For years, I’ve said that I’m going to do an exhaustive
search of my ancestors and see how far back I can go. Now that I’m retired, I’ve been spending quite
a bit of time using the internet and some family memorabilia to learn more
about my heritage and hopefully contribute something useful for future
generations. My dad’s side of the family
(the ‘Mormon’ side) does a pretty good job of record keeping and analysis, so I’ve
been able to trace our roots all the way back to a town in England called
(believe it or not) Farnsworth. I’ve
only been able to go back about 4 generations on my mom’s side; thanks to a lot
of photographs and family-held records we’ve kept. It’s very exhausting, but exciting at the
same time to know my family history.
Knowing our family history—and the good, bad and maybe even ugly side of
it—helps to guide us and to teach our children to be better people, I think.
In our gospel reading today, we are presented with the long
genealogy of Jesus’ ancestors. Verses
2-16 of Chapter One of Matthew’s Gospel present us with three series of
fourteen ancestors. Abraham begins the
genealogy and Jesus concludes it. Though
there are many interesting facts that a Scripture scholar could take from this
genealogy and all who are named in it, the heart and soul of its meaning is
found in Verse One: “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of
David, the son of Abraham.” This shows
the direct link from the promise God made to Abraham, to its fulfillment in the
person of the Son of God.
One thing we see in the fulfillment of this promise, is the
fact that God is faithful. True, it took
centuries for His promise to Abraham to be fulfilled, but it happened
nonetheless and there is little doubt that Abraham rejoiced, greatly, as he
witnessed the glorious birth of one of his descendants as the Savior of the
World.
This also tells us that God’s timing and His ways are often
different than what we may at first conceive.
We can come up with many “good” ideas and hope they will come to
pass. But, all too often, when they do
not turn out immediately as we had hoped for, we can get discouraged.
Learn the lesson, today, of God’s perfect “long-term”
plan. He knows what He is doing, and He
is bringing about His plan for us all.
He is slowly and intentionally guiding us along the path that leads to
salvation and peace. It may not be the
way we would do things, but it is the perfect way.
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