Are you ever shocked that Jesus was Jewish? If that doesn’t blow your mind, you haven’t read the story of the Jewish people. It’s the story of Abraham, the father of the Jews, who pimped out his wife. The story of Isaac, the dad who made his family dysfunctional by playing favorites with his kids. The story of Jacob, who repeated Isaac’s error and made ten of his sons hate their brother Joseph. And yet Jesus came from that family!

Perhaps you come from a family as dysfunctional as Jesus’. Perhaps your parents divorced bitterly when you were seven. Perhaps Dad drank too much and Mom was a controlling woman. Perhaps your family never cared much for church or, if they did, never put the command to love one another into practice during the week. 

But, as one author has put it, God can write straight with crooked pencils. Your Father can do wonderful things through people of imperfect pedigree. The author to the Hebrews says, “Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters” (Hebrews 2:11). 

Jesus is not ashamed of you, no matter what your dad was like. He makes you holy and calls you to a life of loving others, no matter what reputation your parents had in town. You are not just a child of your earthly family. You are a son or daughter of the King of kings, Jesus Christ! So live proudly as part of his royal family today!