Monday, January 17, 2005
Matthew 1:1-17
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriahs wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shaeltiel,
Shaeltiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abuid,
Abuid the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the ftaher of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.
Well, this long family-tree Matthew gives us, tracing the ancestry of Jesus right back to Abraham is as good as boring and useless to us. We probably would feel bored to death! this monotonous repetition of: 'And so-and-so begot so-and-so..."
But, Matthew had his hidden reasons for giving us this boring, dry and dusty lists of names.
Matthew rounds off his message by pointing out: The sum of generation is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.
This tells us that he is giving us a very artificial and contrived list of generations. In order to get the number of fourteen in each group, Matthew has to leave out the names of four kings who should have figured here between Joram and Azariah; he also counts Jechoniah twice(made possible by the fact that the same Greek name can translate the two similar Hebrew names Joiaqim and Joiakin) and not to miss his point, he explicitly mentions that there were fourteen generations in each set.
Why did Matthew go through the trouble to build up exactly three sets of fourteen?
Well, the symbolic significance is attributed to the sum of total of a person's name, calculating this sum according to the figure allotted to each letter of the alphabet.. In Hebrew, the letters DVD add up to fourteen and if Matthew was in fact using this device, what he is trying to tell us is this: the whole list of names points three times over to Jesus as the second David, the 'other king' whom God had promised to send and usher the kingdom of God.
Another reason, also connected with numbers, could be this: seven is a sacred number among Jews and it indicates completion or fulfillment. By giving is three sets of fourteen, Matthew actually presents us with six rounds of seven generations each before the coming of Jesus. Jesus therefore begins the seventh round of seven generations. Meaning, Jesus ushers in the perfect generation in both the fullness of time and of human history.
Jesus himself does not beget others, he inaugurates the 'end-times'. All who follow from now on will belong to one family or generation, With Jesus' birth, heaven has opened and hence marrying and giving in marriage are no longer a great consequence. The new order of things has begun, for Jesus has died to the old sinful order, and has risen with a new life!
Another consideration, Matthew heads each section with the names of Abraham, David and the deportation, the three turning points in the history of Israel, God's Chosen People. By doing as such, he indicates Jesus is the fulfillment of the hopes raised in the choice of Abraham, of the kingdom established through David but which never really achieved what is set out to do and, of the new beginnings after severe and thorough purification through the deportation.
Jesus the messiah is going to give to those who will accept it, the cream, the very best of what each of these periods or stages of Israel's spiritual formation was meant to give.
One last point, "genealogy" as commonly translated, could also be rendered by the word "genesis" so the genealogy of Jesus Christ is the Genesis of Jesus Christ.
Well, within the genealogy of Jesus, there are still many hidden meanings. But this would be enough for us to ponder and think. Is Jesus just part of history? Or is he really King? Scientist can explain all types of explanation of certain miracles, but they never could explain why did it happen then... Time... Well, as written in the genealogy, the perfect generation is right now! Jesus started the perfect generation. What are we doing with our lives? Do we take Jesus as our Lord and King? Or is he just someone in history? Or someone just there? Or some of us might have drifted away form him, is he just God? The genealogy also shows us that God kept his promise. The Saviour would come from this line.. And he did. God keeps his promises.. Are we ignoring God in our lives? Is he just someone who is the player of the chess game and we are the chess pieces? The Saviour came to us in our own being... In the form of us sinners but born without sin. He suffered, died, and resurrected. Are we just going to see him like that? Just God! Or is he someone close to us?
When God asks us to do something, or he reveals a plan to us... Do we listen? God's will is always perfect as can be seen in the genealogy... 7 times 7, the PERFECT generation is ours... And he made all perfect. Jesus is also our savior, the one to fulfill the plan of salvation as shown in the
third possible reason of the genealogy. Are we taking God's plan for us for granted?
As he calls us each day, do we listen? Or is he somewhere far away. Or is he only at a particular place?
As we draw knowledge and the perfect plan of God from the genealogy of Christ, let us reflect on our own lives.
Amen.
+May God send forth his Spirit to touch your hearts that you may know him.
Feel Lonely @Monday, January 17, 2005
