Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 1:1-17

The Gospel presents the Family Tree of Jesus, mentioning names which are not so familiar. Who are all these people? 42 names of ancestors of Jesus are mentioned in the extensive genealogy of Jesus. While a few of those names are well known biblical names—Abraham and Isaac, David the king, Solomon, Joseph the husband of Mary—but most of them remain obscure. Except in this passage, we seldom hear those names. Mathew’s purpose of introducing the genealogy to begin his Gospel was to show how the human history was in the design and plan of God. A God who walked with the humans in the book of Genesis, continues to walk with the humans in the New Testament – but this time, not as God, but as one among them. The Family Tree of Jesus reveals one interesting truth – many of his ancestors had very dubious history – some were murderers, prostitutes, cheaters. This insight should give us some much-needed comfort: that there is no such thing as a perfect family. Jesus-God himself chose to be born in a family of imperfect people. God knows that neither we nor our families are perfect. What the Lord expects from us is to have faith in him and to love him. Most of those in the list of Jesus’ family tree, in spite of being so lo-profile, and sinful people, but always remained loyal to God. Each of them had a role to play in the salvation history… or rather, God allowed these insignificant people to be part of his saving plan. We too are part of a history, we too are the link in a genealogy in which sin and hope coexist. God walks into our history, healing what is sinful in this history, and enabling us to participate in his divine plan. This our history also becomes a history of salvation. All what he asks of us is to place our trust in him and in his plans for us. May this Christmas become an event that transforms our lives.