Who is your family genealogist – you know, the person who can talk about your family until eyes glaze over? I confess: I am that person in our family. It reminds me of the genealogist trying to explain family origins to a small boy. At the end, he asked the boy what he thought. His grandson said, “Wow! We sure come from a long line of ancestors.” We all do!
In our reading this year we have come to Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus. Today we read the story of the Adam family. The first time I read this as a middle schooler, I remember thinking about how long these people lived. Were these literal years like our years? At one point, God shortened the lives of people. In my “Guinness Book of World Records” mindset, I wanted to know who lived the longest. Some time in high school or college I read our verses for today and thought about Enoch, the outlier in this list. He lived the shortest life in his family tree, yet he had the singular distinction of walking so closely with God that God took him.
I noticed, too, that it was when Enoch’s son Methuselah was born that the scripture tells us Enoch began to walk with God. We remember when our eldest was born over thirty years ago. His birth made me want to walk more closely with God. One of my descendants was now watching me, taking his cues from me. Phillips, Craig, and Dean sang a song years ago, “Lord I want to be just like you because (my child) wants to be just like me.”
Someone said that the person who will live to be 125 years old has already been born. Medical care and genetics will help someone live one and a quarter centuries. Genesis reminds us that there is more to life than living a long life. Enoch lived a little over 1/3 as long as his son Methuselah. But he distinguished himself by walking closely with God. My pastor in college, Larry Nixon said God told Enoch one day as they walked, “We are closer to my house today than we are to yours. Why don’t you just come home with me?” At the relatively young age of 365, Enoch’s life here was done. Yet, it had just begun.
I wrote to our kids when I read this yesterday. I’ll tell you what I told them: walk with God. You will never regret it. It will be better for you than longevity or great wealth. We don’t choose our lifespan. Let this be our testimony. We walked with God all the way to the finish line. Then God called us home. We come from a long line of ancestors. We go to the Father who knows us best and loves us most.
