Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Luke 3:23-38
Introduction
Matthew 22:42 (NLT)
42 “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They replied, “He is the son of
David.”
Many geneticists believe all human beings on the planet earth have a
common ancestry. With DNA we can trace mitochondrial markers back to
their ancient human beginnings. What scientists are just now beginning to
discover, Bible believers have known in every generation. We share a
common ancestry. All people on the planet earth have a common origin, a
common maternity. I say a common maternity because the mitochondrial
markers are passed from mother to child.
1
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
Luke has at least two purposes, in tracing Jesus’ ancestry from either his
mother or supposed father Joseph (v.23)-back to David (v.31) and Abraham
(v.34). Luke establishes Jesus’ credentials qualifying him to be Israel’s
Messiah. Second, by taking Jesus’ ancestry all the way back to Adam, Luke
establishes Jesus as the Messiah for all mankind. Jesus is the Savior of the
world, the whole world, your world. Jesus is nothing less than the perfect
son of God (see v.38; 4:3,9). Luke wants to show Jesus’ connection to
David, to Abraham, to Adam.
There are a number of reasons proof of ancestry was important in the world
Jesus grew up in. Your ancestry determined where you lived, as the children
of Jacob where given tribal allotments (Num.26:34-35). The transfer of
property required accurate knowledge of one’s family tree (Ruth 3-4); it
served as a basis for taxation (Luke 2:4); the priests needed ancestral proof
of their descent from Levi (Ezra 2:61-62); it could demonstrate the nobility
of one’s pedigree (Phil.3:5)”(see Marvin Pate’s commentary Moody Gospel
p.108). Luke is writing to Gentiles, people who—if they believe in a God,
that God is transcendent, removed, untouchable, unknowable. Luke had to
demonstrate that Jesus was fully human. He was a man, born of a woman,
filled with human feelings and human emotions, yes and even human
limitations.
The gospel of Matthew was written by a Jew for Jews. The genealogy of
Jesus is in the very first chapter. The theme of Matthew’s gospel is “Jesus is
the King of the Jews”. There Jesus’ pedigree is traced through his adopted
father—Joseph. Mark’s gospel was written to Romans. It is only 14
chapters and reads like a made for TV movie. Roman Italians had a very
short attention span. Like Americans they wanted you to get to the point.
For the poor and for slaves, things like fancy genealogies just didn’t matter.
Mark’s gospel emphasizes humility, humanity, and service. Dr. Luke is a
Greek physician. The Greeks were looking for the perfect man. John’s
2
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
gospel was written to the world looking for God. In John’s gospel Jesus is
portrayed as the God-man.
There are two genealogies listed in the New Testament for Jesus. The
simple explanation is the genealogy in Matthew traces Christ’s ancestry
through his adopted father Joseph. The genealogy in Luke traces the
ancestry of Jesus through His biological mother. There are many Bible
scholars that disagree with that simple explanation.
Luke has 57 names, Matthew has 41. Luke’s list is structured along the lines
of 11 groups of seven people in each group, while Matthew’s list is based on
three sets of 14 generations.
3
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
Why did Jesus begin his ministry “at about thirty years of age”?
The names in verses 24-26 are not mentioned in the Old Testament.
We all have family trees. What makes Jesus’ family tree so interesting is-it
qualifies him to be God’s chosen Son. We receive our role in God’s family
through Jesus. In a sense, the only genealogy that counts for us is the one
that connects us to Jesus, Jesus’ biology makes our roots less relevant. God
makes His children out of Jews and Gentiles, males and females, Asian,
black, Hispanic, it does not matter.
Jonan may be the son of Zerubbabel cited in 1 Chronicles 3:19. Rhesa could
be an unmentioned son of Zerubbabel or it could be a transcription of the
Aramaic word resa which means ‘prince’. Shealtiel is listes as the the father
4
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
of Zerubbabel however 1 Chronicles 3:19 (LXX)—Maxoretic text lists
Pediaiah. Machen argues that because Shealtiel and Pedaiah were brothers
(1 Chron.3:17 a levirate marriage was involved.
(v.31) Nathan was the third son born to David. He was born in Jerusalem (2
Sam.5:14). He should not be confused with Nathan the prophet.
Over and over again Jesus is called “the son of David” (see Matt.12:23;
15:22; 20:30-31). For generations Jews were looking for the Messiah, the
promised deliverer of Israel. The people expected a great military leader, a
general, a liberator from the yoke of foreign dominion. In fact, they
expected Him to make the nation the center of a universal rule. He would
under God conquer the world, establish his throne and execute a fiery
5
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
judgment upon the nations and the people of the world. There was plenty of
prophetic pronouncements that caused them to come to that conclusion.
If Luke can demonstrate that Jesus fulfills all the prophecies as they relate to
King David, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he can go along way towards
convincing the prophecy literalists.
Luke’s list from David to Abraham parallels Matthew 1:2-6, except that
Luke adds tow names—Admin and Arni—that Matthew does not have,
neither of which are mentioned in the Old Testament. The others are known
from the Old Testament, Jesse, David’s father (I Sam.16:1); Obed, Jesse’s
father (Ruth 4:17,21,22) Boaz, husband of Ruth (Ruth 2-4); Sala, Boaz’s
father (I Chron.2:11), Nahshon (Num.1:7); one of the leaders of the tribe of
Judah who helped Moses take the census in the wilderness (Num.1:7);
Amminadab, father of Nahshon (Num.1:7); Hezron, one of the leaders of the
tribe of Judah (Gen.46:12); Perez, twin brother of Zerah born to Judah and
Tamar (Gen.38:29); the patriarchs: Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham; Terah
(Gen.11:26,27) and Nahor (Gen.11:22), Abraham’s father and grandfather.
6
The Roots Of Jesus And A Race Through Time
Luke 3:23-38
Some people are well known. Some people are unknown. Some had an
authentic walk with the Lord. Jesus represents both the well known and the
unknown people in the world.
The Lord is aware of everyone, the famous and infamous, the known, the
barely known and the unknown. God’s reward is not based on fame, but
faith, not public accolade but personal trust and faith and obedience to
Christ. God honors the faithful. Have you ever heard the testimony of well
known Christians who point to less known people who pointed them in the
direction of Jesus Christ? God often gets people’s attention through a
grandparent, a relative, or a friend the world never knows.
Adam is called the son of God because he has no biological father. He was
created directly by God. Angels are called “sons of God” because they were
created directly by God.
Adam failed in his obedience to God. Jesus the true Son of God, succeeds
when tested (see Luke’s temptation account in the next chapter; 4:1-13).
Jesus is the Adamic heir—fully man, fully God. Jesus is the only being in
the history of the world who can fully represent man before God and God
before man. This was the function of a priest, the High Priest. The High
Priest bore the name of God before men, and He carried the names of men
before God.
The Scriptures teach Jesus did live a perfect life. He never sinned
(2Cor.5:21; Heb. 4:15).