Friday, March 22, 2024
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Jesus might be our 155th cousin
(See yesterday’s devotion for that remarkable possibility)
The Lord is with me, like a mighty champion.
Because it isn’t just Bodie Hodge, it’s all of us reading this today, all of us living today. We’re in the neighborhood. Jesus is our brother, so the Bible says, but even more literally, he might be our 155th cousin. How do you like that?
We’re all related, if we think back far enough. My favorite genealogist, our friend Pam, told us yesterday, “I’ve only gotten back as far as Charlemagne.”
Charlemagne! He was the Holy Roman Emperor from 800 until 814 A.D. Do the math: that’s 1,210 years. Pam is tracking her involvement in what Ron Rolheiser calls the “gene pool.” Her sense of historical presence and identity gets another boost each time she finds another ancestor, the further back the better.
Sing to the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!
Each generation is its own, one rich one poor, one angry one peaceful, one humble one proud.
The Osage Indians of (eventually) Oklahoma inherited generational oil riches, but then experienced silent conspiracies to deprive them of those riches, from generation to generation. Killers of the Flower Moon, book and movie, tell their story, stories of poison and plenty, of joy and despair. The poison and despair leaked down through decade after decade.
But one generation also inspires the next. My grandfather Herman wanted to be a pharmacist. His daughter Mary taught school until she was 50, then went back to school and became a nurse. His older daughter Angelina, my mother, taught school all her life but read book after book of medical history and pharmaceutical phenomena. Her daughter Mary Kay has been a nurse all of her working life. And Mary Kay’s daughter Amy is a nurse today.
Are there threads and rhythms in your family too? Where one generation follows or contrasts with the last? We are influenced so much by who came before us. We watched Illinois win their game against Morehead State (85-69)  in the NCAA Tournament yesterday. 90% of the players on the court had athlete-parents or coach-parents. Marcus Domask (10th triple double in tournament history)’s mom and dad were in the stands. Since retiring as basketball coach, his dad has been at 100% of his son’s games.
The Hebrews cherished their genealogies. Jesus figured strong in all of them, as did David, and Jacob, and Abraham. They knew God had promised to not forsake them, from generation to generation, forever and always.
The cords of the nether world enmeshed me; the snares of death overtook me. In my distress I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him reached his ears.
Jesus, my brother, Jesus my cousin, you have given us life. You have called us back to our Father. Across centuries, across millenia, from the alpha to the omega, we belong to you.
(Jeremiah 20, Psalm 18, John 6, John 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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