Categories: bible
Date: 19 December 2004 04:56:51
I've generally skimmed any sections of the Bible with genealogies in them, or skipped them completely, as I hadn't seen the relevance. Sure: it's nice to know who Jesus' ancestors were, but how does that relate to me?
That changed today. Our Gospel reading was Matthew 1:1-25, the first 17 verses of which are related to the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
When linked with the Epistle reading, Hebrews 11, and one of today's commemorations -- All the Righteous who pleased God, from Adam down to Joseph the Betrothed of the Mother of God -- things began to click. As our priest said in his sermon: as Hebrews states, those faithful in the Old Testament, though not seeing Christ, believed in God and believed in His promises for the redemption and salvation of us all through Christ. The thing hoped for, yet not seen, encouraged the people of the Old Testament.
And as we heard their names, and as we remembered All the Righteous who pleased God, from Adam down to Joseph the Betrothed of the Mother of God, the genealogy became no longer just a list to me, but a rollcall of the faithful; a numbering of the faithful in the Old Testament whose example in faithfulness to and trust in God I can only try and emulate.
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ!