GENERATIONS
TO JESUS
Monday 17th December
First Reading, Genesis 49:2, 8-10
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 72:3-4, 7-8, 17
Gospel, Matthew 1:1-17
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 72:3-4, 7-8, 17
Gospel, Matthew 1:1-17
First Reading, Genesis
49:2, 8-10
Judah, your brothers will praise
you: you grip your enemies by the neck, your father's sons will do
you homage. Judah is a lion's whelp; You stand over your prey, my son. Like a
lion he crouches and lies down, a mighty lion: who dare rouse him?
The sceptre shall not pass from
Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute be brought
him and the peoples render him obedience.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 72:3-4, 7-8, 17
Mountains
and hills, bring peace to the people! With justice he will judge
the poor of the people, he will save
the children of
the needy and crush their oppressors.
In his days
uprightness shall flourish, and peace in plenty till the moon is no more. His
empire shall stretch from sea to sea, from the river to the limits of the
earth.
May his name
be blessed for ever, and endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be
blessed every race in the world, and all nations call him blessed.
Gospel, Matthew 1:1-17
Roll of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,
son of David, son of Abraham:
Judah fathered Perez and
Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram,
Ram fathered Amminadab,
Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,
Salmon fathered Boaz, whose
mother was Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed fathered
Jesse;
and Jesse fathered King David.
David fathered Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
Solomon fathered Rehoboam,
Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa,
Asa fathered
Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered
Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah,
Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham
fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,
Hezekiah fathered Manasseh,
Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah;
and Josiah fathered Jechoniah
and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to
Babylon: Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel fathered Abiud,
Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor,
Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok
fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud,
Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered
Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob;
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.
Gospel reflections:
I’m
not going to lie – my heart went out to all the priests around the world
reading out today’s Gospel at Daily Mass the moment I first read it. But since
praying on what to write for today’s Advent devotional, I’ve realised how
important it is to know and appreciate the timeline of the generations before
Jesus’ coming into the world, because it reveals God’s divine plan to bring
humanity back to salvation, and lets us realise how significantly Jesus fulfilled God's promises.
Let’s
go back to the start with the first man mentioned in the family tree: Abraham. Abraham
comes into the picture early on in the Old Testament in Genesis 12, where he is
called Abram. Abram comes from his own long family tree as a descendant of
Noah, whom God established a covenant with after the Great Flood, promising never
again to wipe out humanity.
Later
in Genesis 17, God makes his own covenant with Abram, saying ‘No longer shall your name be Abram, but your
name shall be Abraham; for I have made
you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly
fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. I will
establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you
throughout their generations, for an
everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you”
Indeed, several generations passed after Abraham, and King David is another key individual who God makes a covenant with, promising the eternal king and kingdom that will be established from him.
"When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me." (2 Samuel 7:12-16)
Till
this point, I am imagining in my head Abraham looking up at a beautiful starry
night sky with God, taking in the wonder of the stars and believing from the
sight itself God’s promises to bless him. How often I desire God to take me
outside and confirm His promises to me through a similar beautiful visual. But
then a few verses after in Genesis 15, it mentions ‘as the sun was going down’. This threw everything I had previously
pictured in my head out of the water. So Abraham had been looking at a daylight sky, seeing absolutely no
stars, but he STILL believed. Why? Because he knew that God could see more
than his own eyes could; and that was enough. That itself was such a big
reminder to me of what it truly means to trust in God – even when our eyes can’t
see and our senses can’t comprehend it. God was waiting on Abraham’s complete
trust in Him to be able to establish His covenant with him, and through him, for
the generations to pass till Jesus.
This
Advent, reflect on the beautiful and divine plan that God had to bring Jesus into
the world, and take time to read the Bible and discover more about the
individuals that God worked through to pave the way for Jesus. Jesus was born
into a family tree full of sinners, doubters and wanderers; like us; yet were
people who found their way back to God and kept saying yes to Him, right till
the ultimate yes of Mary. Reflect on your own life the ways that you want to
say Yes to God this Advent season, especially surrendering to Him the doubts
and worries that seem impossible to change to our own human hearts and minds. Because we
can have faith that God never breaks a promise, and His promises are indeed
everlasting and there to bring us fulfilment.
May his name be blessed for ever, and
endure in the sight of the sun. In him shall be blessed every race in the
world, and all nations call him blessed.
Prayer Reflection:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for sending your son
Jesus Christ into our world through your divine plan through the generations.
Thank you for all the
blessings you have given to the generations before us, and the generations
after us, and help us to always walk in your truth.
Give us the courage to hold
onto your promises even when they seem impossible, and increase our faith in
you.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Writer’s Bio: Theresita Joseph
Hi everyone, I’m Theresita, and I currently run the Y2K blog page. I’m 23 years old and am a medical student studying at UCL. I’m a big fan of journaling, science, singing in the shower, buying lots of flowers and consuming (a bit too much) wine.
2018 has taken me on a big adventure of moving to a little city in Scotland, where I’ve been undertaking a Masters project in Parkinson’s disease research; a condition very close to my family’s heart. This year has undoubtedly been the biggest and most exciting year of my life in strengthening my faith and love in God, and am excited to see where He leads me in the year ahead.
My message to all readers would be to begin your journey with God at whatever point of life you’re at now – it’s so easy to delay it for fear of the unknown, doubts or lack of trust – but once you start it’s a path you won’t want to stop following. Seek out your faith, read the Bible, talk to others; and be open to change. Take a risk and give God your worries, doubts, fears and joys – and let a mustard seed of faith begin to grow that He will transform. Be not afraid!
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