Son of God and Son of Man

From inside St. Peter's in Rome, 

Scripture:

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, ²⁵ son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, ²⁶ son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, ²⁷ son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, ²⁸ son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, ²⁹ son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, ³⁰ son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, ³¹ son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, ³² son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, ³³ son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, ³⁴ son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, ³⁵ son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, 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.

Observation:

Luke now brings us into the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. While the age of twelve was viewed as the beginning of manhood in Jewish culture, when someone reached the age of thirty it was believed that they were mature enough to be a person of authority. Luke has given us a glimpse of Jesus’ life at age twelve, but now, when he has authority, he begins in earnest to reveal all that Jesus does. 

Luke’s genealogy is different from that of Matthew’s. There have been some commentators that believed that one was the genealogy of Mary, and the other of Joseph, however that is also hard to prove. What is significant is the endpoint of each genealogy, and the fact that Luke goes all the way back to Adam. This is significant because throughout Luke he wants to make it abundantly clear that Jesus didn’t just come for Israel, but that he is the Savior for all. 

Significantly Luke states that Adam is the son of God. The connection is being made between Adam and Jesus. The genealogy provides us with the opportunity to see that Jesus is both God and man. He has a human genealogy, but he is also from God. Interestingly, the first son of God, Adam, failed in his mission. Therefore, there was a need for another son of man, who was now God and human, to provide a pathway for humanity to be restored in their relationship to the Father. It is through Jesus’ obedience that all of humanity can be healed from the results of sin. 

Jesus’ human genealogy also provides hope for all of humanity because, we have been born in the flesh, but we can also trace our roots to our Father, God. 

Application:

I’ve studied about the theological significance of Jesus being both human and divine. The early Church debates were fierce over this topic and the first few Councils were ripe with this conversation. Minds much greater than mine have wrestled with this human/divine concept and yet, Luke puts it right before us as Jesus begins his ministry. He wants there to be no doubt that Jesus is both fully human, and fully divine and that this has significant implications for all of humanity. 

Jesus is the Son of God, and about that there must be no doubt. I’m not sure that we often think about Adam being the first Son of God. I have studied about Jesus being the “second Adam,” and yet the failure of the first and the victory of the second have incredible consequences for all of humanity. Jesus didn’t just have to be obedient on one occasion, but day, after day, after day, and moment by moment he had to complete the entire mission to provide a pathway for us to be reunited with our Father. Thinking about the epic failure of Adam makes you realize the incredible nature of what Jesus accomplished for us. 

It’s Jesus’ life that makes us live in wonder of that fact that our roots can be traced back to God as well. What if all the inhabitants of this earth stopped to realize that they were truly children of God? We’ve been acting like we just showed up here spontaneously and that we get to make all the rules and decide our own fate. Humanity often lives like a community of orphans that fails to realize that they are children of the King. When this happens we live in spiritual poverty, living just as lost as Adam. I’m always amazed that in the second generation of humans we find one son committing murder. How fast we have fallen! How fast we continue to fall when we refuse to acknowledge our relationship to the God of all creation. 

The significance of Jesus being Son of God and Son of Man is greater than our ability to comprehend. All I know is that I want to follow Jesus, for his path leads me home. 

Prayer:

Lord, I am in awe today of what you have done. I am so unworthy to follow in your footsteps but I want to try. Please, open my eyes to see you leading me.  Amen.