“Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon?
And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him.
Mark 6:3
The folks in Christ’s hometown of Nazareth resented Him and that caused real attitude problems: “Who does he think he is anyhow? He’s just a common laborer, a woodworker. He doesn’t come from a good family. After all, he’s Mary’s son; he was born out of wedlock.”
People back then and there were judgmental just like they are today. They felt anyone who they labeled as “illegitimate” could never obtain greatness much less do anything for God. Being the Son of Mary meant “bad blood.”
The self-righteous are never so wrong as when they convince themselves that they are better than others. Mary descended from royalty and could trace her bloodline back to King David, and then even back to Adam.
Jesus has two genealogies recorded in scripture. Matthew traces Jesus’ birthright through His adopted father, Joseph, who could have had title to the throne of David if they were still doing that kind of thing at that time. One big problem with this succession of legal heirs is that it included King Jeconiah who was cursed by God in Jeremiah 22:24-28. The prophet said that “Coniah” and his descendants would be cut off, meaning that the Messiah could not come through Joseph. This presented a prophetic contradiction for the Messiah. Only the miracle of the virgin birth could solve this problem.
People assumed Jesus to be Joseph’s son, but the genealogy of Christ in Luke 3 is actually Mary’s. She was a descendant of David, but not of Jeconiah.
Christ had all the legal rights to the throne of David, because Joseph adopted Him and made him his own. He also had to have a human blood line back to David, without being Coniah’s relative. The King of Kings was able to fulfill scripture, because He was the Son of Mary.
December 8
