Genealogy Gentiles and the Messiah

The texts of the Roman Catholic lectionary today are presenting a path from Genesis to the Jesus; the Messiah who the psalmist anticipates will bring deliverance, righteousness and peace. The Messiah will be a descendant of David and a son of Abraham. Matthew writes as a Jew to his fellow Jews to present to them the evidence for Jesus' claim to be the King of the Jews. (Introduction to The Gospel of Matthew) Matthew presents the line of ancestors of Jesus to position Him as the long awaited Messiah. How important is Jesus lineage to Christians two centuries after Matthew’s appeal to people of his heritage. The texts and traditions which have come to Christianity from Judaism are rich in probing the relationship between Divine and humanity. The daily liturgies of Christianity resound with the prayer, joy and expectation of the Hebrew people. Linear time is a constraint of humanity. It is not a condition for the Divine. The Lord of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and David is the God incarnate in humanity through Jesus. The line of time is a reminder of our limited status relative to the Divine. Nevertheless, God continues to invite all (of all time) to an intimate relationship through the indwelling Spirit.