Reflection (The readings are below, for your reference)
Today’s readings are all about family and family trees. How appropriate, as we make our preparations to be with families of birth and families of choice this Christmas (God help us!)
I like Jesus’s long family tree and I especially like that the only women cited are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, the wife of Uriah, all of whom have a story that is tinged with a bit of scandal (just sayin’).
What do YOU like (or dislike) about today’s readings?
However you survive the festivities, may the mountains bring you peace, may your name be blessed and may the nations proclaim happiness.
Namaste! Amen!
Genesis 49:2,8-10
Assemble and hear, O descendants of Jacob;
listen to Israel your father.
‘Judah, your family shall praise you;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
your ancestor’s offspring shall bow down before you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
from the prey, my child, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,
like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and the obedience of the peoples is his.
Psalm 72:3-4,7-8,17
The mountains will bring peace for the people,
and the hills justice.
They shall defend the afflicted among the people,
save the children of the poor,
and crush the oppressor.
Virtue shall flower in their days,
and world peace till the moon is no more.
May they rule from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth.
Blessed be their name forever;
their name shall remain as long as the sun.
In them shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
all the nations shall proclaim their happiness.
Matthew 1:1-17
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
With one exception, the readings are from the website below, with adjustments to make the text more inclusive. The Psalm is from Psalms Anew, St. Mary’s Press, 1986.
The Readings
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