Thursday, December 16, 2021

Reflection for December 17, Friday of the Third Week of Advent: John Matthew 1:1-17


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.

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Reflection:

How is your family tree? 

The family tree of Jesus is not what we expect it to be some were sinners like us, for example King David committed adultery with a woman named Bathsheba. There were other sinners in His family tree but God chose to imbed Jesus in that lineage.  

The incarnate God our Emmanuel wants to dwell in us too it doesn’t matter who we are or how sinful we are. The Lord wants to be with us so that we could find peace and contentment in our lives. Peace and contentment that are lacking in our lives today. 

As we trace back the members of our own family tree we surely would find imperfect personalities amongst them. But it should not dishearten us for the simple reason that nobody is perfect in this world. So, we have to accept the imperfect ones and we have to let them know that God’s love is always there for them.   

Advent is the coming of the Lord in our own respective lives. The Lord who comes to us no matter how sinful we are, the Lord who doesn’t look at our sinful past. The Lord who is only interested in our present and future.   -  Marino J. Dasmarinas  

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