A God that Fulfills His Promises
Gospel Reflection for December 17th, 2024 - Matthew 1:1-17
I normally start these reflections with the scripture but today’s is as challenging a read as it is powerful. It is the genealogy of Christ. If you are anything like me, by the 3rd or maybe the 4th verse your eyes start to glaze over - it is just so many names! And not just any names but difficult-to-say names such as Zerubbabel or Shealti-el.
Why can’t I just skip ahead to the good stuff about Jesus’ birth?
Well, if you stick around we can peel back a layer or two together. Here, beyond the simple reading of these verses, is where we move past the challenging portion of today’s gospel and get to the powerful part. Today’s reading is the genealogy of Christ, and more importantly it shows in real and hard facts the promise of God in and through time. This reading of Christ’s lineage emphasizes that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. It shows everyone that Jesus has the descent required to be the Messiah, linking Him to Abraham and to King David. That is powerful, sure, but if you strip away even that there is something more, dare I say, beautiful and jaw-dropping about this reading.
It is a kind of love letter.
It may be hard to see among the litany of names, but this genealogy shows us that God is faithful. It is in His nature. That even if it takes centuries, even if we falter, His promise is good, His grace endures, and He fulfills all that He says He will.
As we continue into this 3rd week of Advent, joyously anticipating the coming of Christ, I invite you to reflect on the faithfulness of God in light of the coming birth of Christ as well as His second coming, as well as to read today’s reading below. What does His faithfulness mean for us today? How do we allow or not allow God’s faithfulness to speak to our hearts in such a chaotic world?
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.