Word to the Wise
Monday, December 17, 2012 -
[Genesis 49:2, 8-10 and Matthew 1:1-17]"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2012 MONDAY IN THE THIRD WEEK IN ADVENT
[Genesis 49:2, 8-10 and Matthew 1:1-7]
"The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of
David, the son of Abraham..." [Matt]
There are two genealogies of Jesus in the gospels - the one we
read today from the beginning of Matthew's gospel, and the one from
Luke, which is placed at the beginning of Jesus' ministry! The two
differ in many ways, but preacher and pew-person alike probably don't
pay a lot of attention to all those multi-syllabic names and "begats.'
It's too much to focus on, let alone preach about! Yet, both
genealogies are included in those gospels for a reason! They tell us
something about Jesus. I'll have to focus on Matthew today, but I
urge my Beloved Congregation to go and read the one from Luke as well
(Lk 3:25-38). If nothing else you'll notice that Matthew starts with
Abraham and works forward to Jesus. Luke starts with Jesus and works
backward all the way to Adam and God!
The opening line from Matthew tells us the reason for his
genealogy. He wants to establish Jesus' identity as related to the
two pivotal figures of the Old Testament to whom God made a promise:
Abraham and David! So, Matthew is anxious to show how Jesus is the
fulfillment of those promises! There are some interesting figures in
the list whose lives and conduct were questionable! (Jacob, Tamar,
etc.) and there are some "non-entities" as well! Matthew is a bit
creative "shapes" the genealogy to his preaching purposes. We could
take that first line and run or we can see how amazing Jesus' lineage
really is. Just remember that he is the son of David and the son of
Abraham, and is the fulfillment of God's promise to them. That's a
big enough idea to ponder! AMEN
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