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Luke 3 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
The way the Holy Spirit moved in order for Jesus Christ to come into this world is really fascinating.
There are so many wonderful stories in Christ’s family tree. The interesting thing is, the process and genealogy which took place in order for our Savior Jesus Christ to be born – these stories of his ancestors were not nice, clean, polished examples of morality and purity. They were messy. And this is such a great aspect of the person of the Holy Spirit who works continually in the mess.
So, when we look at the life of Jesus and examine His story, and how He came to be, we should not feel distant from Him, but rather, very connected to it because we are messy people ourselves. In every aspect of our lives, Christ can relate to us, and we can relate to him. It is a fact the ancestry of Jesus Christ himself is filled with a lot of underdog stories. Therefore, Christ’s genealogy is a testament to the guidance, power and amazing grace of the Holy Spirit.
Here in Luke 3, we read the long list of names that traces the genealogy of Christ. Matthew, in his Gospel, traces the genealogy of Abraham down to Joseph (Jesus’ father), while Luke’s account here traces the genealogy from Jesus’ mother Mary all the way back to Adam. Matthew’s text was written for the Jews while Luke’s was written to the Greeks, or, Gentiles, so there is a different audience they are writing to. There is a lot of debate among scholars because the genealogies take different paths but here is what you need to know; through both of these accounts, Jesus is most definitely a descendant of Abraham and a descendant of David.
Why is this important? Because it fulfills two very important prophecies concerning the Messiah. Scripture predicted long ago that the Messiah would be a son of David and a son of Abraham. The Jews who read Matthew’s account would have been concerned with the royal or legal line. They would have wanted to know if Jesus legally came down from the true Jewish lineage of Abraham. That’s exactly where Matthew starts, and he ends with Joseph.
Luke, on the other hand, being the detailed-minded individual that he was, traces the lineage from Mary all the way back to Adam. He was concerned with communicating the complete bloodline of Christ and how He relates to all of humanity.
Both accounts go through David, however, they go through different sons of David. Joseph came through the line of David’s son Solomon, and Mary came through the line of David’s son Nathan.
Who knew genealogy could be so exciting, right? Seriously though, the facts are there. The lineage proves it. Jesus was not just some man claiming to be God’s son. He was the true Messiah with a history of perfectly fulfilled prophecies since the creation of man. That thought alone should bring us to a place of awesome worship.