The book of the
genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:
Abraham begot Isaac,
Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and
Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. Ram
begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. Salmon begot Boaz by
Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David
the king.
David the king begot
Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah. Solomon begot
Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa. Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot
Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. Uzziah begot Jotham,
Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. Hezekiah begot
Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon,and Amon begot Josiah. Josiah begot Jeconiah
and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot
Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel begot
Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. Azor begot Zadok,
Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. Eliud begot Eleazar,
Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. And Jacob begot
Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.
So all the
generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations,
and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After
His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found
with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her
husband, being a just man, and not wanting to
make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought
about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream,
saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife,
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring
forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for
He will save His people from their sins.”
So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: “Behold, the virgin
shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated,
“God with us.”
Then Joseph, being
aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him
his wife, and did not know her
till she had brought forth her firstborn Son.And he called His name Jesus.
(Matthew Chapter 1 Verses 1-25)
I remember very well
when this long list of names of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, seemed almost
unnecessary and difficult to understand and I would often skip it when reading
the Gospel. Unfortunately, I did not read the Old Testament at all at that time;
neither did I read the commentaries of Holy Fathers on the Holy Scripture. Even
when reading the Gospel I would try to logically understand what I was reading
instead of reading it with prayer a s the True Word of God.
Nowadays, I am grateful
to God who has opened the riches of His Word. Now I want to specifically stop
and reread these words in the Gospel, because these words that open up a new
and previously unbeknownst perspective. A perspective through which our Lord
Jesus Christ has revealed to us his plans for our salvation, while eternally
taking part in human history. The Son of God created our world, then he acted
in the Old Testament (talking to Abraham, for example), and at a certain point
in history became incarnate, in order to save the world from the devil’s grasp,
from sin and from death.
His coming was promised from the beginning of time as it was
foretold to Abraham and David. Many have waited for Him and finally He enters
human history completely and clearly. He does not arrive as some star child in
a decent from the sky or as some fairy tale but instead He arrives at the
specific moment in history, as a rightful part of the historic moment. It is
the same history of which we are also part of. We do not arrive as some
accident, but as part of God’s providence, in a way, which would best lead to
our salvation.
Sometimes, my life seems to be very difficult, hard to understand, it does not
inspire me, but this text from the Bible reminds me of God’s presence in
human history and in my life personally. It helps me find God’s providence in
the life that is given to me and in the time and space, which God has set aside
for me. I am amazed at the loyalty and obedience of the Holy Theotokos to God, the
same way I am amazed at how Joseph accepted God's will. God sends each one of us similar challenges. The challenges that
we can solve and overcome with His help, the same way Virgin Mary, Joseph, King
David and many, many others. We need to trust God, search for His will, we need
to be more attentive to others and those who are close to us, keep in mind
those signs of God’s presence in our life which require only a bit more
attention to be noticed.
May the Lord help me to accept my life with thanksgiving and gratitude, to let
God into my history, into my life the way it is. To help me battle my: like/dislike,
want/ do not want, difficult/ easy. In addition, when I fail to master these
flaws, I pray to God to help me to acknowledge my mistakes and repent, so that
I will not be crossed out of the book of life the way Apostle Matthew skips
three kings in verse 8 – kings Ahaziah, Jehoash and Amaziah. If these three kings
were not omitted by accident, or as an error of the copywriters. If they were
left out on purpose, then according to the Bible commentary by Aleksandr
Pavlovich Lopukhin, they were left ourt because of the wickedness, sin and
chaos that was happening at its peak during the reign of these three men.
Written by Nun Matrona
12.31.2016
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