2: Jesus’s genealogy and early life – Matthew & Luke

Matthew 1  An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

² Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, . . . ¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 

Luke 3:23   Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, ²⁴ son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, . . . ³⁶ son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, ³⁷ son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, ³⁸ son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Notes . . .

Matthew puts his Gospel in the context of Jewish history, so he begins the narrative with Abraham, the Jewish patriarch to whom God first made the promise of blessing.

Luke sees Jesus as the savior of all humanity, so he traces Jesus’s lineage – in reverse order – all the way back to Adam, the “first” human God created.

Matthew 2:13   Now after they [the wise men, who ignored Herod’s request to report Jesus’s location] had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” ¹⁴ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, ¹⁵ and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

¹⁶ When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.^{b  17} Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸ “A voice was heard in Ramah,
ailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

¹⁹ When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ²⁰ “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.” ²¹ Then Josephgot up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. ²³ There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, “He will be called a Nazorean.”

Luke 2:21   After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. . . . [Simeon and Anna prophecy about Jesus in the temple] 

³⁹ When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰ The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

⁴¹ Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. ⁴³ When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. ⁴⁴ Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” ⁴⁹ He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he said to them. ⁵¹ Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.

Luke 3  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee . . .

Get into the Word:

1. Who is involved int the first incident? How did they become involved? What happens to Jesus? To his parents? Why does Matthew include this incident in Jesus’s story [see notes]?

2. What incident does Luke include in his Gospel? Where does this take place? What happens during this trip? What is Jesus doing when his parents find him? How do they react? How does Jesus respond?

Notes . . .

2:13. Wise men — the visit of the priest kings brings honor and homage to the infant Jesus; but it also leads to the murder of at least several hundred young children [v. 16].Flee  to Egypt — 1500 years earlier, the Israelites had gone to Egypt to escape the famine in Palestine. Matthew recounts Jesus’s parallel journey to underscore his role in fulfilling Jewish prophecy.
2:23. Nazorean — actually none of the Biblical prophets includes this.

2:42. Twelve years old — this is the only incident about Jesus before he begins his ministry.
2:44. Group of travelers — pilgrims often traveled in group of several families so it would not be unusual for Jesus to be separated from his parents.
2:49. Must be in my Father’s house — Jesus is correct, but he appears to be overlooking his obligations to his family, which may explain Luke’s note about obedience in
v. 51.
3:1. Fifteenth year . . . — Luke anchors the start of Jesus’s ministry in the wider world, consistent with his view of Jesus as the savior of all humanity.