The Thoughts of Wesley son of Cornelius

So where am I going with this obscure series? Well, I am glad you asked! When you read the genealogies in the Bible do you associate them more with the first two houses (the House of Atreus or the House of Took) or with my real house (the House of Francis)? Many times I am guilty of thinking that the Biblical chronicles are fantastic like the Greek mythology or J.R.R Tolkien's made-up Middle Earth. However, the names we see written in the Bible are real people just like you and me.

For example, we know nothing about Jacob, the grandfather of Jesus. But he more than likely struggled with the very same things we do. He probably lived in Nazareth like his son and grandson did. He probably taught Joseph many of the things he knew about carpentry. Nazareth, the possible family town, was very rural. Many scholars believe that only 1,600 to 2,000 people lived there at one time. During Jacob's day, it was a secluded farming village. However, it was not too secluded. Three miles north sat the city of Sepphoris. Sepphoris was the site for governmental services for the whole area. Jacob probably traveled there to buy licenses or pay taxes or even sell goods. A trip to Sepphoris is like my trip to West Towne Mall or Best Buy. Later, during Jesus' life, Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, made Sepphoris his capital and rebuilt it from the Romans' devastation. He built a magnificent palace, a theater seating four to five thousand people, impressive city walls, and a fortress. Jacob's training passed down to Joseph, and later to Jesus, might have been used in this large scale construction. Coming home from work, Joseph and Jesus were probably very tired. Their hands hurt; their backs hurt; and their feet hurt. Tired and irritable, Joseph and Mary probably fussed at one another.

Our imagination could come up with many things that would tie into the struggles we face today. Therefore, this long and drawn out series was to remind me that the men and women mentioned in the genealogies of Adam, Noah, Shem, David, and Jesus were real people with real problems. They all sinned (except for one), and they all needed a Savior (the One).