Today’s passage: Luke 3:23-38
Helpful thoughts:
- The final piece that Luke adds to Jesus’ credentials as the Messiah, prior to the telling of the story of Jesus’ earthly ministry, is this genealogy.
- This genealogy has significant differences from the one in Matthew.
- It is most usually understood that this genealogy is that of Mary, not Joseph.
- As a result, several of the names in this genealogy and the one in Matthew are different between David and Joseph.
- Joseph is listed here as the “supposed” father of Jesus since Jesus is not Joseph’s biological son. Luke omitted Mary’s name according to custom (Something that Matthew did not do).
- Jesus was a son of David through Mary, and legally through Joseph.
- Matthew was written with the Jewish people in mind, Luke wrote his Gospel for a larger intended audience. This may have been the thinking behind taking the genealogy all the way back to Adam and not just to Abraham.
- God had declared that no one descended from Jeconiah could sit on the throne (Jeremiah 22:24-30, 36:30-31). Joseph was a descendant of Jeconiah and Jehoiakim. Any biological son of Joseph’s could not be king. Jesus’ miraculous virgin birth fulfilled this promise.
Questions to consider:
- With all of the prophecy fulfilled, how many people ever on the face of the earth could have been the promised Messiah? (I’ll give this one to you…there’s only one!)
- Looking back through the first three chapters of Luke, what were the evidences that Luke has given about Jesus’ background that point to His identity as the Son of God?
- With the evidence clearly outlined, what keeps people from believing that Jesus is the Christ? Why can we be encouraged even if others choose to respond in disbelief?