Friday of the Third Week of Advent
The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Matthew 1:1
The Word became flesh in a gnarled and twisted family tree, commencing its healing and deification. Unique among all the sons of David and Abraham, Jesus Christ has both a divine and human origin. Eternally begotten of the Father, the Son of God was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The soil of his immaculate mother nourished the promised blossom from the stump of Jesse.
A long line of imperfect fathers, mothers, patriarchs, priests, prophets and kings finally brought forth the savior of the world. In Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity entered into history as a fully human son to gather his brethren back to their beloved Father.
The genealogy of Christ directs us to our own origin and destiny as children of God. Jesus and Mary restored sonship to the descendants of Adam who are created by the Father in the divine and human wombs. Parents are “co-creators” of their children: persons ultimately belong to God.
The first genealogy in the Bible begins with our divine origin:
This is the record of the descendants of Adam. When God created human beings, he made them in the likeness of God; he created them male and female. When they were created, he blessed them and named them humankind (adam).
Genesis 5:1-2
The genealogy in Luke explicitly traces Jesus back to “Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38). When the world seems bleak and dark, the genealogy of Jesus Christ reminds us that we are children of light from an eternal Womb beyond the twists and turns of time and history.
Dear GMC, thank you for your reflection. It is a beautiful tribute to all our gnarled, twisted and imperfect families. May we love our families, forgiving and forgetting past hurts. And may God guide us all into the light as his children.
Amen to your beautiful Advent prayer!