When Jesus began his ministry he was about thirty years of age. He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli … the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God. Both Matthew and Luke have a genealogy of Jesus but with a marked difference. Matthew starts with Abraham and goes up in time through King David in order to situate Jesus as a member of the Chosen People and of royal lineage. Luke starts with Joseph and goes down in time through David, Abraham, Noah, and Adam. (The three dots in the quotation above cover about four thousand years!) Luke wants to situate Jesus as a human being, as someone who belongs to the whole human race. What a powerful reminder of the worth and dignity that each individual possesses just in being human. Jesus demonstrates something true for all of us: we are all children of Adam, and, hence, children of God.
