The Old Testament speaks about the Messiah who would come from the line of David and Jesse (David’s  father).

Jeremiah 23:5 

Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.

Isaiah 11:1-5

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:² And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;³ And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:⁴ But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.⁵ And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.

Matthew 1:1-16

1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.² Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; ³ And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; ⁴ And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; ⁵ And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse;

⁶ And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; ⁷ And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; ⁸ And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; ⁹ And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; ¹⁰ And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; ¹¹ And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: ¹² And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; ¹³ And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; 

Matthew shows us the genealogy of Jesus. It shows us the line by which Jesus came. Within this genealogy, there are many stories which God has to show us. But today I look at the fact that Jesus came through Joseph. Jesus came through Booz, Obed, Jesse, David, Solomon…Joseph. But what I found so interesting is that Jesus was not related by blood with any of these. Yet still, it was mentioned on several occasions that this was the line from which he came. To be accurate, Jesus was adopted by Joseph. It was not just that he was adopted but that the Bible makes a big deal of saying that this is who he came from. He was family to these people not by blood but by choice, and that was just as significant as by blood. 

It is easy to think of adoption and birth as two different things. Can I love two children the same, where one is of my blood and the other adopted? God shows us here that there is no difference. The Bible does not even point this out. It is clear to see that this was adoption, but it is not highlighted. Adoption seems to be such a hard thing for us as people to do. However, the Bible shows us that this is part of the messiah’s story. Shouldn’t this challenge us to rethink the way we feel about adoption.