Genealogy and Grace

In this Year A of the Revised Common Lectionary, we are reading the gospel of Matthew, but rarely will you hear the reading below from the first chapter of the genealogy of Jesus. It is full of unpronounceable and obscure names which do not make for good sermon material.* see below

In the wonderful old Advent book Watch for the Light which I have been reading since 2001 the year it was published by the Plough Publishing House, Gail Godwin's entry for December 16 reminds us of this genealogy and tells a lovely story about a young lector who is asked to read the entire 17 verses! (You might remember that Gail Godwin wrote the delightful book Father Melancholy's Daughter.) Godwin includes notes she took from a sermon she heard preached by the great priest and scholar Raymond Brown on preparing for Advent in which he urged pastors to preach the Matthean genealogy during Advent because "these three minutes worth of tongue twisting names contain the essential theology of the Old and New Testaments for the whole church, Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike"

Father Brown and Gail Godwin go on to flesh out that theology pointing out that if God used all these characters with their flaws and gifts, God can certainly use us "in all manner of peculiar and unexpected ways." But what I love most of all is how Father Brown concluded his sermon saying:

"A thoughtful reflection of Matthew's genealogy encourages us during Advent to continue the story of the sequence of Jesus Christ in this way:

'Jesus called Peter and Paul...Paul called Timothy...someone called you...and you must call someone else...Amen.'"

That my friends is surely an Advent message that we must not take lightly, living it out in all that we say and do. Who will you call today?

*1 An account[a] of the genealogy[b] of Jesus the Messiah,[c] the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,[d] 8 and Asaph[e] the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,[f] and Amos[g] the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, who bore Jesus, who is called the Messiah.[h] Matthew 1. 1 - 1