The Genealogy of Jesus

The first thing you encounter when you read the Gospels of Mathew and Luke is the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Why do they present the genealogy before anything else? This article aims to explain the unique function of the genealogy of Jesus as presented by the two authors, Mathew and Luke.

Mathew begins his Gospel by tracing Jesus' ancestry beginning with Abraham, the man whom the Jews hold in their esteem as their patriarch. He traces ancestry of Jesus to show the Jews that Jesus is the promised one who fulfills the prophecies of the Old Testament. How does Mathew show that Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament?

First he takes the readers back to Genesis' Christological prophecy right in the garden where God handed down his judgment on Adam, Eve and the snake. God tells the instrument of the adversary, the snake that "I will put an enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel (Genesis 3:15).

The immediate meaning deduced here is the antagonism between people, descendents of the woman and the snake symbolizes the outcome of the titanic struggle between God and the evil one, a struggle played in the hearts and history of mankind. The futuristic view of the prophecy-"he will crush your head" occurred eventually when the offspring of the woman crushes the head of the serpent. That prophecy fulfills in Jesus Christ's victory over Satan- a victory in which all believers will share (Romans16:20).

Mathew's genealogy is structured in such a way to bring to prominence the fulfillment of prophecy in Genesis 3:15. He starts with Abraham, the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob and so forth throughout the generations. He changes the structure of his writing of Joseph. He does not say Joseph is the father of Jesus as he does with the rest. Instead, Mathew says Joseph is the husband of Mary of whom Jesus was born of her (Matthew 1:16). He brings the woman to fore, amplifying her from whom a 'seed' will crush the head of the snake. Jesus or Joshua - God is with us who is also called the Christi or Christos- the anointed one is born.

Second, Matthew shows in his genealogy that the messiah must come from the house of David as prophesized by the prophets. Matthew proved that although Jesus is not the physical son of Joseph, he is the legal son of Joseph, and therefore a descendant of David. Jesus' mother Mary whose husband is Joseph comes from the line of David.

Third, Jesus must be born of a woman, but must be divine. Mathew clearly illustrates this by referring Jesus as not a son of Joseph. The question is how cannot Jesus be a son of Joseph and yet born of his wife? The puzzle is solved immediately below in his nativity story. In the birth story Matthew explains that Jesus is not begotten of a man, but of God. Angel Gabriel announces to Mary that the Holy Spirit will empower her to have a son who will be called Jesus. Mary asks the angel the obvious question, how can this be since I am a virgin? Jesus was born a divine just as God created all other things- 'he said and all things came into being' (Genesis 1). God through his agent, angel said, 'son will be born unto you and he will be called Immanuel." He was born of woman, but begotten of divine God.

Luke's genealogy, on the other hand, functions a supportive or complimentary role to that of Matthew. However, Luke goes on to show in his presentation of genealogy the universal application of the Christological prophecy of Genesis 3:15. The antagonism between God and evil reflects in human hearts is not only unique to the Jews, but is a human problem engrained in all human beings. Luke shows this by tracing the ancestry of Jesus right back to Adam and Eve- the source of mankind.

Of course, we all know Luke a gentile who primarily writes to a Theophilus, a man of status, also a gentile and obviously his general targeted audience is gentiles. Luke's genealogy show to all gentiles that Jesus does not only fulfills the prophecies as promised savior of the Jews, but a savior of all human race. Luke brings his readers into the genealogy to make them see themselves as part of the salvation plan and history of God.

The Salvation history where God works in order to save mankind and restore his fallen creation basically follows the genealogy which the two Gospel writers illustrate. The uniqueness of this is that Matthew and Luke write to show you and I, the Bible readers of today, we are also included in this saving act of God.