were a Levite), and most importantly, it’s how the royal lineage of the Davidic line was maintained. In America, if you want to be successful, you need a birth certificate, a driver’s license, and a credit score, but in ancient Israel, you needed a genealogy.
When we come to the New Testament, we read 4 gospel accounts of the life of Jesus. And each gospel has a different approach and perspective on Jesus’ family history.
- Mark’s gospel, likely written first, doesn’t record a genealogy at all. Mark jumps straight into the action of Jesus’ life.
- Likewise John, doesn’t include a genealogy. John’s prologue introduces Jesus Christ as the eternal Word made flesh.
- Matthew includes a genealogy. His audience was primarily Jews, so his gospel traces Jesus’ line back to Abraham and stops there.
But not only does Luke include a genealogy, his is the longest. It doesn’t stop at Abraham. That’s because unlike Matthew, Luke isn’t trying to present Jesus as a Messiah for the Jews, he’s telling a bigger story. Luke traces Jesus’ line all the way back through David, Abraham, Noah, Adam, and even to God himself as Adam’s creator.
And this is because Luke is showing all of us that Jesus Christ isn’t just the Messiah for Israel, he’s the culmination of all redemptive history. By connecting Jesus to David, Abraham, Noah, and Adam, Luke is saying, “Jesus Christ isn’t just salvation for the Jews… he is God’s salvation for the world.”
Luke’s genealogy shows us that Jesus Christ is the royal heir, the faithful wanderer, the unending rest, and the new beginning.
- The Royal Heir
23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,… and v. 31 tells us that he’s the son of David.
If you’re new to the Bible, you may not know who David is. David was the great king of Israel in the Old Testament. He delivered Israel from her enemies. He fought for Israel. He wasn’t a perfect man, but he loved God and even when he sinned he was a man of great humility and repentance.
In 2 Samuel 7:11-16, God made a covenant with King David:
Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever… 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’”
The rest of the Old Testament looks forward to this coming king. If you read through the books of 1 & 2 Kings you’ll see that as the king goes, so goes the people of God. If Israel’s king loves the Lord, the people follow in obedience. If Israel’s king is an idolater, the people give themselves over to idols.
Over and over this happens. Good king, bad king. Good king, bad king. And by the time you get to the end of the line of kings, Israel is so wicked, so disobedient, they are hauled off to Assyria, and the last remaining tribe is hauled off to Babylon. In other words… not a single king was able to rule the people in such a way that they perpetually loved and served the Lord.
Evil kings made for an evil people. And good kings die. The end of the Old Testament leaves us longing, wondering, questioning… “Where is the promised king? The one who can lead the people to love the Lord… the one who can call the people to obedience to the laws of God… and, most importantly, the one who can occupy the throne forever… no end of days….”
And here’s is Luke’s shocking claim: Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David. Jesus Christ is of the line of David, therefore he can be king by right… but even ore important, because he is also the Son of God, he is perpetually perfect.
Jesus Christ is the true and better David. Why? Because whereas David could only deliver his people from a temporary enemy like the Philistines, Jesus Christ will deliver his people from both their temporal enemies and their eternal enemies like sin and death.
Not only is Jesus Christ the royal heir, he’s also.
- The Faithful Wanderer
Looking back at Luke 3, we see that Jesus Christ is… 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham
What’s the story of Abraham? Well, he’s the central figure in the book of Genesis. Sure, there’s Adam, there’s Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph… Genesis is full of characters, but Abraham is the central figure. Why?
It’s because the big question that Genesis is asking is, “Who will really trust God?” “Who will be faithful to God?” All of Abraham’s story revolves around the subject of faith… trusting in, resting in the promise of God.
So, what’s Abraham’s story? As far as we can tell, Abraham was from a pagan family living in the ancient near east. He didn’t worship the God of the Bible. But God comes to Abraham and says, “Pack up your things. Leave your home. Leave your family. Leave your culture.” And Abraham says, “Ok God… where am I going.” And God says, “Just start walking. I’ll tell you later. Just trust me.” And amazingly, Abraham goes. All of Abraham’s life he’s walking. From Babylon to Canaan. From Canaan to Egypt. From Egypt to Canaan. He truly settles down. His entire life is a life of sojourning and faith in the God of promise.
Later in his story, we find out that Abraham and Sarah very old and are not able to have children, and yet God says, “Abraham, through you I am going to make a great nation. Your descendants will number more than the stars in the sky or grains of sand on the shore.” And, God says, “Abraham, not only am I going to make you a great nations… through one of your descendants, I’m going to place all of the nations of the earth.” And Abraham says, “Ok God… but how?” And God says, “Just trust me.” And amazingly, Abraham and Sarah give birth to Isaac.
Later in the story, as Isaac is grown up, God says, “Take your son, Isaac, the son of promise, go a mountain that I will show you, and there you’re going to kill him and offer him up as a sacrifice.” And by this point in his life, Abraham has learned to trust the promises of God, he doesn’t even question it. He takes his son, takes a knife and fire, and just as he’s about to slay his son, God stops him and says to him, “Now I know you love me, for you did not withhold your only son from me.”
