Friday 17 December 2021

Today is Friday the 17 December, in the third week of Advent.

The Porter’s Gate sing, ‘Isaiah (O Come).

Today’s reading is from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 1:1-17

An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations. 

This is the opening of Matthew’s gospel, and therefore the very first lines that you read when you open the New Testament. Some people think that it is “the most boring part of the New Testament”; but that is not quite fair.  Notice that Matthew gives this genealogy of Jesus a definite shape: Jesus is “son of David, son of Abraham”, where Abraham received the promises of God, and under David they came to their fulfilment.

Then the genealogy ends with the terrible disaster of the Exile and the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. Or not quite: for the genealogy ends with the birth of Jesus, who is now seen as the climax of history here. What is the message and meaning here?

Then notice the four women in the list: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah the Hittite. If you have time, why not look at the bible stories of these women over the course of the week?

Matthew ends by emphasising that the genealogy divides into three groups of fourteen, from Abraham to King David, from King David to the Exile, and from the Exile to the birth of Jesus Christ.  What do you think the evangelist is saying?

Finally, as you contemplate this passage, what thoughts and emotions arise in your heart?  Can you turn them into a prayer to God?