Editorial

What would Jesus’ Ancestry.ca look like?

By Rebecca Roman

Jacob’s sheep and goat-breeding tactics in Genesis 30 notwithstanding, the Bible doesn’t seem overly concerned with genetics. In fact, the mechanics of genetics and heredity has fairly recent origins. DNA as the substance responsible for heredity was discovered within the last century. In 1999, the first human genome was decoded; in 2003, the Human Genome Project was completed.

That said, the Bible is concerned with genealogy and ancestry. There are 25 genealogical lists in the Bible, and two of the four Gospels trace the genealogy of Jesus.

Matthew, writing primarily for a Jewish audience, demonstrates how Jesus is a son of Abraham and David through his genealogy (Matthew 1:1–17). In fact, the emphasis on 14 generations is an emphasis on Jesus as the Son of David—the numerical value of the name “David” is 14 in Hebrew.

Luke, who is a non-Jewish writer, points his audience to Adam (Luke 3:23–38). Gerald Hiestand (Center for Pastor Theologians blog) says that Luke’s placement of his genealogy after the birth and baptism of Jesus is significant. What happens next is Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. Where Adam failed to resist temptation, Jesus—the second Adam—succeeded!

The BibleProject’s “Overview: Luke 1–9” video puts Luke’s purpose in tracing Jesus back to Adam this way: “Jesus is the Messianic King of Israel who will bring God’s blessing, but not only to Israel, the family of Abraham. He is here for all the sons of Adam, for all humanity.”

While it’s likely Joseph wasn’t in any way genetically the father of Jesus, the Bible makes it clear that Joseph is 100 percent considered his genealogical ancestor.

While there are differences between the genealogies in Matthew and Luke, both trace the line of Joseph, the father “so it was thought” (Luke 3:23) of Jesus. Because of our modern understanding of genetics and heredity, it may be difficult to reconcile the idea that Jesus may not have been genetically a descendant (or “son”) of David at all. But, while it’s likely Joseph wasn’t in any way genetically the father of Jesus, the Bible makes it clear that Joseph is 100 percent considered his genealogical ancestor.

Thinking about Jesus’ genetics gives me more questions than answers. We don’t know how Mary’s DNA may or may not have shown up in Jesus’ genetic blueprint. What about being conceived of the Holy Spirit? In what way would being both fully human and fully divine show up? Aside from discovering a long-lost baby tooth of Jesus to map his DNA, these questions will go unanswered.

In the face of unanswerable questions, a good practice is to focus on what we do know. We do know that Joseph was obedient and took Mary as his wife and Jesus as his son. Ryan Dueck’s article “Joseph disappears” and Israel Chavez’s letter to his son “Searching for Sebastian” explore the heart of adoptive fatherhood, both within and outside the context of Jesus’ father Joseph.

We do know that “the Creator of all things, the God of universe, arrived unceremoniously … in an unimportant city, born to unimportant parents” as Jeremy Penner puts it in his article “The Passion of Jesus at Christmas.”

While our questions and wonderings may continue, like those “who were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2:18), may the Light of your faith burn brighter both now at Christmas and beyond.