Who Is Jesus?

Luke has many beloved passages and stories that reveal our Lord Jesus to us. I'm speaking of things like the Prodigal Son, the Good Samaritan, the Thief on the Cross, the manger scene. What Christian does not know and love these stories? They are too beautiful for this earth. They are foretastes of Heaven itself.
But our text this morning is not one of those stories. Though only Luke has this genealogy tracing the line of Jesus all the way back to Adam, I daresay that few of you have ever said "One of the best things about Luke's gospel is that it records the genealogical line of Jesus Christ all the way back to Adam." But brothers and sisters, though this text does not have the immediate, obvious emotional appeal of the Thief on the Cross or the Good Samaritan, I daresay that it is just as valuable for our understanding of who Jesus is and how He became one of us to save us. Jesus' genealogy positions Him within the human family, within Israel's family, within David's line, and ultimately as the Son of God on both sides.