Go Back and Fetch Who You Are
Luke 3:23-38
There is something powerful in knowing where and who you came from, in knowing who you are and where you’re going. Starting the Christian new year with the genealogy of Jesus marks a genesis account of his call. Here, in the text, we have a blatant Sankofa moment, a going back and fetching the wisdom of the past to bring it to the present, so that a hopeful future built upon intentional generational wisdom may be invoked. Reflecting upon the biblical text is to embody Sankofa as a spiritual practice. It is a vital part of Christian discipline in order to pursue and invoke hope in a fraught world.
Anatola Araba’s award-winning short film, “Afro Algorithms” centralizes Cathy O’Neil’s definition of an algorithm: using historical information to make a prediction about the future. I argue today’s Lucan passage is algorithmic in that Luke takes the historical genealogy of Jesus to predict who he is and what program he’s here to run. That program is one of total liberation.
The movie plot is centered on an AI robot becoming the first AI national leader. However, a problem ensues when the robot realizes the person who designed them intentionally left out the essential “data bank of the knowledge of leaders whose stories have [historically] been suppressed.” The AI realizes that without this data in their algorithm they aren’t fit to lead.
Jesus’s genealogy is sandwiched between his baptism and temptation in the Jordan wilderness. It is sandwiched between receiving God’s blessing for the call on his life and confirmation of being fit to serve in his call. Beloveds, today I invite you to be about the business of knowing when God blessed you for the purpose of your call, write down the historical data of ancestors and living loved ones who make you who you are, and be in blessed expectation that life will surely give you many opportunities to reinforce the right-sized fitness of God’s call on your life. Asé.
REVEREND ANNANDA BARCLAY is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and a Higher Education Chaplain Fellow and Researcher, courtesy of the Edwards Fellowship at Auburn Seminary, at the Center of CPE at Stanford Health Care and the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life at Stanford University. Annanda is a multi-faith/no-faith chaplain who provides spiritual care to STEM students and Tech industry workers. In her free time, Annanda enjoys living in the community, keeping bees, home-brewing, going to concerts, eating delicious food, and spending time outdoors with family, friends, and her pup. You can follow her on Instagram (@annandabarclay), and look out for her upcoming podcast, “Technology, Automation & The Better World Imagination.”