Jesus, a Dove, and Mary's Genealogy

Luke 3 ends with a very brief account of Jesus' baptism as well as a lengthy genealogical record. For most people, they'd be okay if Luke had included a more extensive account of the baptism and left out the genealogy. But, as Luke would have it, he's trying to communicate something about Jesus by how he arranges his material.

One main point of the baptism and the genealogical record is to reemphasize that Jesus is the son of God - and God is pleased with his son. Another main point: how we go about recognizing Jesus as the son of God - well, let's just say it's unconventional. Think about it: why does Jesus need to be baptized? John is baptizing those who need to repent of their sins for forgiveness. So why does Jesus get baptized? Luke doesn't tell us why, but he does reveal an outcome of the baptism: many in attendance hear the voice which affirms Jesus of Nazareth as God's son.

So what about the genealogy? We wouldn't think too much of it, except if you've read Matthew, you'd realize that these two records are very different. The one similarity? They include the same names from David back down through Abraham. Luke goes all the way back to Adam, and he also includes different names from David to Jesus. Which leads some to conclude that this is Mary's record.

Interestingly, both Mary and Joseph are descendants of David - but only Joseph is descended from King Solomon. The crown passed on from David to Solomon to his son Rehoboam and so on, but the crown became corrupt in Solomon's age. In fact God was so displeased with Solomon that God began to make plans to divide Israel and take much of it away from him. You can read about Solomon's fall in 2 Kings 11. Not good. And it seems that God also took away from Solomon the blessing of Abraham: God would not bless the world with Jesus through Solomon directly.

God was pleased with David, especially since he repented of his sins for forgiveness (unlike Solomon). God reveals through the genealogical record that David was rewarded with a descendant whom God would use to bless the world. Mary was favored by God, much like David was; Solomon was blessed with wisdom, much like Jesus was. Jesus would be a man after God's own heart, like David; Jesus would be the wisest man of all like Solomon; but unlike David and Solomon, Jesus would rule without wrecking lives, and he would not be corrupted.