Matthew 1:1-17
When I was a country Rector in the Church of England I would
receive from time to time requests for information from
our parish registers. Serving traditional country parishes, the parishes were
reluctant to part with their ancient registers into the central diocesan
archive, so it was not uncommon for me to receive a request for a register
search. Although they didn’t always arrive at convenient moments, in a way I
quite enjoyed dusting off the old registers and peering through their crisp pages.
I was often struck by the beautiful handwriting of all entries before the
1950’s and how the hand-writing went downhill from there! But I was also struck
how in the 19th and 18th century so many entries
contained signatures consisting of an X and alongside the Rector’s annotation
“the mark of…” For some people the researching of their genealogy is very
important to them.
Clearly for Matthew the genealogy of Jesus Christ is very
important. Today we hear the long list of names read out at mass (Matt 1:1-17).
We might think it a little boring. We might think there is nothing of
inspiration in today’s gospel. But we need to ask ourselves, “Why?” None of us
would miss these 17 verses if Matthew hadn’t included them. Well the point is
that although we might not, Matthew’s
original hearers/readers did appreciate it. Matthew is establishing Jesus’ kingly
messianic credentials as he effectively states in verse 1: “The book of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” He is
establishing that Jesus is in fact of the line of Abraham and of the line of
King David. God promised long before
that “kings” would stem from Abraham’s line (Gen 17:6) and later promised, in a
covenant oath, that David would always have a dynastic heir (2 Sam 7:16; Ps
89:3-4).
Matthew establishes for us Jesus’ earthly credentials while
not undermining His divinity. Jesus is of course not the biological son of
Joseph, but Joseph does accept Jesus into his family lineage. Matthew reminds
us of this at the end when he says, “and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband
of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” Despite the long list
of “the father of”, now at the end Matthew is preparing to reveal that Jesus
was miraculously born of the Virgin Mary, without the contribution of an
earthly father, but instead the Holy Spirit.
One final comment on this genealogy is to say that the
gospel here is ensuring we understand that Jesus is human as well as divine. It
doesn’t use that sort of language, but by establishing Jesus human ancestry we
can be in no doubt that His divinity did not exclude His human nature received
from Mary. This is the wonder of the Incarnation, which in this last week
before the great and solemn feast, we contemplate. God’s plan for the salvation
of mankind was worked out through the lives of real human beings. This is not
just for the past, but even now God has a part for us to play, in His great
plan.
Fr Ian
