Through The Bible in a Year - May 28, 2026

"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.. and [the son of] David [who] was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah... and [the son of] Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ." -Matthew 1:1-6, 16

We love superhero origin stories. Wonder Woman was supposedly built from clay by gods and raised by Amazons on Paradise Island. Superman came from the planet Krypton and was sent to Earth before his world exploded. Comic book heroes like these all seem to come from places of paradise, power, and unreality.

But real heroes—the ones who can actually touch us and transform our world—more often come from our messy world. And their ability to transform our mess comes precisely because of their background in the mess. This is no less true of Jesus.

When you read the genealogy of Jesus—the list of His ancestors—you don't find paradise lives. You find a mess. God doesn't hide it. He puts the ugly truths of Christ’s ancestors right there in the first chapter of the New Testament for all to see.

David: the adulterer who murdered his mistress's husband, raised terrible children, and ended his life in pride.

Abraham: who gave away his wife twice to save himself, slept with his wife's maid out of impatience, then put his mistress and biological son in the desert to die.

Judah: who neglected his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar, then unknowingly slept with her when she disguised herself as a prostitute.

Rahab: the foreign prostitute from Jericho.

Ruth: the refugee from Moab, an enemy nation of Israel.

Bathsheba: so shamed she's not even named, just called "the wife of Uriah," the man David murdered.

Why would God include this messy genealogy in His Word? Why not edit out the embarrassing parts and present Jesus as coming from a paradise of parentage?

Because God wants you to know something crucial: Jesus knows your mess because He came from it. He's not an unrealistic or unrelatable hero looking down from Paradise Island or Planet Krypton. He's the hero who came from and entered into the reality of human brokenness, sin, abuse, shame, addiction, and pain.

So, when people like David and Abraham couldn't stand before God and say, "I merit Your care. I deserve Your favor," but still experienced his grace, they were paving the way for us to understand God’s mercy. He provides it to those who put their faith in his provision not their perfection.

That's the message God is threading through this genealogy: I will bless My people on the basis of their faith and what I provide, not on the basis of having no messes in their lives or backgrounds.

Respond: What mess are you in today? What shame, failure, or brokenness makes you think, "God couldn't possibly accept or use someone like me"?

Look at Jesus' family tree. It's filled with people just like you—people who failed, who were abused, who made terrible choices, who had complicated and painful histories.

And God didn't just tolerate them in the lineage. He featured them. He put their names right there in Matthew 1 for the whole world to see for thousands of years.

Why? Because the hero you need doesn't come from a place beyond your realities. He comes from your mess. And His ability to save you, transform you, and use you comes precisely because His understanding of where you've been.

Don’t worry that you need to hide your mess from God. Stop thinking you have to clean yourself up before you can come to Him. Jesus entered into your mess. That's the whole point of his genealogy. He who saves you understands the mess from which he must rescue you.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You didn't come from Paradise Island or Planet Krypton. You came from the mess of human history—from murderers and adulterers, prostitutes and refugees, the abused and the ashamed. You know my mess because You came from it. I don't have to hide my past, my failures, my shame. You already knew it all, and You came anyway. Help me to trust that the hero I need is the one who knows where I've been and loves me still. In Your name, Amen.