This month, as most of you know, I am taking over a church for a dear friend of mine who is currently in Israel for the month. I am doing a series on “nuggets” in the Bible. One of the things that I have studied throughout the years are the genealogies. After all, these are the lists of generations of people and most of the time, they are the kind of thing that we pass right over. They can be boring and they are difficult to preach.
One of my favorite Gospels was written by the good Dr. Luke, the third Gospel in the New Testament and one of the three synoptic Gospels. These books, Matthew, Mark and Luke, tell the story of Jesus and theologians have spent lifetimes looking at the life of Jesus through these three different, yet compatible filters.
One of the things that I love about Luke’s writing is the fact that his opening verses in Chapter 1 highlight the intensity with which he is going to tell the story of Jesus. He reports that he has investigated everything from the beginning and wants his readers to know the certainty of what they are about to read.
In the middle of the third chapter, Luke finally gets around to giving us the family history of Jesus. In fact, he gives us the lineage of Mary, unlike Matthew, who decided to list the generations of Joseph’s family starting with Abraham, the father of the Jewish people, down to Joseph. Of course, the history of Joseph was important to the Jewish people, but Luke is more concerned with the line of Mary. After all, she is the mother of Jesus!
While Matthew works from Abraham forward, Luke starts with Mary and works backward. And he doesn’t stop at King David (both Mary and Joseph were from the line of David) but goes all the way back to Adam, “the son of God”… according to Luke.
After reading about Luke’s commitment to record things from the beginning, its no wonder that he goes all the way back to the foundations of when God decided to create mankind. Luke leaves no stone unturned when it comes to showing us that Jesus has a direct line of ancestors that go all the way back to the Garden of Eden.
It is through the words of Luke that we learn so much about the life and stories of Jesus. Furthermore, Luke is also the author of Acts, the book that details the beginning of the church in Acts 2. Luke adds greatly the the narrative of the New Testament.
Tonight’s verse is the opening of Luke’s Gospel, where he sets forth his research for the reader. Luke tells us, in Luke 1:1-4, “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”
My encouragement this evening is that God’s word is trustworthy and true. My prayer is that we will aspire to have the same certainly as Dr. Luke when it comes to our eternal life with Jesus. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…