The Royal Blood In Us

𝐒𝐄𝐏𝐓. 𝟖, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐃 𝐕𝐈𝐑𝐆𝐈𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐌𝐢𝐜 𝟓:𝟏-𝟒

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟑: 𝟔𝐚𝐛, 𝟔𝐜 “𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭, 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝.”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟏:𝟏-𝟔, 𝟏𝟖-𝟐𝟑

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: "𝑱𝒆𝒔𝒖𝒔 𝑪𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑫𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝑨𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒎." (𝒗.1)

         Why go through the Family Tree or what is referred to as the genealogy of Jesus Christ. What is its significance? Why is it important for us to at least know something about the family history of Jesus?

Beginning his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus Christ might surprise many who will read Matthew’s gospel account and even those attending the second day of the nine-day Novena Mass before Christmas.

         The question in your minds perhaps is of what use was the genealogy of Jesus. Matthew, however, had a valid reason for coming out with the lineage of Christ. One was that the Gospel of Matthew was principally directed towards the Jews who as a people were particularly interested in genealogies.

         By presenting the family lineage of Jesus, Matthew’s objective was to convince the Jewish people that Jesus indeed was the Messiah that they have been waiting for and this was the reason why the genealogy of Jesus as presented by Matthew was divided into three sections – 1) 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘋𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘳𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯; 2) 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴’ 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺𝘭𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘔𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘢𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥; 3) 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘥 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘑𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘶𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘰𝘣, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘩, 𝘩𝘶𝘴𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘺, 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘑𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵.        

         With this genealogy, Matthew was telling the Jews that Jesus was the fulfillment of the prophecy that Jesus was the true Messiah having descended from both Abraham (𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟐𝟐:𝟏𝟖) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐝 (𝐈𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟏:𝟏-𝟐). This genealogy also erased all doubts about the origin of Jesus because his claim as a descendant of the throne of David was both legal by virtue of his adoption by Joseph who was a descendant of Solomon and natural on account of his birth by Mary, a descendant of Nathan.

         How then can this genealogy of Jesus Christ be useful to us in this age. What we all can deduce from the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel is the assurance that God always keeps his promises. Throughout the Scriptures, we read of God’s promises and what is remarkable was that God always keeps his word.

          Notwithstanding the tragedy and disasters that struck the Jews, they never got tired of waiting and with expectant hope they knew that a descendant from the throne of David will come and lead them to the glory that they firmly believed to be theirs by right and inheritance.

         With this genealogy, you will see that Jesus was indeed the fulfillment of God’s promise to send a Messiah that we may all be saved. The Scriptures also assures us that Jesus was not only the hope of the people of the Old Covenant but more so our hope in today’s post-modern world that is wracked by perversion and sin. The recent passage on third reading of the divorce bill by the Philippine House of Representatives was a case in point. And now a young legislator is mulling the filing of a bill legalizing abortion for rape victims.

          The most significant aspect of the coming of Christ is that he brings with him the Grace from heaven that will restore us into the fullness of his glory when “𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒘𝒊𝒑𝒆 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒏𝒐 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒅𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒄𝒓𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏, 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚.” (𝑹𝒆𝒗 21:4)        

        But this Grace that Christ will apportion to us must be met with a corresponding response. It cannot be that we will just be a receiving people because salvation is a two-way process. God will keep his promise and grant us eternal salvation but this is contingent on our response that is anchored on our doing his Will.

         With this genealogy, Our Lord Jesus Christ invites us to a deeper realization that we too are somehow grafted into the family tree of Jesus by virtue of our adoption as sons and daughters of God. “𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒂 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝑨𝒍𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒚.” (2 𝑪𝒐𝒓 6:18)        

         Thus, with the season of merriment ahead of us, it should not just remind us of the coming of salvation into the world but it should continually remind us of God’s mercy and kindness as well as his assurance that in whatever state we are in, God will keep his promise to us as he did in his promise to Abraham.

         Our adoption by God and our being made a continuation of Christ’s genealogy is because God himself had declared that we are: “𝒂 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒂 𝒓𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝒂 𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒚 𝒏𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒂 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒐𝒅, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒎𝒂𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒍𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.” (2 𝑷𝒆𝒕 9)        

         In about three months from now, as we prepare for the coming of Our Lord who is the manifestation of God’s love for us, let us remove any doubt we may be entertaining in our minds as to our heavenly inheritance. There shouldn’t be any question that we have all been created in the image and likeness of God (𝐆𝐞𝐧 𝟏:𝟐𝟔) and this was further confirmed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who in our baptism also infused in us the three Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity. This presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is what makes us partakers of his divine nature (𝟐 𝐏𝐞𝐭 𝟏:𝟒). (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 – 𝘚𝘦𝘱𝘵. 8, 2025)