A popular television program is named “Finding Your Roots.” The purpose of the show is to help people who have lost touch with their personal history to find ancestors they never knew existed. Using sophisticated technology such as DNA testing, amazing discoveries are made.
Not surprisingly, many of those who are searching for their roots are people from families and nations that have been severely disrupted in the past, often persecuted, and even driven into exile.
1 Chronicles has a similar goal. Some 50 years earlier the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed and large numbers of the Israelites were forced into exile. As these chapters were being written, the people were now allowed to return home. So many people had lost touch with their personal histories from the past, so the authors of the books wanted to remind them of their rich heritage.
If you remember, the same thing happened in the first chapter of Matthew, which was written to prepare for the birth of Jesus. We read, “There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham (and Sarah) to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah. Matthew 1:17 (NIV)
In other words, our spiritual roots are assured. As Pastor Mike preached recently, our roots come from being adopted into the family of Christ. It is no accident that we are here. We have been created in the image of God and have been given eternal life through our baptism. If we ever feel rootless, remember that we are citizens of an eternal kingdom. Our name is on the genealogy chart. And we don’t even need DNA testing to believe that.
Questions for reflection:
- What do you know about your roots? Do you have a written chart such as 1 Chronicles 6-7?
- Were there ancestors in your genealogy who were exiled or driven out of their country?
- What does it mean that we are adopted as sons and daughters by God, children of God?