Over the past year I have caught a few episodes of the PBS program Finding Your Roots, where noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. helps celebrities discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees. Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by their ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode their DNA and help them travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of their earliest forebears. Among others, the show has highlighted the family histories of famed broadcaster Barbara Walters, author Stephen King, and former New York Yankees short-stop Derek Jeter (emphasis on the word “former”). Thank God for that!!!
The immense popularity of the show is at least partially due to the renaissance of genealogical interest that has swept across America over the past decade or so. Contrary to many other cultures, Americans typically value things that are new over things that are old. While the average person from Britain or China can follow their family tree back hundreds and sometimes even thousands of years, most Americans, with perhaps the exception of those who are members of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), can’t trace their roots back more than two or three generations. How about you? What do you really know about your great-great grandparents? How far can you trace the roots of your family tree?
Our historical ignorance and cultural ambivalence has negatively affected our view of reading genealogies, especially biblical ones. That is why, when we come to long lists of peculiar names in the Bible like this one, we immediately react with thoughts like: “This is dumb!” “I can’t even pronounce these names!” “Why is this even here?” “This doesn’t make any sense!” “I’m not getting anything out of this!” “How is the pastor going to make a sermon out of this?”
But to the ancient Jewish mind, a person’s genealogy was critical for establishing their credibility. A person’s family line often defined their place in society, especially if they had royal blood. If a person could not find their family heritage, they were like a nomad wandering through the desert.
Now I admit that genealogy may not be the Bible’s most interesting literary genre, but I assure you that they are always there for a good reason and they do bear great significance for our lives today. Just as our own genealogies help us understand our identities, Jesus’ genealogy helps us understand his true identity. In this passage, Luke combines a brief account of Jesus’ baptism with his genealogical background to highlight his role of Son of God and Son of Man—that is, his divinity and humanity.
Jesus’ Baptism (21-22)
Luke only uses two verses to describe Jesus’ baptism. He is not interested, like the other gospel writers, in all of the dialogue leading up to Jesus undergoing the waters of baptism in the Jordan River; rather, he is interested in the two miraculous actions. Immediately after John brought him up out of the water, and as Jesus began to pray, the heavens were opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form as a dove. If this miraculous visible display wasn’t enough to astound the crowd, the audible voice that said, “You are my beloved son; with you I am well pleased” must have left them completely dumbfounded.
The visible presence of the Holy Spirit and the audible affirmation from God the Father publically identified Jesus as own God’s son, thus declaring his deity. This is one of the few places in the Bible where we encounter all three members of the Holy Trinity (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) at the same time.
If John’s baptism was a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, it raises the question as to why Jesus wanted to be baptized. Jesus did not need to be baptized, nor did he need to be forgiven for any sins, but he deliberately chose to be baptized to endorse John the Baptist’s ministry and to identify with sinful humanity in their need to be forgiven. This decision would eventually lead him to the cross, the ultimate display of his own humanity.
Jesus’ baptism reveals his true identity: He is fully God and fully man at the same time. His willingness to undergo the waters of baptism highlights his humanity. The miraculous appearance of the Holy Spirit and the Father’s affirmation demonstrates his deity! Why is this important? What is the significance of this? Just wait a few more minutes and I will tell you! But first, let’s take a look at Jesus’ family tree!
Jesus’ Family Tree (23-38)
As I mentioned earlier, a person’s genealogy helps to reveal their identity. Like a carpenter who repeatedly hits a nail to solidify a structure, Luke places Jesus’ genealogy immediately after his baptism because he wants to drive home the fact that Jesus is both God and man. Luke has already told us the story of Jesus being conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, but now he affirms Joseph as Jesus’ earthly father and traces his lineage all the way back to Adam and God.
