[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 路加福音 Luke 3-4]
23 耶穌開始傳道，年紀約有三十歲。依人看來，他是約瑟的兒子，約瑟是希里的兒子，… 38 以挪士是塞特的兒子，塞特是亞當的兒子，亞當是 神的兒子。
路加 Luke 3:23;38
23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, … 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
家譜不僅僅是名字的列表；通過分析，可以找到更深層的含義。寫給外邦人的路加福音將耶穌描繪為上帝的兒子（路加福音 1:35），因此路加將耶穌的家譜追溯到上帝的第一個兒子亞當。從上帝到耶穌誕生，有 77 代。如果有任何一代人被切斷，那麼耶穌就不會誕生！這證明了每一代人的重要性。上帝不僅是亞伯拉罕的神，也是以撒的神和雅各的神。上帝命令以色列人將他們的信仰傳給他們的後代子孫。 （申命記 6:2）不幸的是，我們在美國的基督徒在將我們的信仰傳給下一代方面總體上做得不好。許多在基督教家庭長大的孩子仍然離開了信仰，或者從一開始就沒有信靠上帝。
潘霍華說：“義人是為下一代而活的人。” 願基督徒父母和教會殷勤地教導我們的孩子，以便我們的屬靈家譜可以繼續被記錄下來——因為上帝關心每一代人！
禱告：親愛的上帝，請讓我們從耶穌的家譜中學習，你要成為我們的上帝和後代子孫的上帝。願每一代人都站起來，將他們的信仰傳遞給下一代！
[希臘文] υἱός hwee-os’ (n) = 兒子;後裔
A genealogy is not simply a list of names; upon analysis, a deeper meaning can be found. The Gospel of Luke written to Gentiles portrays Jesus as the Son of God (Luke 1:35), so Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Adam, the first son of God. There are 77 generations from God to the birth of Jesus. If one generation had been cut off, then Jesus would not have been born! This demonstrates the importance of each generation. God is not only the God of Abraham but He is also the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. God commanded the Israelites to pass their faith on to their children. (Deut. 6:2) Unfortunately we Christians in America are overall not doing a good job of passing our faith on to our next generations. Many children who have grown up in Christian homes nevertheless leave the faith or never have faith in God to begin with.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “A righteous person is one who lives for the next generation.” May Christian parents and the Church diligently teach our children so our spiritual genealogy can continue to be recorded – because God cares for each generation!
Prayer: Dear God, please let us learn from Jesus’ genealogy that You want to be our God and the God of the generations to come. May each generation rise up to pass on their faith to the next one!
[Greek] υἱός hwee-os’ (n) = son; descendant
