Advent Daily Devotionals: Generations to Jesus: 17th Dec

GENERATIONS TO JESUS

Monday 17^th December

First Reading, Genesis 49:2, 8-10
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:

Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,

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;

and Jacob fathered 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.

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)

Indeed, from Abraham’s offspring, which we see in today’s Gospel, God’s promise of an everlasting covenant is fulfilled to us through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's promised kingdom from King David is similarly fulfilled through Jesus, 'son of David', the Messiah, yet not in a way the world expected a king. What strikes me though after reading back on the Old Testament is that every promise and covenant that God made still depended on a trustful ‘yes’ back to God. Even Abraham doubted God’s promise to him, as we are told that he and his wife Sarah were childless for many years till their old age. Yet a beautiful demonstration of Abraham’s complete faith in God is revealed to me in Genesis 15, where God comes to Abraham in a vision. We are told that God takes Abraham outside and says ‘Look towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall your descendants be’- and immediately Abraham believed in God’s promise.

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!