Growing up, I used to skim over the Scriptures that highlighted the genealogy of Jesus. The words were hard to read and pronounce. It was a bit uneventful to me. After all, there is no action or drama. Why would I need to know who begat whom? I remember thinking that these passages hold purpose because they were in the canon of Scriptures. Yet, at that time they were just names on a page that held little to no meaning to me.
Years have passed and I had opportunities to read through the entire Bible a few times. As such, I was able to make connections I had not seen before. The main thing that we should observe is that the prophecies of Christ coming into the world were true. Yes, God keeps His promises. Still, I discovered something else. Scripture gave me a front-row seat to the lives of Jesus’ foreparents. What I noticed is that a number of these people were deeply flawed. Crazy, right? Just imagine – the perfect Messiah came from a lineage of broken people who did unspeakable things. They were liars, adulterers, murderers, deceivers, and more.
I cannot help but think that sometimes we shirk away from our history because of how messy it might be. Our friends may know us for years but do not know we have a sibling who has been in and out of prison. I get it. We feel ashamed. After all, we are not proud of circumstances like these. On the flip side, the Son of God and His family story was written plainly for generations to see. His business is unapologetically on display. Why would He do that? Why would He display His messy family tree?
I believe it is not about Jesus being proud of lineage. Rather, it was a reminder of redemption. One of my favourite rappers/poets, Jason “Propaganda” Petty, said it best in his song “Lofty”.
He said,
“And broken and ugly things just like us are stamped ‘Excellent’
With ink tapped in wells of divine veins”
It’s true. God has this uncanny ability to turn broken people and ugly situations into something beautiful. It’s like the Japanese art of Kintsugi. In it, the potter takes broken pottery and mends it with gold, silver or platinum, making it more beautiful and more valuable than it was before. God faithfully and intentionally cut through the scandals, deception and pain of these imperfect humans to redeem their mess. Based on Jesus’ genealogy, He should have been rejected because of who His foreparents were. He should have been punished for the sins and indiscretions of the people before Him. But no. Something good came out of Nazareth. His name is Jesus and He saved the world from sin and death!
Like these “messed up people”, our stories are just as complex. In our own family trees, there are intersecting lines of good, bad and ugly occasions. Yet this Scripture indirectly reminds us that our stories are not irredeemable. Something good can come from them. Grace and mercy are never far from our reach. The shame we may experience will never crowd out His redemptive work and plans. We just have to be willing to surrender to the Lord and allow Him to make something beautiful in our lives. He will write an amazing story through our brokenness.