Mt 1:1-17
This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife.
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings: Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah.
Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud. Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ – the Messiah.
There were then fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.
REFLECTION
Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Son of God who took human flesh in the womb of Mary, the virginal spouse of Joseph, the descendant of Jewish lineage to whom the birth of the Messiah was promised. To prove it, Matthew, the Jewish evangelist, gives us the genealogy of Jesus-Christ, i.e. the list of ancestors in a conventional way. We stress two names: Abraham and David: Abraham, the father of Israel who received the promise of universal blessing in his sibling and believed; David, from the tribe of Judah, the head of the dynasty to whom the kingdom was promised forever.
Jesus is the son of Abraham and the son of David in the legal line that finally reaches Joseph, the husband of Mary. He is the Emmanuel, the Christ, the anointed by God, to be the Savior of all. But, are we Jews? By blood, we are not Jews. But by Spirit, we are adoptive brothers and sisters of Jesus, and the promises given to the Jewish people can be attained by us, and all the people of the earth, called to embrace faith and Salvation in Christ.
Let us pray for the universal light of Christmas in our time and offer ourselves to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.
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