The Family Tree

THE FAMILY TREE

“And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” Matthew 1:16 (KJV)

Each of us is unique. We don’t have the same fingerprints, and we don’t have the same DNA. We stand out from those around us. Our ancestors passed on many things to us, both good and bad. Matthew begins his gospel with the genealogy of Jesus. It ends with the verse above - the birth of Jesus, who is the Christ or the Messiah. Before that concluding verse, Matthew lists 47 names (most hard to pronounce!) spanning twenty-one centuries of human experience. But his genealogy does not end there - it goes on because we are his descendants, because we have been born again and are now in his forever family.

These ancestors of the human Jesus include paupers, princes, shepherds, slaves, kings, harlots, and much more. Matthew didn’t just pick out good people to include. He didn’t limit it to men, which was common at the time. He included four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. All four of these women had major moral problems in their lives, but God’s grace transformed them and forgave them, and placed them in the genealogy of Jesus. 2 Corinthians 5:17 states: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Jesus is willing to go into the messiest parts of our lives and transform them.

When our daughter, Lori, was just a toddler, we had a large plastic nativity scene. Lori loved Baby Jesus, and she would take him out of the manger and carry him around with her. Of course, in doing that, she would bang him against corners and run into things with him. Pretty soon, Jesus became banged up. At first, we were upset because we thought she should take better care of Jesus, but then we realized that she understood Jesus better than we did. Jesus does not want to be left on a shelf. He wants to be invited into our lives and our circumstances and forgive us and transform us. We began to call that baby Jesus the banged-up baby Jesus. But he was banged up to save us from our sins.

This Advent, don’t keep Jesus on a shelf or just in a manger scene, but invite him into your life and allow him to work in your circumstances and to transform your life. Come each Sunday expecting to meet Jesus.

David Brock

Eric is our associate pastor, working with outreach and youth ministry as well as adult discipleship and growth. Eric retired from a 28-year career in public education as a high school band director in 2019 and is now living his lifelong dream as a pastor. Eric and his wife, Diana, continue to live in Henry County where they have been lifetime residents. They "raised" three children and are now making their best attempt at "raising" themselves.