Readings: Is 62:1-5; Psalm 89; Acts 13:16-17,22-25; Mt 1:1-25
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People often wonder why
the Church includes this Gospel passage, this rather long genealogy, in
tonight’s liturgy. It does seem like a strange selection, doesn’t it? All those
names scattered across the generations from Abraham to Moses, then on to David and
Solomon, then to the traumatic exile of God’s People in Babylon, and finally to
Joseph and Mary and Jesus Himself.
Yes indeed, it might
seem a bit odd to have us listen to all those names on the night we celebrate
the birth of our Savior. After all, isn’t the name of Jesus enough? Isn’t it
enough to know that Jesus is the Son of God? Is it really necessary to tell us
about these human ancestors spread out over the centuries from the time of
Abraham?
Actually, yes! It is.
You see, Matthew is
simply saying, “Welcome to God’s family! -- because Jesus’s family is also our
family.” Tonight, we not only celebrate Jesus’ birth, but we also celebrate our
own spiritual roots, deep roots that stretch back nearly 4,000 years to
Abraham, our father in faith.
You can trace that
spiritual lineage from the priest (or deacon) who baptized you, through the
bishop who ordained him, all the way back to the apostles and to Jesus Himself.
And then you need only turn to these opening verses of Matthew’s Gospel and
follow the path all the way back to Abraham.
And do you know
something else? You and I share these roots. That’s right – we all have that
same family tree. What a gift this is! It’s one of the key messages of the
Gospel, a message that takes us deeply into those spiritual roots, and binds us
in a living connection with Jesus Christ Himself.
Each of the four
Gospels begins by telling us who Jesus is, but each tells us in a different
way.
Mark, in his usual Sergeant Friday, just-the-facts-Ma’am approach, wastes neither time nor words and identifies Jesus from the beginning:
“The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God…” [Mk 1:1]
Luke's a bit more subtle. He takes half a chapter before he finally gets to Jesus, and then he lets the Archangel Gabriel do th honors:
“Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God' [Lk 1:35].
And John? He echoes the
opening words of the Book of Genesis and proclaims the eternal divinity of the
Logos, of Jesus, the creative Word of God.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” [Jn 1:1].
But Matthew is
different. Writing to a Jewish audience, he offers them a very Jewish family
tree of Jesus Christ, true God and true man. He begins by proclaiming:
“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” [Mt 1:1].
Any Jew would recognize
these titles, for they are Messianic titles. At the very start, Matthew is
declaring Jesus to be the Messiah, the chosen one. Then, filled with the
Spirit, he presents us with a family tree, one generation after another…right
here in the very first verses of the New Testament. It’s as if God can’t wait
to tell us all about His family.
Realize first that
Matthew didn’t intend his genealogy to be complete. And his Jewish readers
would know this too. No, Matthew wants to make a point. He wants his readers to
understand and accept Jesus’s messianic roots. And so, he divides his genealogy
into three sections of 14 names, or 6 sections, each with 7 names.
To the Jew 7 and 14
symbolized completion or perfection. Matthew, then, completes his genealogy
with the first and only name in the 7th group of 7: the name of
Jesus. For a Jew this was as perfect as you could get.
Although some of these
names may sound a bit strange to us, they’re all real people and offer a
glimpse into the entire history of God’s Chosen People. As we run through that list of
names we encounter every aspect of human life, and not just the good parts, but
also murder, treachery, incest, adultery, prostitution…
We also meet five
women, something rarely encountered in ancient genealogies. The last of these
is Mary herself, but the first four – Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba – are
all Gentiles: 2 Canaanites, a Moabite, and a Hittite. Yes, Jesus’s family
wasn’t so purely Jewish, was it? Those Gentiles among His ancestors highlight
the fact that He came from all of us, and for all of us. How did Isaiah put it?
"Nations shall behold your vindication, and all the kings your glory; you shall be called by a new name, pronounced by the mouth of the Lord" [Is 62:2.
Yes, it’s a global family, but it’s also a family of sinners.
Tamar disguised herself
as a prostitute to fool her father-in-law, Judah, and ending up giving birth to
his twin sons.
Rahab was a prostitute,
and yet become a faithful woman who served the God of Israel.
And Bathsheba? King
David watched her bathing from his rooftop, invited her in, seduced her, and
had her husband killed, so he could marry her. Solomon, their son, started
right with God, but then joined his many wives in worshipping idols.
Some members, like Mary
and Joseph, are extraordinary; others, Ruth and
Josiah, are faithful; some, like Manasseh and Rehoboam, are despicable; others,
like Eliud and Azor, are anonymous, nondescript, men about which we know
nothing.
Welcome to my family,
Jesus tells us, welcome to my world. It’s the world we encounter when we open
the Bible and realize how forgiving our God is. Jesus’s family is a human
family and like most human families, has its share of saints and sinners. And from
this, we learn that God’s plan was accomplished through them all, and that He
continues to work through us, His people.
Notice, too, the
genealogy relates father to son, father to son, father to son…except at the
very end. Matthew completes the genealogy with the words:
“Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” [Mt 1:16]
For Matthew doesn’t
declare Joseph to be the father of Jesus. Jesus, the Christ, is born of Mary,
the virgin, with God as His Father. Again, what a gift – to be members of God’s
eternal family!
Indeed, what a gift all
of Revelation is! Do you realize how blessed we are
to be Catholic Christians? What we believe and how we worship are not things
we’ve concocted. For Christianity is really a revelation rather than a
religion. Christianity is God’s Word
and Work, not something we came up with.
It’s not a collection of man’s feeble attempts to placate some higher power. It
comes totally from God Himself.
We believe God revealed Himself through
the many generations Matthew enumerates in his genealogy. It’s a Revelation
that runs from Abraham to Moses to David through all the prophets and
eventually to Jesus Himself – Who is the fulfillment of it all. It’s a
revelation that reaches its climax in the Incarnation when Mary gives birth, as
Matthew describes it, to “Jesus, who is called the Christ.”
You see, brothers and sisters, it’s all a gift. As St. Paul asked the Corinthians:
"What do you possess that you have not received?" [1 Cor 4:7]
The answer, of course, is
“Nothing!”
And right there at the top of the list of God’s
gifts, is that which we receive through our Baptism: the gift of adoption. We
became sons and daughters of the Father, part of the Family of God.
And so, we join Jesus on that family tree
described by Matthew. We are heirs and inherit the fruit of God’s promises made
to Abraham and to those who followed him. But as members of God’s family, we
must behave as any good son or daughter would behave. We must live in a way
that honors the father, in a way that doesn’t dishonor the family.
Another great gift that comes out of this
adoption is the privilege of eating at the table of the Family of God. We can take part in the Eucharistic Feast, the
Mass. And what a gift this is! For here, at this altar, Jesus Christ, gives
Himself to us, body and blood, soul and divinity, and allows us, the members of
His family, to join Him in the most intimate way imaginable.
Here, as we come forward to receive the Body
and Blood of Christ, we also join each other in a unique Communion in which the
Church is most completely herself. Eucharist – the word itself means
thanksgiving – is like a great family dinner, Thanksgiving and Christmas
dinners all rolled into one… and yet far more wonderful and fulfilling.
Brothers and sisters, we are sons and daughters
of God! These roots are deeper, stronger,
and longer lasting than any human family roots. Indeed, they’re so strong
they’ll carry us all the way to eternal life.
And so tonight, as we rejoice in the birth of
our Savior, let us also rejoice that our names are written in heaven, as
members of the family of Jesus Christ.
"Come, Lord Jesus!" [Rev 22:20]
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