Jesus’ Family Tree

[315 words] Someone said, “Don’t shake the family tree too hard because some fruits and nuts may fall out!” I’ve found that to be true in my own family history research, and it holds true in the genealogy of Jesus too. I wonder how many people, as they begin reading the New Testament, just skip over the first 17 verses of Matthew. Whew! All those begat’s! All those difficult names! Why do we care about them anyway? Among many other reasons, we ought to learn about those people because they show that our God uses less-than-perfect people to accomplish His perfect will. Human wisdom would have Messiah’s family tree filled with pure, spotless ancestors. Some people think we shouldn’t even mention the character flaws exhibited by some in Jesus’ pedigree. However, doing so isn’t disrespectful, it’s honest! Scripture portrays even its heroes “warts and all.” “Judah begot Perez and Zerah…