And here’s the shocking claim that Luke makes: Jesus Christ is the true and better Abraham. Abraham trusted God and left Babylon for Canaan… but Son of God trusted his Father and left heaven for earth. Abraham trusted God in the offering of Isaac, but Jesus Christ trusted God in the offering of himself.
Jesus Christ is the faithful wanderer, who left his homeland. He’s the faithful seed of Abraham through whom all of the nations of the earth find their blessing.
- The Unending Rest
Going back to Luke 3, in verse 36, we see that Jesus Christ is… the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
My guess is that you all know who Noah is. Guy with the big boat, right? But do you know what Noah’s name means? Genesis 5 includes a long genealogical list that stretches from Adam and Eve’s son, Seth, all the way to Noah. And let me tell you about this genealogy… it comes right on the heels of God’s curse of death in Genesis 3… Adam and Eve sin and it introduces death into human history.
So, the running theme of the Genesis 5 genealogy is “so-and-so begat so-and-so… and he died… and he died… and he died.” It goes on for generation after generation until you get to Noah. When Lamech begets Noah, he gives an explanation of his name. Genesis 5:26
29 and he called his name Noah, saying, “Out of the ground that the Lord has cursed, this one shall bring us relief from our work and from the painful toil of our hands.”
Noah’s name means rest, or relief, or comfort. For generations, the curse of God meant toil and struggle ending with pain, suffering, and death. Noah’s name therefore is humanities hope that one day the toil will end, one day there will be rest from the curse of God.
And what happens next? God provides a temporary relief from the curse. He judges the earth with the waters of the flood and he preserves humanity by saving Noah and his family.
It’s in Noah’s story that we see how truly awful our plight is. You would think that God judging the earth, wiping off all the wickedness, and Noah seeing all of that and being saved from it would change things… and yet, as you read the rest of Genesis you realize that Noah can’t being the lasting enduring rest and comfort that we all need. Noah quickly falls into sin and so do his children.
The rest of the Old Testament looks forward to someone who can bring us rest from the curse of God. And Luke’s shocking claim is that Jesus Christ is the unending rest of which Noah was only a shadow.
It is in Jesus Christ that our sin is fully and finally dealt with. At the cross, the sinless Son of God, is killed in the place of sinners like us. Our sin is judged, condemned, and our is buried in the flood of God’s divine wrath.
The refrain of Genesis 5 was… “And he died… and he died… and he died…” but Jesus Christ comes in John 11 and says, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
He comes to us in Matthew 11 and says, 28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jesus says, “Do you want true unending rest? Not just from the toil of your work… but even from the curse? Come to me.”
- The New Beginning
One last time, let’s go back to Luke 3. Verse 38 tells us that Jesus Christ is:
38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
There it is… the first person ever created. The person from whom comes all the nations of the earth. And, in the garden, Adam was made to obey God perfectly and perpetually. He was given the ability, the freedom, the power to choose obedience. God told Adam… obey me as it regards the tree and you’ll live. We call this the Covenant of Works. Through obedience, Adam would enjoy eternal life in the presence of God.
Of course, we know what happened. Adam failed to keep the Covenant of Works. He follows his wife Eve in disobedience and Adam’s failure is the reason we have a Noah, an Abraham, a David. Adam’s disobedience plunged the entire race into sin and death.
The rest of the Old Testament unfolds, story by story, leading us to the one who can reverse what Adam has done. We need a new beginning. We need redemption. And when you get to the New Testament, the Apostle Paul says that Jesus Christ is the last Adam… in other words.. Jesus Christ is the new beginning.
Just as God put Adam in a garden and tested him, he did the same to Christ. At the end of Christ’s life, the night he’s betrayed he’s in a garden… being tested… and Jesus Christ passes the test.
Just as God told Adam, “Obey me regarding the tree,” he told Jesus Christ, obey me regarding the tree. But whereas Adam’s obedience regarding the tree would result in life… Jesus’ Christ’s obedience regarding the cross would assure his death.
Adam failed to obey God when obedience meant a blessing… Jesus faithfully obeyed God when obedience meant curse. And in this way… he’s the true Adam… the better Adam.
And just as Adam’s guilt and death was passed to us… so too, Christ’s righteousness is passed to us by grace through faith. Just as one trespass led to condemnation for all men… so Christ’s act of righteousness leads to our justification and life.
And in the end, there are really only to genealogies in the Bible. There are only two lists of families. There are only two family trees: Adam and Jesus. There’s Adam and the Last Adam. There’s the beginning and the new beginning. Sure, there are ethnicities and cultures, nations, genders, and backgrounds… but at the end of the day… you are either still in Adam, under the curse, or you are in Christ, adopted by the Father.
Adam was a sinner. Jesus Christ is sinless. In Adam we inherit guilt, but in Christ we receive forgiveness. In Adam, there is condemnation. In Christ there is pardon and acquittal. In Adam there is death. In Christ there is life.
You got into Adam’s family by being born. You get into Christ’s family be being born again. Look to Christ today. Believe that he took your place on the cross, died the death you deserved. Rest in the grace that he offers.
Who is Jesus? He’s the royal heir, the faithful wanderer, the unending rest, and the new beginning.
The story of the Old Testament points to, leads to, foreshadows Jesus Christ. He isn’t just another story within the story… he himself is the story. He’s the culmination of God’s plan to redeem.