OPINION – Luke's gospel: purpose of Jesus’ genealogy
MY PERSPECTIVE, Gary Damron
We started this series by looking at the purpose of the gospel writers, which was to introduce us to Jesus. We began with John’s account of the pre-beginning, ever-existing person of Jesus. Last week, we researched Matthew's genealogy of His birth, tracing the lineage of "Jesus the Messiah" through His earthly father Joseph.
There's another genealogy recorded by Luke, but it is different in several ways. While Matthew began with Abraham and moved forward, the record in Luke chapter 3 traveled backward. It also started with Joseph, but commentator Adam Clarke explains that it appears instead to be Mary's line since her father Eli is listed. In this case, Luke used the term "son" to describe Jesus as the son-in-law of Eli. Both Joseph and Mary were descendants of David, with Mary's ancestry through David's son Nathan, and Joseph's from Solomon. [Thus, when the census was ordered, Mary and Joseph traveled to the homeland of their ancestors, to Bethlehem which was called the City of David.] And rather than stopping at Abraham, Luke's lineage goes as far back as "Adam, the son of God" (Luke 3:38).
