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Just Another Essay



The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Essay Posted Dec 26, 2006 by James E. Nelson

The final Sunday before Christmas (the morning of Dec 24 this year), the Gospel lesson in church was Mat. 1:1-25, which is the story of the birth of Jesus according to Matthew. The first seventeen verses is an account of the genealogy of Jesus:

1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, 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, 8 and Asaph 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, and Amos 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, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

I have never appreciated the Matthew’s genealogy beyond the fact that he gives three groups of fourteen generations (or, more to the point, six series of seven), which makes Jesus, by inference, the start of the seventh series of generations. Matthew loves numerology and it’s hard to miss the implication that the perfect has come, and that the offspring of Jesus Christ (that is, the Church) is the completeness or fulfillment of the promise started with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In the Revised Common Lectionary (the lectionary of Sunday scripture readings used widely in the Western Church), the genealogy portion of the reading is optional. Many Protestants skip the tedious and difficult to pronounce names and jump right to the Nativity story, starting with v. 18. If I remember correctly it was typically my practice to skip the names when I was a pastor. I had very little appreciation for that list of names. Oh, there were certainly some preachable gems in the genealogy. The three women who are mentioned come to mind. Along with Mary, it is two Gentile women—Rahab the Harlot and Ruth from Moab—who are mentioned. It is a foretaste of what will happen in the Church where there will neither be Jew nor Greek.

But this year, as that long list of names (42 or 44 of them) were read, I heard it with very different ears, and I found the names to be an integral part of the story. If the reading of the genealogy was not in and of itself wonderful, hearing the nativity story in the context of that genealogy was indeed very wonderful—at least with my new Orthodox ears. The Orthodox read a lot of names during their worship services. One list, read during Matins (the service just before the Divine Liturgy on Sunday morning), requests supplications from the following people:

The honorable and glorious prophet, and forerunner John the Baptist; the holy, glorious, and praiseworthy Apostles; our Fathers among the Saints, the great hierarchs and ecumenical teachers, Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, Athanasius, Cyril, and John the Merciful, patriarch of Alexandria; Nicholas, bishop of Myra, Spyridon, bishop of Trimythous, the wonder workers; the holy, glorious great Martyrs George the Victorious, Demetrius the Myrrh-bearer, Theodore the Teron, and Theodore the General, Menas the Wonderworker and Charalambus the Hieromartyr; the holy, glorious, and victorious martyrs; the glorious great Martyr and all-laudable Euphemia; of our holy God-bearing Father (the patron saint of the church); the holy and righteous ancestors of God Joachim and Anna, (the saint of the day); and of all your Saints; we beseech you, only merciful Lord, hear us sinners who pray to you and have mercy on us.

There are a few notable names that most people are acquainted with, including Nicholas, bishop of Myra, one of the Bishops who attended and approved the Nicene Creed, and the real person behind Santa Claus. Then there is one of the great missionaries of all times, Cyril, who not only brought Christianity to the Slavs but gave them a written language so they could read the Bible (a precursor to the Wycliffe Bible Translators). He developed the Cyrillic alphabet, which is named after him. And nearly everyone is acquainted with the icon of the guy on the horse killing the dragon. That’s the Great Martyr George the Victorious, who did battle with the dragon of the Roman Empire.

There are other name lists that are read in certain services and on various occasions, but the above gives you the idea. The purpose is to ask that these people, now in heaven, pray for the Church. But there is more going on than just a prayer request. In naming names like this week after week, service after service, we are reminded that this faith is not our faith in any individualistic sense, but rather the faith of the Church. When I personally accept Christ, I am also accepting all these folks named, as well as those standing in worship with me, as fellow travelers in this journey of faith. When these names are read, it is a regular reminder that I am not free to do with this faith as I will. John, Spyridon, Theodore, and Charalambus (to name four less familiar martyrs) died for this faith they handed down. I have a responsibility to them as well as to Jesus Christ. My faith relationship is vertical (that is, with Christ), as well as horizontal, as I enter into the long stream of faith here on earth and as the faithful who have gone before me (that “great cloud of witnesses”) watches me and prays for me in my own struggle of faith.

The genealogy is similar. The nativity story is immediately about the Holy Family: Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. But it is also about Anna and Joachim, Mary’s parents and the “ancestors of God.” It is about Jacob, Joseph’s father and his father, Matthan. Furthermore, it is not just about the holy family and these forty-two generations. Jesus didn’t just pop into the picture, he entered into a stream of faith that stretched back to before Abraham, and into a faithful humanity that had been preparing for him for generations. Just as my faith would be impossible without those saints who came before, so the incarnation would have been impossible without the generations that came before, preparing the way for the Lord.

Christmas is not just about Jesus. Salvation isn’t just about me and my faith. When I accept Christ as my Savior, I also accept the Christians who went before me as the faithful caretakers of the faith. When I celebrate the Christ child born in a manger tucked away in a cave, I celebrate the generations who came before who prepared the way of the Lord. It’s not just about the holi-days, it’s about the holy ones made those days possible.