Jay Eads
1 Chronicles 1 “The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.” My mind was all over the place with these two readings. There are so many topics and issues that feel relevant and pressing. First, admittedly, I skipped ahead to the New Testament passage… seeing as how the 1 Chronicles section is a genealogy. Then I remembered something Eugene Peterson wrote about these types of lists and genealogies, and their importance. So I went back to 1 Chronicles after reading Paul’s challenge and scolding to the immature Corinthian church. My mind settled there, on the genealogy. Adam, Seth, Enosh… Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared, Enoch… on through Noah, and on, and on. The Bible is full of lists of names, and not once has it been particularly exciting for me to read them. But one or two truths about these family trees has managed to sink in, with the help of some wiser folks. The first truth is this: the Bible is a story about God and His people. God and His scripture writers have taken the time to document these people for all of history to see. There are Biblically famous people, with great stories – such as Noah (he had the Ark and all the animals), Abraham (nearly sacrificing his only son, Isaac, and lying about being married to his wife Sarah out of fear). But there are also people I’ve never heard of before – for example, Havilah and Naphish. But they are named, right alongside Jacob the wrestler and Methuselah the old guy. Big names and no-names alike, all are given respect and honor in God’s story.
For some reason this makes me feel good about the God I love – it communicates His love for me in return. Sure, there are lots of other ways God communicates His love for me, but I add this to the long list. The fact that God places my name on the same list as Billy Graham, the Apostle John, and Abraham is comforting… it’s reassuring. Even more reassuring is where this genealogy finally ends up. Through David the king and giant killer, Rahab the prostitute, and so many more… we get to Jesus. Eventually. And if a bunch of no-names and imperfect people can be a part of the plot alongside the heroes, well, let’s just say I am happy to be part of the continuing Jesus-bound story with my fellow “no-names” Sabta, Arphaxad, and Zimran.
1 Corinthians 3 “What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” Oddly enough, the genealogy took up more of my time than the 1 Corinthians passage did. However, one note I made to myself was this: we are all a part of One Body. As Christians, we should not view each other as competition or rivals. But we do. I can feel threatened by people with similar giftings… or by fellow believers with complementary skills or strengths that FEEL like they are actually opposing mine. The foot shouldn’t think of the leg as more important. The feet should bear the weight of the body with stability, letting the legs do their thing, understanding that they are both vital to the athlete’s body - running towards their common goal (thank the Apostle Paul for this analogy). The ears shouldn’t harbor jealousy towards the mouth. The ears should listen intently and present what they hear, allowing the mouth to appropriately respond and deliver The Message to the folks who will listen. The challenge, for me, was clear. Make more of an effort to see the Christians around me as the Body, and not as individual parts. To see the forest in relation to the individually valuable trees.
God help us all to find the value in ourselves as a part of the story of God and His people… and to see the well-known and unknown characters in that story as friends in the mission of Christ’s Church, and not as rivals. Thank You for giving us your Word to direct us and change us.