Daily Gospel Reflection for December 17, 2015

Today's Gospel: Matthew 1:1-17

Our family attended a Maronite Rite Catholic church for many years as our children were growing up. I remember the first time today’s gospel was the reading of the day, looking forward to our Lebanese priest saying all the names. I thought that being from the Middle East, he would be able to say them accurately with the accents in the appropriate places. I was surprised when he said this passage is one of the greatest passages in which he struggles to pronounce correctly. Regardless, he did a beautiful job. The genealogy of Christ shows a struggle in more than just the pronunciation of the names. It shows the struggles in the lineage of Jesus. Many of the names listed in the family tree were of people who struggled to follow the law of God and yet still from them came the Messiah. We know the sins of David, and yet God called him a man after His own heart. He is even the one from whose house Jesus is descended. There are men and women included in the family tree. Three of the four women, excluding Ruth, were women who had committed sexual sins. What can we take from this historical passage of scripture? We can see that Christ came to save us all: men, women, sinners. There is no one that is exempt from the love of Christ. He comes as a tiny infant ready to love us all. Think of how much love we feel when we hold a newborn and how receptive to love a newborn is. Christ, both as the Baby Jesus as well as the King of Kings, is always calling us to Him, ready to fill our hearts with His love so that we have the ability to return that love back to its origin, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Ponder:

This Advent can I put aside my imperfections and just let the Baby Jesus love me?

Pray:

Lord, you are both King of Kings and the beautiful Baby Jesus. Help me to draw nearer to your innocence as an infant so that I may see your brilliance as my Heavenly King. Amen.

We thank our friends at The Word Among Us for providing our gospel reflection team with copies of Abide In My Word 2015: Mass Readings at Your Fingertips. To pray the daily gospels with this wonderful resource, visit The Word Among Us.

Copyright 2015 Diane Schwind