To be perfectly honest there are some parts of the Bible that I choose to practice speed reading through.  Several chapters in the book Numbers come to mind.  The ones giving an endless list of clans and descendants especially.

At first glance the genealogy of Jesus through both Joseph and Mary, listed in the first chapter of Matthew and the third chapter of Luke respectively, appear to be mundane and worthy of a quick glance as well.  Yet both, just as every other piece of Scripture, serve an important purpose.

First and foremost, the passages regarding Jesus’ family tree provide further proof that Jesus was and is the Messiah.  The long awaited Savior of both the Jews and the Gentiles had to be a direct descendant of King David.  That link is distinguished through not only Joseph’s lineage but Mary’s as well.  It was also predicted that the Messiah would be directly related to those of the tribe of Judah.  Verse 3 of the first chapter of Matthew declares the fulfillment of that prophecy.

Along with the importance of the prophetic side of the genealogies of Jesus, what makes them worth more than a casual once over are the specific individuals who share His blood line.  Among others there are 2 wicked kings, Manasseh and Abijah (Matt. 1:7&10), who were guilty of building pagan temples, murdering their own people, and one of killing his own son.  A former prostitute, Rahab, is able to claim Jesus as one of her own (Matt. 1:15).  Also found in the familial equation are twins, Perez and Zerah, who were the by-products of a bizarre sexual encounter by the aforementioned Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar (Matt.1:3).

The point of all this?  No person, no matter their past, stands in the way of God’s plan for salvation.  The reverse being true also that Jesus never stands in the way of anyone being related to Him, be it physically and more importantly spiritually.  The Bible states that, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).  That includes the biggest nuts hanging on the limbs of our family tree.  Even us.

If God was waiting for the perfect set of relatives with which to bring His Son into human existence, we’d still be waiting for His arrival.  Fortunately God works through and for the imperfect.  He calls even the worst of us to be a part of His family.