Family Genealogy

Tuesday of the Third Week of Advent

Gospel of 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.....


Uh, all those names?! As a Mass Lector, this account of Jesus' genealogy is one of the most difficult to read in front of the congregation.  Firstly, it's long, boring, and tedious.  Secondly, some of the biblical names are impossible to say.  I can spend hours rehearsing the correct pronunciation of names like "Amminadab" or "Jehoshaphat" or "Shealtiel" but then stand up on the podium and butcher them all!  I always feel for the Lector who happens to be "on duty" when this passage appears in the liturgy.  Thank the Lord for some excellent online bible word pronunciation guides.  As a retired priest used to say, "Even I have trouble with these names. I say them differently every time!"

Why Jesus' genealogy?   Jesus Christ's genealogy is unique to the Gospel of Matthew.  If it wasn't for this important account, we may not realize the significance of Christ's blood line beginning with Abraham, father of faith.  Interesting enough, very few women's names appear in the genealogy.  We read of Rahab, Ruth, and of course Mary.  Throughout the bible, if a woman's name is mentioned she was an outstanding female figure at the time.  Other than this, women were simply not recognized.

Our own family genealogy   How interesting to research our own family genealogies. With the Internet, there's so much more information available at our fingertips.  Recently, my grandparents discovered an old article published in a small country newspaper dating back to 1912.  It featured my Great Uncle Will.  My mother used to have his picture hanging on the wall when I was growing up.  We never really knew much about him but thought he was quite handsome.  It turns out Uncle Will was quite the eccentric and definitely ahead of his time.  He invented his own home "on wheels" before the mobile home became mainstream.  He and his wife would travel about from city to city.  He was sort of like a traveling salesman.  He even had a pet monkey!  He ended up getting a divorce later in his marriage which was quite unheard of back in the day.  Reading and hearing about Uncle Will makes me appreciate my own family genealogy.  Now with the advent of new DNA technology, we can trace our ancestry even years before Christ was born!

Near is the great day of the Lord, near and very swiftly coming. (Zephaniah 1:14)

 -J.