3 Comments

As an adoptive mom, I also have come to deeply appreciate Jesus’s connection to the royal line of David through his adoptive father Joseph. So while I certainly want to honor the physical/biological connections Jesus had with his ancestors, it’s also very important to me to remember that he’s in the royal line of David through Joseph, and that the connection to his ancestors is not *only* biological. ❤️

Expand full comment

Realizing that I should have included in this post that medieval theologians believed with no scriptural basis that Mary was also of the line of David, a distant cousin of Joseph (hence the illustrations with Jesse's groin)... but that tradition unhelpfully obscures your beautiful and theologically significant and apt note on adoption! As you say, we need to honor both. Thanks for the good reminder 😊

Expand full comment

Absolutely! ❤️ The growth of the family vine is slow and includes many different kinds of branches--grafted, biological, all fruit-bearing.

Expand full comment