Friday in the Third Week of Advent, December 17, 2021

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.

For the ancient Jews, a person’s genealogy was a most precious possession.  Its importance surpassed that of the modern driver’s license or passport.  For a Jew at the time of Jesus, genealogy told a person or the world who somebody was: ethnicity, family of origin, and place of origin.  Beyond this, genealogy told what kind of a person somebody was.  Your forebear’s character indicated whether you were honest or a thief, brave or cowardly, generous or greedy.  Altogether, a person’s genealogy explained that person’s meaning.

St. Matthew presents the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth in order to show his meaning, and in order to show that he was born exactly when he should have been and of exactly the right family.  Later, he will show that Jesus was born in exactly the right place.  He does the latter quite convincingly by showing that the scribes themselves knew it was the right place.  In other words, his genealogy, especially when combined with the prophecies, prove that he was the One who is to come, as John the Baptist referred to him on one occasion.  For those who might wonder, knowing one’s genealogy all the way back to the Patriarchs could be compared to modern persons knowing their social security number.  In the days when the Jews returned from the Babylonian Captivity, a few hundred years before the Birth of Christ, the heads of families had to be able to recite their genealogies back to Jacob in order to demonstrate that they were indeed Jews and to which tribe and clan they belonged.  This allowed them to fit into society and to recover their ancestral property.  

Matthew’s  meticulous recounting of the Lord’s genealogy also made it clear that he, as author of this Gospel, would meticulously narrate the principal events of his life and his teachings.  He, as author, could be trusted to relate and not to invent.  In this way, the genealogy acts as the Evangelist’s preface, or statement of purpose.  St. Luke does something like this in his introduction to his own Gospel when he says that he has looked at many accounts and talked to many witnesses in order to learn the full truth about the life of Christ.

As Christians, the Gospels are our genealogy.  They tell people our meaning, who we are, and what their expectations of us can be.  They tell people that we come from Jesus, formed by his teachings and enlivened by his grace.  They tell people that we live in hope, that we hold to our faith, and that we act in love.  They tell others that as Christ lived, so we strive to live: for the children resemble their parents.