Thursday in the Third Week of Advent, December 17, 2020

Matthew 1:1-17

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers. Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse, Jesse the father of David the king.  David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon became the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asaph. Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, Joram the father of Uzziah. Uzziah became the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah. Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah. Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.  After the Babylonian exile, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, Zerubbabel the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.  Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Christ, fourteen generations.

Discovering one’s genealogy has become an important activity for many people.  Perhaps easy access to formerly difficult to obtain records through the internet has assisted this.  The reasons for the interest in genealogy have to do with curiosity about history as well as the more personal desire to know oneself better through learning about one’s family origins.  

For the Jews, one’s genealogy had great consequences.  It told, for instance, whether a person was a true Jew or not.  People returning from the Babylonian exile had to prove through their ancestors that they were Jews, and to which tribe they belonged, in order to resettle the traditional Israelite lands.  When the second Temple was built after the return, genealogical records were kept in it.  St. Matthew draws his genealogy of the Lord, according to his human nature, from these records, or from the memory of a family member who knew the record by heart.  Besides identifying a person as a Jew, genealogy had one other important role: for the Jews, a person was his or her ancestors.  This is how Jesus was able to hold contemporary Jewish rulers responsible for the murder of the Prophets (cf. Matthew 23, 31-35).  It also helps us to understand how all humans inherit original sin (with the notable exception of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

The Lord’s genealogy, set out by St. Matthew, tells us about him.  In his human nature he is the descendent of the Patriarchs, of the Kings of Judah, of those who were exiled to Babylon and of those who came back.  He was the descendent of Jews who moved from Judea into Galilee in order to make it a Jewish land again.  He is the descendent of the rich and the impoverished.  He has both Jews and Gentiles in his family tree.  Holy men and sinners fill it out.  He is truly one of us.  This is one reason why St. Matthew begins his Gospel this way.

For those who do not know the stories of the people mentioned in this genealogy, this Gospel reading can be long and dull.  Providentially, the Scriptures tell us the stories of nearly all the people in this list.  We can get to know them.  We can study their times and the places where they lived.  Thus, the reading of these names can also be an exciting experience as we recognize them and recall the stories of the lives of the people who bore them.  We can see how the Scriptures all fit together and culminate in the life of Jesus Christ.  And this is the second reason why Matthew begins with the genealogy.

He also does this in order to show that the Lord Jesus came exactly when he was supposed to.  Matthew counts three groups of fourteen generations — forty-two generations.  The two factors of this number are six and seven.  The number six was regarded as a “perfect number” among the ancients because it is the sum of its parts: 1+2+3=6.  The number seven represented heaven because it was the number of the heavenly bodies which moved about (the five visible planets and the sun and moon).  All this to say that the time for the Birth of the Savior had arrived.  Furthermore, the Evangelist points out that the Lord was born of the right Mother, relying on the authority of Isaiah 7, 14: “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son.”  And, as we learn from Matthew 2, 1, Jesus was also also born in the right place: Bethlehem.

Matthew proceeds in this way both to convince the Jews that Jesus is the Savior, and to fortify the faith of the Galilean Christians for whom he wrote his book and who were suffering persecution from the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem.  This genealogy and its attendant facts were like a portrait of the Lord these early Christians could hold before their eyes in their time of trial and find strength in, as much as in any icon.  And they could take comfort from it that this was the One to whom they belonged, so that this line was theirs as well.