“This is the family history of Jesus the Messiah. He came from the family of David, who was from the family of Abraham.” – Matthew 1:1 Easy-to-Read Version
Standing in the little country cemetery after my cousin’s funeral a week ago, my brothers and I looked at the gravestones of our relatives. My great-grandpa, O.G. Rowley, is buried there. He was the original pioneer child, the first one born in that township in far southern Minnesota. His father is buried there, too; and his father; and my father. Five generations of my family are in that ground.
We read the names. Looked at the dates. Told the stories. And connected the pieces of the family tree. I never met O.G., but still, I feel a connection to him and Lydia, his wife, and to all the generations of my family in that cemetery. It wouldn’t mean much to read the names off random gravestones in some random cemetery. But these were not random names. These were the names of my family. These were the people who gave me life.
That afternoon gave me renewed appreciation for the most skipped over parts of the bible – the genealogies. Those long lists of names don’t seem very interesting. Why does the bible spend so much time telling us that “Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; and Judas begat…”? It seems kind of boring until you realize it is telling the family story of Jesus. And, because of Jesus, we belong to that family. His family story is our family story. We are brothers and sisters of Christ. We are part of God’s family. “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)
This may not motivate you to go back and reread the genealogies in the bible, but hopefully it will brighten your day to be reminded that we have a family bigger than our earthly family, a story greater than family histories, and a destination much better than a family cemetery. All because of Jesus.
Have a great week my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Pastor Mark