An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David…
Thus begins not only the Gospel of Matthew, but also the story of the generations of God’s people.
Over the 4th of July weekend, I was blessed to spend time with multiple generations of my family. Grandparents, little ones, and everyone in-between were a part of one gathering or another. It truly is fascinating, even after significant time and distance, how connected family can be. Folks live in completely different zip codes — to say nothing of generations — and yet live, move, and exist in very similar ways.
DNA, family history and even certain types of scripting unquestionably play a part. However, there is an intrinsic rootedness that seems to go even deeper. At our core, our very essence, there is something that informs us that we are all connected.
Imagine if we truly and fully embraced our complete and full connectedness. For one, there would no longer be “those people.” Rather, we would all be “our people.” Second, we would be inherently more understanding of each individual’s uniqueness as we often are with our family: “Oh, that’s just the way Uncle Joe is.” And maybe we would really live as Paul told the Galatians: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.”
From Abraham to you we are all God’s children — all connected.