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The Significance of a Genealogy
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November 28, 2023
Joseph's Unique Role
Joseph, who was chosen by God to be Jesus's foster father, played a crucial role in shaping the man Jesus would become. Examining his diverse family tree in the Gospel of Matthew reveals the unexpected influence of individuals like Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, and how their losses and experiences were instrumental in shaping Joseph's life.
A Tale of Three Women: 2000 BC
Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth, had their own stories of loss and hardship. Tamar's resilience in the face of widowhood, Ruth embarked on a journey from Moab, ultimately marrying Boaz, a descendent of Joseph, after suffering great loss, and Rahab's surprising role as a prostitute in the lineage of Joseph, all demonstrate the unanticipated twists in Joseph's genealogy. These were real people with problems just like us.
Imperfections in the Lineage
The genealogy of Joseph, like many family trees, included individuals with ethnically diverse backgrounds and questionable actions, such as King David's murder of Uriah. This highlights Christ's entrance into our imperfect world, understanding our flaws, and coming to save us. Joseph's family tree had its share of suffering and skeletons, which should give us hope.
Ancestral Influence
Just as Joseph's character was shaped by his ancestors, we are products of the experiences that molded our forebears. Changes in the genealogy would have affected Joseph's ability to mentor Jesus. Simply put, he would not have been the man he needed to be. For instance, Ruth and Tamar’s losses served a higher purpose beyond their comprehension, just as Uriah’s death at the hands of David also served a purpose. Through their pain, new paths were forged in their lives and they all ended up in Josephs genealogy.
Moreover, these individuals, who lived 1500-2000 years prior to Joseph, significantly influenced the family tree through their shared struggles. The impact of their experiences resonated in shaping Joseph's future and making him who he was.
To raise Jesus, Joseph required a specific set of skills, and God was busy shaping the man with those attributes for thousands of years before Joseph was born.
God didn't search for the ideal couple to nurture Jesus and eventually choose Mary and Joseph. Instead, He meticulously shaped their DNA and drew upon the rich tapestry of their ancestors' experiences spanning thousands of years.
You are part of the Grand Weavers design as well, meticulously crafted. God said you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God has invested so much into you and me.
Joseph's Shaped Identity
Joseph's character, like our own, was molded by his environment and ancestral influences. We're not just products of our experiences, but also of our ancestors' experiences. Our lives and identities are intertwined with a broader, often incomprehensible plan. Like pieces to a grand puzzle, we're all interconnected.
What you and I do, or don't do, ripples through time.
Joseph's genealogy, spanning millennia, highlights God's purpose in both good and evil. "All things work together for good," every circumstance, good and bad, in Joseph's family tree had a purpose. And God has a purpose for you as well.
Trusting in God's Design
Despite questions we have about personal hardships and current global events, we can find solace in God's meticulous orchestration for a greater purpose that we just cannot understand. Joseph’s genealogy also included Kings that caused the death of thousands. We cannot understand how that fits into God’s plan. But it does.
We have 20- or 30-year plans but God has plans that span millennia. How can we grasp that? God, it seems, looks forward and designs a past to accommodate the future. God is not limited by time like we are.
Joseph's family tree offers insights into our own paths, showing how good prevails amid virtuous and flawed individuals. It also tells us that there is meaning in hardship and in the end good always prevails.
Even before Joseph's birth, his destiny was already known to God. Each generation in his lineage was shaped by trials and adversity in demanding circumstances. Both the positive and negative aspects of his family history had a meaningful role to play in the making of Joseph. His unique character was essential, given the high stakes involved.
God was involved in the process every step of the way.
God is also intertwined in every aspect of your life as well.
Trust in God's Plan
God has a purpose for our lives, even when it seems unclear. Like Joseph's genealogy, our experiences are part of a greater tapestry. We are interwoven with our ancestors and with our hardship. In it we find glimpses of a God who never fails.
God permits evils within his creation in order to make possible the good that could not have come about in any other way.
The Bible consistently takes the long view and urges patience with the working out of a divine purpose that typically remains opaque to us.
God asks us to trust.
You Can’t Argue With a Saint!
A man once went to Calcutta, he was seeking Mother Teresa … and more. He went for three months to work at “the house of the dying” to find out how best he could spend the rest of his life.
When he met Mother Teresa, he asked her to pray for him. “What do you want me to pray for?” she replied. He then uttered the request he had carried thousands of miles: “Clarity. Pray that I have clarity.”
“No,” Mother Teresa answered, “I will not do that.” When he asked her why, she said, “Clarity is the last thing you are clinging to and must let go of.” When the man said that she always seemed to have clarity, the very kind of clarity he was looking for, Mother Teresa laughed and said: “I have never had clarity; what I have always had is trust.
So I will pray that you trust God.”
Can you do that?