What We Can Learn from the Genealogy of Jesus about God’s Promise of Sending Christ to Renew? – December 17:Friday of Third Week of Advent

In the Gospel Reading of Friday of Third Week of Advent (Matthew 1:1-17), we go over the genealogy of Jesus, the incarnated Christ. In this, we see Jesus as a descendant of Abraham. We see Jesus as a descendant of Jacob, who is a grandson of Abraham. We see Jesus as a descendant of Judah, who was one of the twelve sons of Jacob. We also see Jesus as a descendant of David, who is a descendant of Judah. Therefore, we know Jesus is on the Davidic royal line, as Mary married to Joseph. But, his genealogy tells us more about Jesus’ background.

Note that there is Rahab (Matthew 1:5) on the genealogical line of Jesus!

This Amorite woman was a decoy to trap and turn two Israelite spies of, Pinchas and Caleb, sent by Joshua, to the king of Jericho before Joshua’s Israelites army would conquer Jericho (Joshua 2:1-3).  As commissioned by the king of Jericho, Rahab was to trap the Israelites, led by Joshua, in Jericho, so that they would not penetrate this fortress city to cross the Jordan River to enter their promised land. However, Rahab rather betrayed her “boss”, the king of Jericho, by helping the Israelite spies, enabling the Israelites to safely pass through Jericho and cross the Jordan River to reach the Promised Land (Joshua 2:4-5:12). Because of her cooperation with the Israelites, Joshua spared Rahab and her family when he destroyed Jericho (Joshua 6:22-25), honoring the promise made by the two spies (Joshua 2:14-15). And she married to Salmon, who is the father of Boaz, who is the great-grandfather of Jesse, the father of David (Matthew 1:5-6).

Not only that Rahab was a Canaanite (Amorite) but also a prostitute (Joshua 6:22)(though some scholars argue that she was not)!

So, it means that there is prostitute’s blood poured into the family line of Jesus.

There is another non-Jew in Jesus; family line.

Ruth (Matthew 1:5), who is a Moabite, is the great-grandmother of David, as a descendant of David, Jesus is not a pure Jew.

Therefore, by the time of David, the family lineage of Jesus was no longer purely Jewish but with bloods of Amorites and Moabites, who were hostile to the Jews in Canaan.

Upon David (Matthew 1:6), the family line of Jesus became the Davidic royal lineage.

Because of the sin of Solomon, son of David, God let the Davidic kingdom split but kept the Davidic kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah, go beyond the division (i.e.1 Kings 11:9-13). However, it does not mean that not all kings of Judah, though Davidic, served God faithfully. For example, son of Solomon, Rehoboam, and his son, Abijah, were corrupt kings (Matthew 1:7; cf. 1 Kings 11:42-15:8; 2 Chronicles 9:31-12:16; 13:1-23).

So, what can we learn from the genealogy of Jesus, who is the incarnated Christ and whose coming is drawing nearer and nearer as we are about to end Third Week of Advent?

By going over this family lineage, we realize that Jesus does not have a perfect family on earth. But, when God the Father let the Theos-Logos (God-Word)(John 1:1) incarnate to let him be our Immanuel (God with us), letting him dwell in our midst (John 1:14), He chose to let is happen in such an imperfect earthly family lineage.

What is important to learn from this imperfect human family of Jesus is that God sure makes good out of something imperfect, even bad things got into it, as God loves to renew (i.e. Isaiah 40:31; 43:19). And this is not just limited in the lineage of Jesus’ earthly family but applied to us all. For this reason, God is sending His only begotten Son to fulfill (πληρῶσαι· /plerosai) the old covenant (i.e. Matthew 5:17), which has been unfulfilled and broken by our sins, with the new covenant brought by Christ (i.e. Luke 22:20). And this makes even the least in the Kingdom of Heavens greater than John the Baptist, who was under the old covenant (i.e. Matthew 11:11-13), as the new covenant of Jesus leads to the Kingdom.

So, we reflect on God’s promise of renewal of the old and restoration of the broken – fulfilling what had been unfulfilled (e.g. Isaiah 29:9-24; 35:1-10; 40:1-66:24;    Baruch 5:1-9), to be fulfilled by Christ, who brings the Kingdom through the new covenant.

The First Reading (Isaiah 49:2, 8-10) is a reflection of Jacob’s blessing on one of his twelve sons, Judah (Genesis 49:8-12). As we know from the Gospel Reading (Matthew 1:1-17), David a descendant of Judah (Matthew 1:3-6). And after the split of Jewish kingdom for the sin of Solomon, God kept the line of Judah as the kingdom of Judah, from Rehoboam to Jechoniah (Jehoiachin) (Matthew 1:7-11), though Matthew did not include Zedekiah, whose father is Jechoniah. But, Matthew put the other son of Jechoniah, Shealtiel (1 Chronicle 3:16-17; Matthew 1:12) to describe the continuing line of Judah, on which David is, in the post-exilic era, all the way to Jesus (Matthew 1:12-17).

As Jacob blessed Judah, God the Father blessed His Son, Christ. And He commissioned him to bring this blessing to us on earth, so that what is not fulfilled in us will be fulfilled, thus, we are saved through his new covenant, even though we are not perfect – even though we have sinned and offended God. But, as John the Baptist has called, we must repent and convert our hearts to God (i.e. Matthew 3:2).