Bishop Barron on The Genealogy of Jesus

Today begins the Great Days of Advent, which corresponds with the Christmas Novena. Up until now the Liturgy has concerned itself mainly with Jesus' future Second Coming, presenting themes of repentance and preparedness for that "great and terrible day," as the Old Testament prophets referred to the time of the Lord's appearance. Today the focus shifts to the events leading up to Jesus' birth. We will still hear from the Prophets, but the passages will refer to the coming Messiah who would redeem Israel, as opposed to the Lord's visitation at the end time. 

Today's Gospel passage is the genealogy according to Matthew. It's strange, hard to pronounce names and seemingly endless string of "begot's" can be off putting, and more than a few priests chose to proclaim the short form of the reading that omits Jesus' lineage. This is a great shame. Matthew knew exactly what he was doing when he included this list. As Bishop Barron (still "Father" at the time this video was produced) points out, the eternal Son entered into our history, filled with saints and sinners alike, and even the saints often had plenty of skeletons (do I have to give a run through of King David's foibles?) 

The Evangelists knew that Jesus' double claim of messiahship and divinity would be challenged because of the rouges gallery back in His family line. So he, and Luke, chose to put the issue on the table right from the start. Yes, Jesus had great heroes and patriarchs in his family - but also murderers and thefts - qualities sometimes embodied in same person. But it was into this human mess that the Second Person of the Trinity entered, not to judge it, but to redeem it. Bishop Barron says it better than I do, so I'll stop there and invite you to listen to his words of wisdom.