Claretian Communications Foundation, Inc.
3RD WEEK OF ADVENT
Psalter: Week 3 / (Violet)
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 72: 1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17: Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.
1st Reading: Genesis 49: 2, 8-10
“Gather around, sons of Jacob. And listen to your father Israel!
Judah, your brothers will praise you! You shall seize your enemies by the neck! Your father’s sons shall bow before you. Judah, a young lion! You return from the prey, my son! Like a lion he stoops and crouches, and like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
The scepter shall not be taken from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, and who has the obedience of the nations.
Gospel: Matthew 1: 1-17
This is the account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (their mother was Tamar), Perez was the father of Hezron, and Hezron of Aram. Aram was the father of Aminadab, Aminadab of Nahshon, Nahshon of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz. His mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed. His mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David, the king. David was the father of Solomon. His mother had been Uriah’s wife.
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Then came the kings: Abijah, Asaph, Jehoshaphat, Joram, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah. Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel and Salathiel of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud of Eliakim, and Eliakim of Azor. Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, and Akim the father of Eliud.
Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar of Matthan, and Matthan of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and from her came Jesus who is called the Christ—the Messiah.
There were then fourteen generations from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations from David to the deportation to Babylon, and fourteen generations from the deportation to Babylon to the birth of Christ.
REFLECTION:
“The lineage of Jesus.”
Advent is a season that calls for our preparedness to enter into the mystery of God’s Incarnation. The mystery of the Incarnation, in the end, is the mystery of God’s unconditional love.
The Gospel pericope for today narrates the genealogy or the lineage of Jesus. We may reflect on the fact that Matthew, with the intention of showing the continuity of his Gospel version from the Old Testament, employed the formula called tōledōt or “generations.” Tōledōt shows the line of the people of the covenant.
Covenant is defined as an agreement between two parties. By its nature, a covenant is commonly understood as something that depends on the faithfulness of both parties.
A covenant, therefore, has a conditional character. Nonetheless, the Gospel passage for today begins by identifying Jesus as the son of David, the son of Abraham.
We may further reflect that this identification highlights not only the humanity of Jesus but also the unconditionality of God’s love shown by the respective promises to David (cf. 2 Sam 7:15) and to Abraham (cf. Gen 12:2-3).
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