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Illustration: The Annunciation as depicted by Guido Reni, 1621
Pope Francis’ Cycle of Catechesis – Jubilee 2025. Jesus Christ our hope. I.
Paul VI Hall – Wednesday, 18 December 2024
Cycle of Catechesis – Jubilee 2025. Jesus Christ our hope. I.
The Childhood of Jesus. 1. Genealogy of Jesus (Mt 1:1-17).
The Entry of the Son of God into History
The theme is “Jesus Christ our hope“:
He is the goal of our pilgrimage, He is the way, He is the path to follow.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we begin the cycle of catechesis that will take place throughout the Jubilee Year.
The theme is “Jesus Christ our hope“: he is, in fact, the goal of our pilgrimage, and he himself is the way, the path to follow.
The first part will deal with Jesus‘ childhood, which is narrated to us by the Evangelists Matthew and Luke (cf. Mt 1-2; Lk 1–2).
The Infancy Gospels recount the virginal conception of Jesus and his birth from Mary’s womb.
They recall the messianic prophecies that are fulfilled in him and speak of the legal paternity of Joseph, who grafts the Son of God onto the “trunk” of the Davidic dynasty.
Jesus is presented to us as a newborn, child and adolescent, submissive to his parents and, at the same time, aware of being entirely dedicated to the Father and to his Kingdom.
The difference between the two Evangelists is that while Luke recounts the events through the eyes of Mary, Matthew does so with those of Joseph, insisting on such an unprecedented fatherhood.
Matthew opens his Gospel and the entire New Testament canon with the “genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham” (Mt 1:1).
It is a list of names already present in the Hebrew Scriptures, to show the truth of history and the truth of human life.
In fact, “the genealogy of the Lord is made up of true history, where some names are present that are problematic to say the least and the sin of King David is emphasized (Mt 1:6 – David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah).
Everything, however, ends and flourishes in Mary and in Christ (cf. Mt 1:16 –Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ)”.
Then the truth of human life appears as it passes from one generation to the next, delivering three things: a name that encompasses a unique identity and mission; belonging to a family and a people; and finally the adherence of faith to the God of Israel.
Genealogy is a literary genre, that is, a form suitable for conveying a very important message: no one gives his life by himself, but receives it as a gift from others; in this case, it is the chosen people and those who inherit the deposit of faith of their fathers, in transmitting life to their children, also give them faith in God.
However, unlike the genealogies of the Old Testament, where only male names appear, because in Israel it is the father who imposes the name on the son, in Matthew’s list among Jesus’ ancestors women also appear. We find five of them: Tamar, Judah’s daughter-in-law who, having been widowed, pretends to be a prostitute to ensure offspring for her husband (cf. Gen 38); Rahab, the prostitute of Jericho who allows Jewish spies to enter the promised land and conquer it (cf. Jos 2); Ruth, the Moabite who, in the book of the same name, remains faithful to her mother-in-law, takes care of her and becomes the great-grandmother of King David; Bathsheba, with whom David commits adultery and, after having her husband killed, gives birth to Solomon (cf. 2 Sam 11); and finally Mary of Nazareth, wife of Joseph, of the house of David: from her is born the Messiah, Jesus.
The first four women are united not by the fact that they are sinners, as is sometimes said, but that they are strangers to the people of Israel. What Matthew brings out is that, as Benedict XVI wrote, “through them … in the genealogy of Jesus the world of the Gentiles – his mission towards Jews and pagans is made visible”.
While the four preceding women are mentioned alongside the man who was born of them or the one who gave birth to him, Mary, on the other hand, acquires particular prominence: she marks a new beginning, she herself is a new beginning, because in her life it is no longer the human creature who is the protagonist of generation, but God himself.
This is clearly seen from the verb “was born”: “Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ” (Mt 1:16).
Jesus is the son of David, grafted by Joseph into that dynasty and destined to be the Messiah of Israel, but he is also the son of Abraham and of foreign women, destined therefore to be the “Light of the Gentiles” (cf. Lk 2:32) and the “Savior of the world” (Jn 4:42).
The Son of God, consecrated to the Father with the mission of revealing his face (cf. Jn 1:18; Jn 14:9), enters the world like all the children of man, so much so that in Nazareth he will be called “son of Joseph” (Jn 6:42) or “carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55). True God and true man.
Brothers and sisters, let us awaken in us the grateful memory of our ancestors. And above all, let us give thanks to God, who, through Mother Church, has generated us to eternal life, the life of Jesus, our hope.
Footnote:;
matthew (1:1-117)
A genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram was the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon was the father of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of Jesse;
and Jesse was the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Azariah,
Azariah was the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah;
and Josiah was the father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place.
After the deportation to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor was the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud was the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob;
and Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
The sum of generations is therefore:
fourteen from Abraham to David;
fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and
fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.
