Gospel: 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.
+ + + + + +
Reflection:
Can you
still trace back the ancestry where you are from? Some of us may still be able to trace it back
some may not anymore. The importance of tracing back our roots is we somehow
will have an idea about who we are and who our relatives are.
The
gospel reading shows the many names of the family tree of Jesus. Just like us
many members of Jesus’ lineage are flawed like King David who had an immoral affair
with Bathsheba. Solomon was a bigtime womanizer;
he was not faithful to the Lord as well.
Jesus ancestors were not perfect like us but
God chose Jesus to belong into that family tree. To show to us that despite our
sinfulness God still wants us to belong to Him.
God in
His infinite wisdom believes in our capacity to change for the better we who
are sinful. God knows that deep in our hearts we yearn to leave behind our
sinful life. He believes that someday somehow we shall be able to see the
light. And that light is Jesus.
No comments:
Post a Comment