Chapter 1: Understanding the Genealogy of Jesus and the Dream of Joseph.

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW SERIES

The Bible: Gospel of Matthew Series Icon.

 

Welcome back to my Gospel of Matthew Series. During 2020, each week, I will write a post about the Gospel of Matthew as I review and explore each of the 28 chapters and how it may be applied in our daily lives. My goal is to understand and pray the Gospel of Matthew.  I hope you will join me on this journey as we travel through the liturgical season of Year A.

In the last post we continued on with understanding the plan of Gospel of Matthew by unpacking the structure of the Discourses.

CHAPTER 1:THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS AND THE DREAM OF JOSEPH.

In today’s post we examine chapter 1.

Chapters 1-3 can be considered an introduction where Matthew sets the scene of his Gospel theme to show Jesus is both the continuation and fulfilment of the whole biblical story of God and Israel. His key themes are:

1.    Jesus is from the line of David.

2.     He is a new authoritative teacher like Moses.

3.     Jesus is God with us- Emanuel.

Now in Chapter 1 with the genealogy, he sets the scene and connects Jesus to the Old Testament by making it clear that Jesus is both from the messianic line from the son of David and  He is also a Son of Abraham which means that Jesus will bring blessings  to  all the nations. 

For us in our own time, we need to recall here that Abraham is our father in faith so by implication the blessings with be given to us also. We too need to be people of faith. Why not read my Genesis series to explore further the call of Abraham and why he is considered our father in faith.

By giving us the genealogy of Jesus, it also reminds us that Jesus came from a family- the Word Incarnate came from a family- some of His ancestors were considered dubious in their behaviours. In other words, Jesus did not come from a line of perfect individuals.

We too come from a line of ancestors. Some may influence for the better and others less so. Some may have even influenced us in a negative manner.

The important thing that the genealogy of Jesus teaches us for us today is that whatever our ancestral line, whether it is either good or bad or somewhere in between, we can learn from them and not necessarily become a victim of our ancestral line.  We can pray for our ancestors also and ask them to provide us with some wisdom too  

However, we do not need to have a victim mentality and be locked into behaviours that are not of God’s ways. No, we need to set our life and our behaviours according to God’s way. We can be trend setters and reverse the past whilst forging a brighter future for future generations.  In other words, we too can be a blessing for future generations as well as currently with the present generation in our family.

In Chapter 1 we are also told of the miraculous conception through the Holy Spirit of Jesus in Mary and how Joseph came to understand this through the dream He was given. 

Joseph was obedient to God and acted upon it straight away.  He did not procrastinate or ask a lot of questions to get himself out of a difficult situation- a situation he did not fully understand.  Yet, his faith was strong and he did what he was asked to do through the angel in the dream. Remember an angel is a messenger from God.

We may not have angels appearing to us in our dreams or perhaps we might.  However, we are often given many angels in our lives through other people who give us a clear direction or point the correct way.  We need to be alert to these situations. Test them yes, but also trust God in faith that He is providing the help we need.  This is particularly true when we are at a cross roads in our lives and making important decisions.

 We need to listen to Jesus and know His voice so that we can do what He asks of us straight away even when we do not know all of the fine print.  In fact, we may not get any fine print at all. but in our hearts/souls we know what we heard from God.  Therefore, especially at times like these, we need to follow it just like Joseph did.

So in chapter 1 as part of the overall introduction to Matthew’s Gospel, we already see these three arching themes (mentioned earlier).

The other point to consider is that the genealogy of Jesus is often read in Advent and on Christmas Eve. Initially we may come to Mass on Christmas Eve expecting to hear the Christmas story and do not understand why the Church has chosen the Genealogy as the Gospel reading.

Perhaps, having an understanding of Matthew’s themes in his Gospel may provide greater appreciation for this reading. More importantly, we may learn from it, use it wisely in our lives and receive the blessings which this chapter has to offer us through Jesus.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS/THOUGHTS

In our journal and/or our discussion group we may wish to reflect on this passage as follows:

• Name the key points that you have learnt about the person of Jesus in this passage of scripture?

• Imagine that you are Joseph ( - What do you see and hear and feel. What can I learn from this?

• Imagine being one of the ancestors of Jesus. What did this ancestor offer Jesus in His humanity?  

• What are the areas in my life I need to bring to Jesus? What questions do I want to ask Him?

• Am I willing to look into myself with honesty and ask how much do I grasp what it means to be a true disciple of Jesus in the light of this teaching? 

• Is my faith in the divine power of Christ, whom we follow, large enough to make us ready to walking faithfully his ‘’way’’?

• In the light of this passage, how will you respond to Jesus as a true disciple?

• If a fellow parishioner had read this passage, what might he/she say about this passage?

• In the light of this Gospel passage what positive change will you adopt in your life and in your spiritual life.  How will you implement these changes?