Wisdom

 “It’s gotta be more like falling in love, than something to believe in

More like, losing my heart, than pledging my allegiance”

“Cause all religion ever made of me was just a sinner with a stone tied to my feet”

These words are from a popular Christian song by Jason Grey that I have struggled with a bit.  Simply because a song is sung by a Christian artist doesn’t make it true or theologically sound… personally religion has given me some of my greatest role models and hero’s as well as an enormous amount of encouragement and traditions to help me understand my walk. 

God, the creator of the universe, made the human race, to quote Desmond Tutu “The Rainbow People of God”.  Not simply are we different by our physical looks, but through and through.  I have written before on personalities and ways to label them which gives people the tools to understand what makes them who they are. 

For example, my spirituality type is a “prophet” described as someone who has a passion for people and loves to teach.  Other spiritual types are “sage”, “lover”, and “mystic” each with their own interests, passions, and gifts.  Other ways to describe our personalities can be learned from the “True Colors” test, “Learning Styles”, and found in the bible even- “Spiritual Gifts”.  We are truly a rainbow people of God with an array of gifts, talents, interests, passions, and views. 

These differences mean when listening to a story, we can all hear the same words and take away different lessons and meanings.  Our knowledge also plays a huge role as well.  Paul says to the Corinthians “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”  (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). 

In the words of Jesus there are many messages.  There are some for those who are still young in their faith, basic Christian values and ideas.  There are other lessons though for those who have more knowledge (not necessarily more faith) and are more mature in their faith. 

I hope to explore more about who Christ was and is through taking a closer look at his wisdom through his teachings in stories, parables, and sermons. 

Jesus’s heritage:  Matthew Chapter 1

The wisdom of our ancestors.  There are stories here, so many stories.  Typically when given a lineage the male members of the family are mentioned, not the female.  Yet here, Matthew mentions several women, some by name, other’s by association.  These stories are important and Jesus will grow up learning about many of them. 

Abraham – a common man born Abram, but with his faith in God became Abraham the father of Israel. 

Issac – the son we remember from Abraham, however his half brother creates an interesting story.

Jacob – the father of 12 sons, and 1 daughter.  Soon to become the 12 tribes of Israel.  And father of Joseph, soon to become a  Broadway Musical inspiration! 

Judah – the oldest of Jacob’s sons, he had3 sons with his wife Shua, Tamar is his oldest son Er’s wife.  When Er died tradition dictates that the next sons marries that wife and gives her children, but he didn’t (on purpose) and so Tamar waited until the youngest son grew up, but was burned there as well.  So she tricked Judah and had twins from him, she and her two sons are mentioned here.  Quite the story!  (Genesis 38)    

The list and stories associated goes on.  When first read it can be a boring list of names that don’t mean much.  There is a little name dropping – Abraham and King David are some pretty important guys.  That would be like saying my great great great great grandfather was the King of England.  Through association it makes you cool. 

But as we mature and LEARN, we see that these names and their stories have meaning.  We often think that Jesus was just an infant born to a poor couple of little consequence – but with this lineage – it is not so, and his family would want him to know that. 

We are all children of God.  We can all look back to Abraham and his descendents and the Jewish people of Matthew’s audience definitely did.  Many of us today have knowledge of our families roots, yet many do not.  But there is much to learn about the wisdom Jesus was born into through this list of ancestors. 

Always,

Your sister in Christ~Erin