Well, it is one week before Christmas Eve. Can you believe it?? So beginning today in the Liturgy, we see the unfolding of the Christmas story. In the first reading today we see that “The scepter shall never depart from Judah.” In other words, the Messiah, the King of Kings, would descend from the tribe of Judah. This reading is why Jesus is referred to as The Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
The Gospel reading today is from the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel. It is the genealogy of Jesus. Now, everyone knew that the Savior would be a descendant of King David. God had promised this. So Matthew includes this in his Gospel to show the Jews that this prophecy is fulfilled in the person of Jesus. If you do some study into the family line, you will notice that there are some very shady characters. Perhaps there is a message in this for us.
You’ve no doubt heard the old expression, “You can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your family.” We all have dysfunction in our families to one degree or another. But that’s OK. Maybe the lesson for us is that no matter how goofy our family ties may be, God can still do great things with us!
Father, we thank you for the gift of family. Lord, bless our family members, especially those that may be a little off the wall…like us! Amen.
Thank you for your explanation of today’s Gospel.
You also reminded me of a wise gentleman who liked to point out that we came from Adam and Eve, and Cain killed Abel – so we are all a product of “dysfunction.” The question/choice is what we are going to do about it!