Jesus' Ancestry

December 1, 2024 Background Scripture: Ruth 1 4; Luke 3:23 - 38 Lesson Passage: Ruth 4:9- 17; Luke 3:23, 31b - 32 The Book of Ruth is most of the Background Scripture for today's lesson. This book is not the best place to begin for a non-Christian who wishes to study the bible. Some parts of it read like a romance novel; complete with plots and manipulations to gain a desired outcome. In this book, we read about some good people doing some questionable things. I learned a long time ago, "In this life, all we ever have to work with are real people!" I thank God that is exactly what the bible presents to us: real people behaving as real people. However, we also see God in His perfect holiness, working amid imperfect people bringing about His perfect will. The book of Ruth gives a brief history of a young Moabite woman named Ruth. Ruth is an important link in the ancestry of Jesus. Ruth is one of five women mentioned in Jesus' genealogy as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. It is unusual for women to be listed in the genealogy of ancient Hebrews. That is enough to warrant a closer look at who they were and to consider why they were included. Jesus descended through a line of "real" people who had normal issues. However, we must be careful as we study Jesus' human ancestry that we never lose sight of His divinity. According to the scriptures, many people who lived around Jesus knew His family so well that they could not accept Him being anything other than a regular person. They were offended even thinking about Jesus as a prophet of God working miracles in their presence. We must be cautious because there can be a great inclination to overemphasize Jesus' humanity—and His imperfect ancestors. Yet, it is important to study Jesus' human ancestry because of what His ancest1Y reveals to us. Some of His human relatives were just common people living in poverty such as the non-Jewish Ruth. Others had shameful public reputations such as Rahab the Canaanite harlot (prostitute). And then there were kings such as David and Solomon (who was born of David's fornication, murder, and coveting of another man's wife). This genealogy makes its own statement about the grace of God throughout generations even the generations of His Son's human ancestry. When we observe who is in Jesus' family lineage, we are left without excuse based on our ancestors. Most importantly, Jesus' ancestry line clearly presents Him as the promised Messiah that God sent as a descendant of Abraham and heir to the throne of King David. As the promised descendant of Abraham, all the nations of the earth are blessed in Him. Therefore, it is fitting that different non-Jewish nationalities would be included in His ancestry! Knowing that Jesus is the fulfillment of so many promises God made to Abraham and his descendants gives us the assurance that God will fulfill all other promises He made concerning Jesus. The Gospel of Luke presents Jesus in His humanity and ministry to non-Jews more than the other three accounts. The genealogy Luke wrote traces Jesus' lineage all the way to Adam, the first person created by God. It is also noteworthy that Luke traces a lineage that begins with Joseph as the adoptive human father of Jesus—because Joseph was not Jesus' human father! Jesus was conceived in His mother's womb by the Holy Spirit so that He would be conceived and born into the world without sin. That would have been impossible given two humans. On the other hand, it is generally believed and accepted that this lineage traces Jesus' ancestry to His mother, Mary. This assumption is grounded in the translation of the Greek pronoun "of whom" which is feminine and refers to Mary in the lineage in the Gospel of Matthew. Because of the biblical record, we can be assured today that Jesus was human because we can study His ancestry. Robert C. Hudson November 22, 2024