Luke 3:21-38

Jesus the Son.

The first three gospels inform us that at Jesus’ baptism a voice from heaven was heard saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” This was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Luke then goes on to list a genealogy for Jesus ending with, “The Son of God.”

There are a couple of interesting things about this genealogy. First of all it is different from the genealogy listed in Matthew. Does this mean that someone made a mistake?

There are several explanations that have been put forth to explain the differences in these genealogies. The major theories are:
Joseph actually had two fathers; a biological father and an adopted father.
That Matthew’s genealogy jumps to a maternal line in order to establish Jesus’ place in the royal line of David.
That one of the genealogies actually belongs to Mary. There doesn’t seem to be agreement on exactly which one is hers.
That one or both genealogies are theoretical rather than literal attempts to recreate Jesus’ genealogy.

I lean toward the idea that one of these actually belongs to Mary. Both gospels make it clear that Joseph wasn’t really Jesus’ father. Furthermore, every person actually has two genealogies. On my father’s side I am a Meek but on my Mother’s side I am a Mitchell.

Regardless of which theory is correct this really isn’t a problem for me. My faith doesn’t rest on whether or not we have an accurate literal genealogy of Jesus. My faith is far more concerned with who His real Father is, and that would be the one whose voice spoke from heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”