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Good morning Fifty years ago today President John F Kennedy visited his ancestral home in Co Wexford, shortly after making his famous ‘I am a Berliner’ speech. He was given a rapturous welcome as he sought to retrace his family roots. And President Obama paid a visit to Moneygall in Co Offaly the village from where his maternal great, great, great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney emigrated at the age of 19.

All part of the desire to discover the ancestral past as is the popular TV series ‘Who do you think you are?’ where celebrities trace their family trees.

That’s not only a very good title for a fascinating series but it’s also a very good question in itself. Who am I? Where have I come from? And maybe by implication ‘Where am I going?’

The Bible contains many genealogies. It is clearly of the opinion that our history matters and where we have come from helps us understand the person we have become. But while returning to roots can give us a sense of belonging we need not be imprisoned by our past but can be liberated to become the people we are called to be today. In Christ’s genealogy recorded in Matthew’s gospel there are many colourful characters, testimony to God’s astonishing grace and the ministry of his Son Jesus Christ who was the friend of sinners who did not come to call the ‘righteous’ but people who recognized their need of a saviour.