Part of the Family – by Eliezer Gonzalez

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Mar 5, 2016 1454

I know of people who spent huge amounts of money and time trying to find out their ancestry. I guess that it is comforting to know something about the family you belong to – your place in the world.

Although you’ve probably never thought of it like that, the truth is that your genealogy is found in Matthew 1. This is actually the genealogy of Christ.

The Jewish people were very proud of their ancestry, and they had great memories, so they could recite their genealogies going way back. Of course, they would leave out the embarrassing bits, like the guy who lost his marbles, or who married someone from the wrong side of the tracks.

But Jesus leaves nothing out in his genealogy. It is interesting that there are only four women mentioned in Christ’s genealogy in the Gospel of Matthew. Because the line was counted through the male side of things. It’s a patriarchal cultural thing.

Of those four women, three of them didn’t even belong to the people of God to start with. Out of the four, three were prostitutes. Here is a little extract:

Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,

Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,

Obed the father of Jesse… – Matthew 1:5

Notice that Rahab was the great grandmother of Jesus. She’s famous in the Bible story for being a prostitute with faith. She’s even mentioned in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the great gallery of the heroes of faith.

All of this tells you and me that there’s room for us in the family of God, whether you have belonged to the wrong crowd, or whether you have been into some shady business.

Like I said, the Jewish people considered genealogies to be very important. They would recite them as a matter of pride. Jesus isn’t embarrassed by some of the oddballs who were part of his family, and he will never, ever be embarrassed by you. How could the One who was crucified between two thieves ever be embarrassed by you?

When you accept Christ’s forgiveness and grace, he rejoices over you, like the most precious of his crown jewels. Because you have become part of his family (Eph. 1:5), part of his genealogy. And he will show you off to the world, so that all may see what his love can do.

– Eliezer Gonzalez