Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Welcome to the Blessed Sacrament Homilies podcast where our mission is to help everyone recognize and experience the presence of God. We hope you are nourished and encouraged by the Word. Thank you for joining us.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: The Lord be with you and with your spirit.
[00:00:29] Speaker C: Reading from the Holy Gospel according to.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Matthew Glory to you, O Lord.
The Book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham became the father of Isaac.
Isaac the father of Jacob.
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.
Perez became the father of Hezron, Hezron.
[00:01:06] Speaker C: The father of Ram.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Ram the father of Abnimadab.
Ab Nimadab became the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon Solomon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab.
Boaz became the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth.
Obed became the father of Jesse.
Jesse the father of King David.
David became the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah.
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam.
Rehoboam the father of Abijah.
Abijah the father of Asaph.
Asaph became the father of Jehoshaphat.
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram.
Joram the father of Uzziah.
Uzziah became the father of Jotham Jotham the father of Ahaz.
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amos, Amos the father of Josiah.
Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: His brothers at the time of the Babylonian exile.
[00:02:38] Speaker B: After the Babylonian exile, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim, Achim the father of Eliud, Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Mahan Mathan, the father of Jacob.
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
[00:03:25] Speaker C: Of her was born Jesus, who is called the Christ.
Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is 14 generations.
From David to the Babylonian exile, 14 generations.
From the Babylonian exile to the Christ, 14 generations.
[00:03:50] Speaker B: Now this is how the birth of.
[00:03:51] Speaker C: Jesus Christ came about.
When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: But before they lived together, she was.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Found with child to the Holy Spirit, Joseph, her husband since he was A righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
Such was his intention when, behold, the.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Angel of the Lord appeared to him.
[00:04:20] Speaker C: In a dream and said, joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife and into your home.
For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus because He will save his people from their sins.
[00:04:44] Speaker B: All this took place to fulfill what.
[00:04:46] Speaker C: The Lord had said through the prophet.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means God is with us.
When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
He had no relations with her until she bore a son and he named him Jesus.
[00:05:17] Speaker B: The Gospel of the Lord.
[00:05:20] Speaker C: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
The beginning of this Gospel the genealogy of Jesus is in the Scriptures not just to fill space, but it's there for a very important reason.
And contrary to what many of you think, it's not to see how many names I can screw up.
That's not the reason.
The reason is to show in no uncertain terms that this Jesus, born in Bethlehem of very humble parents, was born into a human family.
And that's critical to our understanding of what we celebrate today.
Because for us, the incarnation, God walking among us as one like ourselves, is the most precious gift we have ever received.
And if you take the time to reflect on it, it's easy to see how that is true.
Because in the incarnation, God surrendered godliness in His Son and became like us.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Now, I'm not sure how you feel.
[00:06:38] Speaker C: About this, but I think I'm pretty good. But I don't think I would if I were God. I'd want to be who I am right now.
But God decided the best way to truly love someone and love someone perfectly is to know their experience, to know what they go through, to know what it means to have joy, to know what it means to love another person, to know what it's like to feel rejection, to know what it's like to be sad, to know what it's like to have friends, to know what it's like to lose friends.
All of those things that we go through as human beings, we can trust fully that in Christ, God fully understands us.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: You've probably seen those commercials out there.
[00:07:32] Speaker C: He gets us.
Yeah, he gets us because he's known what it's like to be us.
And not only that, in his life and death and resurrection, he showed us that those things he asks of us are not impossible.
They are very much based on our abilities.
So when he asks us to love one another unconditionally, he already knows we can do it because he did it.
When he asks us to forgive completely, he knows we can do it because he did it.
When he asks us to be generous, he knows we can do it because he did it.
And it's all based on the reality of him walking as one like ourselves, rooted in a human family, giving us all he can, and allowing us to be saved by one like ourselves.
