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Detecting Christmas November 27 Devotional

by David Joynt on November 27, 2023


MATTHEW 1:1 | 1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

 

If Jesus is divine and Jesus has a genealogy, then God has a genealogy! This is called the scandal of particularity. God is not ashamed to have a list of Jewish relatives. Despite the shortcomings of everyone in Matthew’s list, including the famous heroes like Abraham and David, and the unfaithful idolatrous kings like Ahaz, God is willing to be connected and associated. His perfection and purity and holiness do not require his separation from the imperfect, impure and unholy.

 

He is willing to have followers and friends whose allegiance is wavering, whose understanding is partial, and whose righteousness falls far short of his own.

 

Are you proud of your genealogy? Do you know you’ve been adopted into Jesus’ line?

 

 

Gracious God,

Thank you for accepting us into your family tree despite our flaws and failures. Help us draw others into your family. Amen.

 

About the Author
David Joynt

Dave Joynt began his service as a pastor at Valley Presbyterian Church in Paradise Valley, Arizona in September 2014. This meant a move away from the Northeast, where he has a long history, growing up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and then serving congregations in Delaware and New Jersey for a total of 23 years.

Dave was nurtured in a great church in Bethlehem where his parents, Anne and Carey, served as elders. He graduated in classics from Lehigh University where his Father taught, and then from Oxford, where he met his wife Julia. Ordained in 1988, he completed a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1993.

He and Julia have a son, Tristan, and a daughter, Madeleine.

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