Son of Adam, Son of God
Jesus was... the son of Adam, the son of God.
- Luke 3:38
Luke 3 contains the genealogy of Jesus - and it's a strange one. It's strange because it goes backwards and because it goes all the way to Adam. That's not how they did genealogies back in the day. So what Luke is doing here is making sure we don't miss something really important - namely, that Jesus is related to us all.
Jesus's human heritage went back to Adam, the original human being (and whether you take Adam literally or figuratively, Adam is still the original!). You and I also trace our heritage back to Adam. And EVERYONE else traces their heritage back to the same Adam. That means
- We're all related to Jesus.
- We're all related to each other.
If we could get the meaning of this into our head, just imagine how it would change the world. Because we're all related to Jesus, that means that we each have INFINITE value. Jesus dignified what it means to be human when he stepped into our story, into our skin. And because we're all related, that means that no one is better than anyone else, regardless of sex, race, culture, education, economic status, immigration status, orientation, or experience.
Take some time today to thank Jesus for being fully human, and pray for yourself and your world to be able to value the dignity of our shared humanity.