An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1
No one wants to be called a “late bloomer.” But in high school, that was me. Given my smaller stature compared to other boys, these four years were a lot of work. Thankfully, something in my hereditary constitution did not allow me to give up. I tried out for several sports, and even though my name never made the final list posted on the coach’s door, I kept trying. It seemed to me that I could make up for my size and inexperience by hustling just a little more than the other boys.
Although I never made a varsity squad in high school, I did finish my precollege career with some of my dignity intact. I made many wonderful friends, was involved by performing in the school’s talent show, and participated in several other enjoyable clubs and organizations. At least, I remember thinking, I’ll have a good list of activities next to my name in my senior yearbook.
The day we received our yearbooks was a day I’ll never forget. I had just been handed my copy of the 1965 Wheaton Community High School Ilium, and I quickly scanned the senior pages. And there, right between the pictures of Dennis Wiss and Ann Woodward, where I had found myself lined up in every study hall for four years was . . . nothing. I looked again, quickly turning the adjacent pages to see if, perhaps, I had been listed out of sequence. Again I found nothing. My heart stopped.
Filled with terror (remember I was a teenager), I turned to find someone to tell. Standing five feet from me was Meredith Poe, my friend and our yearbook editor. “I’m not in here,” I said to Meredith. “You completely missed me.” Quickly thumbing through her own, she confirmed my assertion. “I’m so sorry,” she finally said to me, her face turning ashen, “Oh, no . . . uh . . . I’m so . . . so sorry.” She repeated, turned, and walked away.
The genealogies in Matthew are about as stem-winding as reading the names of students in a yearbook—unless you’re looking for your own name. Then it’s an adventure to search and a victory to find. Unless, of course, your name is inadvertently missed. Then it’s a heartbreak.
Matthew’s list of the Messiah’s ancestors starts with Abraham and stops with Jesus’s name, “the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham” (v. 1). What you may not know is that from the birth of Jesus, this list continues. Of course, this extended genealogy is not found in the Bible. It is, however, listed in what the apostle John called “the book of life of the Lamb” (Rv 13:8). This “yearbook” we hear about in the book of Revelation does not have anything to do with ancestral lineage or bloodline.
The names recorded in the Lamb’s book, the most important yearbook in the history of eternity, are there because of a different kind of “bloodline”: the sacrificial blood of Jesus. Those who show up in this book are not there by birth: they are all adopted into God’s family. That list of grandfathers and grandchildren will also end with Jesus Christ.
Matthew and the other Gospel writers tell the story of how to get on this list. If you miss this one, it won’t be Meredith Poe’s fault.