Letter from the Rectory - December 2024
Dear Friends,
Many of you will be spending time with relatives this Christmas. Beyond our immediate family, I grew up with only two first cousins, but with a very large number of second cousins many of whom I didn’t know at all. Tracking down one’s ancestors is a very popular exercise. One of my close relations was excited to discover a well-known five-times great grandmother. I did point out that we had 127 other, similar relations: four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 … 32 … 64 …
Jesus’ own human ancestry is set out at the beginning of both Matthew and Luke’s gospels - long lists of names that at first glance don’t look worthy of attention. Matthew 1 starts, ‘A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ…’ Starting with Abraham, and including David, the list goes through to ‘Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.’ Verse 17 continues, ‘There were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile in Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.’
Luke, perhaps not wanting to lose his readers attention too early on, waits until the end of Chapter 3 to give us his version. His begins the other way round, stating, ‘(Jesus) was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph …’ and goes back 37 generations including David to ‘Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.’
For a first century Jew, a person’s family line was very important.
Matthew’s version essentially sets out Joseph’s lineage, and Luke Mary’s ancestors; both were direct descendants of David’s. There are probably more generations than those listed, as genealogies were often compressed so that not every generation was mentioned specifically.
Being a descendant of Abraham, the father of all Jews, Jesus was fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies about himself.
Some people don’t find it easy to accept the circumstances of Jesus’ birth without a human father (and similarly the other two great miracles of his life, his resurrection and his ascension); for many small children, such considerations just aren’t an issue. Like perhaps some of you, I can just recall the joy of childhood Christmases of long ago, untinged by adult angst. When his disciples rebuked some children, it was Jesus who said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” When the 25th comes, may you have a Christmas sprinkled with child-like joy.
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James