The New Testament begins...with a genealogy? "Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob..." (Matthew 1:1-18) - 42 begats in all.  The Greek word is genesis:  a beginning, birth, new life.  "In the beginning God created heaven and earth" (Genesis 1:1), and God has been orchestrating all the vagaries, accidents, and tides of history everything toward the climax:  a new genesis, the ultimate embodiment of God's love and purpose, Jesus.  Matthew's genealogy unveils the hidden plot of history, and celebrates God's constancy and reliability.

   Where did Jesus come from?  Where did I come from?  Inside me is the deposit of generations, the stamp of my DNA, the shape of my face or knobby knees.  The family tree on which I find myself hanging is lovely but gnarled, with saints and horse thieves, the pretty and the prickly.  Am I free and in control? or aren't the most decisive facts about me (skin color, nationality, gender, proclivity to disease, mental peculiarities) simply givens?  Am I here by accident? or was there some destiny?  If so, who am I?  What I do next?    

   Jesus did not materialize out of nowhere.  His family tree was a mixed bag of heroes and bumblers like mine.  We are begotten, birthed by God's love, mortal, noble, flawed, defiantly hopeful, longing for purpose - and to such people Jesus came, and comes.

   Come, Lord Jesus!

James

james@mpumc.org