June 22

The Importance Of Genealogies

Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph, the son of Heli, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melki, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph . . . the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Kenan, the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

Luke 3:23-24 & 37-38

We often skip over the genealogy lists in the Bible. They are difficult to read, and they offer little for sermon material or devotional inspiration. For a missionary who is struggling to translate the Bible into a new language, the genealogy lists can be drudgery—a necessary chore in order to complete the job. Surely a genealogy list would be of no value for evangelism. Or would it?

When Jo Shetler began working as a Wycliffe Bible Translator among the remote Balangao people of the Philippines in 1962, she found them entirely puzzled as to why she would want to translate God’s Word into their language. In fact, later when she was injured in a helicopter crash, one young woman feared Jo would die because her translation work had angered God. Many of the villagers believed that it was wrong to put God’s Word into new words—especially into their own, such a lowly language.

These were discouraging times for Jo as she worked in the Balangao valley. During her first six years of missionary service, only two Balangaos became Christians. Most people simply were not interested in her concept of God.

One such individual was Canao, who had become a father of sorts to her. “When Juami arrived, I was shocked,” he later recalled. “Didn’t she know it wasn’t safe for girls in our area? Didn’t she realize we were headhunters? So I had to become her ‘father’ and take care of her. I had to be sure people saw her eating at our house so they would know I was protecting her with my life, as is our custom here in Balangao.”

But, Canao was not interested in her God. “Juami always talked about God, but I didn’t like to always talk about Him,” he confessed. “Juami kept telling me about God and how to believe. I already believed there was a god, so I just tried to be polite.”

Then one day Jo showed him some of the translation work she had done and asked him to help her with it. Canao was amazed to find that God’s Word could actually be written in a book and be read in a language he could understand. Most astonishing of all was that it was true. How did he know that? “It actually had a genealogy—absolute proof to a Balangao that it’s true. This one went back to the beginning of time. Through the impact all the genealogy, I really began to understand and believe the truth about Jesus Christ.” ²²