Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” (John 3:3, NIV)
The PNC Championship is unique. Pro golfers and one family member constitute a team. To qualify, you have to have won a PGA event. 2021’s was a big deal because it was Tiger Woods’ first event since his devastating leg injury. He and his son, Charlie Woods, finished second to John Daly and his son, John Daly II.
Pedigree can be significant. If your father is Tiger Woods or John Daly, you are not only swimming in the elite golf section of the gene pool, but you have much better than average access to the game in terms of instruction.
This isn’t just a golf thing. If your dad was Archie Manning, odds are you’ll be able to throw a football pretty well. Barry Bonds inherited some good baseball genes from his father, Bobby.
“Who’s your daddy?” turns out to be a question of some consequence.
This shows up in the Bible as the occasional genealogy: Someone who was the son of someone else, the son of someone else, and so on. While not the most spell-binding reading, these genealogies have a purpose.
We all have a father. Numerous sociological studies indicate that if he sticks around and participates in our upbringing, we’ll have life advantages analogous to the offspring of elite athletes. This has turned out to be true in my life, for sure.
However, one bad thing our fathers bequeathed to us all is sin. Mankind is fallen, and this gets reliably transmitted from generation to generation. “Original sin” is the term theologians use. In chapter three of Luke’s gospel, there is one of these genealogies.
Just prior to the genealogy is Luke’s account of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River, a scene that concludes with a voice from Heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you, I am well pleased.” This is God the Father, claiming paternity with regard to Jesus.
Luke then begins his genealogy with Jesus, who “was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.” But – per the voice from Heaven cited above – Luke indicates that God is actually Jesus’ father.
So Jesus’ father is God. The genealogy then takes off with a long list of names. These names share the characteristic that they are hard to pronounce, and they each have a hard-to-pronounce father who has passed this “original sin” thing on to them.
Until the genealogy gets all the way back to Adam, whose father – like Jesus – was God. (although Jesus is uniquely God’s eternal Son).
Only three people in history have had God as their father. Two of them – Adam and Eve – lost that relationship and got the “original sin” ball rolling.
Hence, Jesus’ teaching is that no one sees God’s kingdom without being born again. Sinners are not welcome until they are “born from above.” Our first birth lands us in the long line of sinners. We must be born again to claim God as our Father.
This happens to be precisely how Jesus suggests that we address God when he teaches us how to pray.
Prayer: Father, we thank you that, in Christ, we are your children and are in line to inherit your kingdom.