Most of the names in this list are unfamiliar to us. Nearly half of the 75 names listed here do not appear anywhere else in the Bible, but there are a few names that we do recognize. In accordance with Old Testament prophecy, Luke makes it clear that Jesus descended from the royal line of David, which shows us that he had the heritage of a king. He was also a descendent of Father Abraham, the patriarch of the Jewish people, which shows us that he was a true Israelite. His ancestry can actually be traced all the way back to Adam, the father of the human race, which affirms Jesus humanity! This genealogy shows us that Jesus is fully human, fully Jewish, and that he is a king!
Before I press this point further, I also want you to notice that Jesus’ genealogy includes as host of heroes and scoundrels. On the hero side, Enoch walked with God and was no more. He is one of only a few humans who never tasted death. Noah was a righteous man and God used him to save the human race. Boaz was an honest business man and became the kinsman-redeemer who eventually established the line of King David. These were men of moral integrity and spiritual stalwarts! It is no surprise to find men like this in Jesus’ family tree.
But consider the scoundrel side for a moment, Terah was an idolater; Abraham was a liar; Jacob was a cheater and thief; Judah was slave-trader and philanderer; David was an adulterer and murderer. They were men of sketchy character and moral malfunction. You may be surprised to find men like this in Jesus’ family tree.
Just like Jesus, we all have some skeletons in our ancestral closets. The branches on our own family trees are budded with both heroes and scoundrels. If you have descended from a godly family that took you to church, read the Bible, prayed together, and taught you about the grace and love of Jesus Christ, praise God and give thanks. Continue the pattern in your own family!
If you have descended from a family of liars, cheats, manipulators, alcoholics, abusers, and philanderers, be encouraged! So did Jesus! But may the cycle of sin stop with you! Clean the skeletons out of your family closet! Cast the demons out! Learn from their mistakes! Establish a godly heritage for your family!
Like most Americans, I don’t know a lot about my family tree. But I do know that I have descended from at least three generations of alcoholics on my father’s side. In my younger days, I was on the fast track to becoming a fourth generation alcoholic, but when I put my faith in Jesus Christ, he delivered me from the deadly addiction. Now I am very careful about how much I drink! I want the curse of my forefathers to be broken with me. I don’t want to become a descendant of debauchery to my children and grand-children; rather, I want to plant a new family tree that will reap of harvest of righteousness for generations to come!
Well, let me get back to Luke’s main point of Jesus’ family tree. Luke presents this genealogy alongside Jesus’ baptism to affirm his deity and humanity. In verse 23, Luke begins the genealogy by asserting that Joseph was Jesus’ father, but then he inserts the little phrase “or so it was thought.” He does this to inform the reader that everyone thought that Joseph was in fact Jesus’ father, but we already know that God was Jesus’ real father. Then he goes on to present the rest of Joseph’s genealogy. Luke is making the profound theological point that Jesus had both a human and heavenly father and is, therefore, both human and divine.
Conclusion
So, why is it so important that Jesus is both God and man? If Jesus was not fully God, he could not have lived a sinless life. If he did not live a sinless life, his death could not have atoned for our sins. And if his death did not atone for our sins, we still bear the burden of our sin and our souls are still sentenced to hell when we die. Do you see how the whole gospel hinges on the fact that Jesus is God? If Jesus is not God, then we have no hope for eternal life! Likewise, if Jesus is not fully human, he cannot be our representative before God—he could not take our place or bear the punishment for our sins.
This is one of the key traits that separates Christianity from all of the other world religions. Mohammed was a man, but he was not God! Buddha was a man, but he was not God. Confucius was a man, but he was not God! Native peoples claim that the Great Spirit is God, but he is not a man! Jesus Christ is completely unique; there has never been nor will there ever be anyone like him again. He is fully God and fully man at the same time! He is the only one qualified to redeem our sinful souls and save us from hell!
Do you see? It is absolutely essential for Jesus to be both God and man. If he lacks either deity or humanity, we have no hope beyond this life. But thanks be to God for his great plan of salvation! Thanks be to God for allowing his only son, our Lord, to die on the cross for the forgiveness of all of our sins! Thanks be to God for bringing his Son back to life on the third day! Thanks be to God for conquering death once and for all! Have you put your faith in the God-Man Jesus Christ?