The Family Tree Tells a Story
God could have just dramatically Appeared in the Sky and scared us all into believing. But He rather chose to come to us within a Family, a Nation, and a story!
“Oh, NO! Not the family tree scriptures again!”
I can almost hear the congregation thinking out loud when we come to portions of the scriptures that have “and so and so begat so and so, and he begat so and so, and …”
I’ve even been asked, “Why is that in the Bible?” I remember when I was first ordained as a priest, having to read this passage in church for liturgy and thinking, “I am about to butcher these names!”
Seriously, whether your priest will admit this or not, we talk about this passage every year, and one brother was kind enough to record the names pronounced correctly for us! God bless him!
But, seriously, WHY is this in the Bible?
The short answer: You can pick your friends, but you’re stuck with your relatives!
Look at our lesson today in Luke 3:23-38, 4:1
At that time, Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel,…” (I won’t make you read the whole thing!)
Let’s face it: it’s easier not to do this hard work of being a family. In the short term, reducing the Faith to a commodity is so tempting that we can change the brands if we don’t like something. But that’s never going to be a Faith that genuinely heals us.
The scriptures put it right in our faces! The Lord, in His flesh, has a genealogy. He has a family. He takes His flesh from one of us and accepts all that entails, even having a family and a family tree that we may not always be proud of! And by doing that, He invites us to see beyond the difficulties of being a family to the amazing display of His grace and mercy in creating a family in the first place.
As with any spiritual work, we have to start by confessing! We actively reject the twin sources of delusion: “What I am afraid of” AND “What I wish for.”
These are our family members. They are – good, bad, or indifferent – my family. Do I wish some of them weren’t? Sometimes, but that isn’t my call. I am called to embrace my family and love them even when they aren’t lovable. Because sometimes I’m not very lovable either. And this hard work of communion and connectedness invites me to a mature and honest knowledge of myself!
Next, I am also called to confess not their problems but mine! There is nothing like profound communion to uncover the brokenness of my own heart and my fundamental spiritual weaknesses. My pride gets confronted. My expectations get tested. And I get asked hard questions about my own life. Far from spending my time analyzing their problems, close communion invites me to see my spiritual weaknesses and offer them to God to be healed.
Finally, I am called to confess my love and need for my family. The truth is I wouldn’t be the man I am today without my physical and spiritual family. Even when it’s been hard, real spiritual benefits have flowed from my rubbing shoulders and sharing my life with these precious people.
Hard? You bet, but if I dare to see it, every bump has invited me to become more serious about my faith and insightful and honest about my weaknesses. I wouldn’t know things about myself without this communion of persons called my family.
In 126 AD, the Roman Emperor Hadrian officially ruled to persecute and snuff out Christianity. A woman had three daughters, all of whom were Christians. The mother’s name was Sophia, which means “Wisdom” in Greek. This pious mother named her children after the three great Christian virtues: “Faith, Hope, and Charity (Love).” Faith was twelve, Hope was ten, and Charity was nine. One tactic the persecutors would use over and over again to get adults to deny Christ was the torture and killing of the Christians’ children. This is the tactic used here. All of the children were tortured and beheaded while their mother watched. This precious mother took her daughters and buried them and mourned for three days, finally reposing in peace on the third day. All four women are called Martyrs for Christ in staying faithful regardless of the hatred directed toward them. This family stayed strong.
Today, embrace the courage to do the hard work of communion. This “hard work” is more valuable to your formation than you might imagine. And the willingness to embrace this “hard work” is part of your spiritual life! The spiritual treasures offered to you today through your communion with real persons is simply too valuable to dismiss. In fact, if you take this communion seriously, it will form you into a Normal Orthodox Christian!
P.S. Since Faith and Hope and Love were in truth sacred branches of venerable Sophia, the namesake of wisdom by grace, they have shown all men that Greek wisdom is foolishness, and in contest, they proved to be prizewinning victors; wherefore, they received a crown that never shall perish from Christ God, the Lord of all.
Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack.
Another great message Father Barnabas!
I have learned over the 71 years that I have been part of a big “fat” Italian- and Greek-American family that it has enriched my life! The cradle Catholic and Orthodox Church Communities have blessed me with many friends who have made my family much bigger and happier than the family I was born into and enabled my personal Theosis for a much deeper understanding of the faith.
Thank you!