On the last weekend before the feast of the Nativity of Our Lord, the Church remembers all the Holy Ancestors of Christ in the flesh. Only two Gospels, namely Matthew and Luke, include any information about the infancy of Jesus. They both include a genealogy. These genealogies are not parallel, nor are there parallels elsewhere in their Gospels. It is difficult to reconcile some of the details in the accounts of Matthew and Luke. The absence of an infancy narrative in Mark suggests very strongly that these narratives did not exist in the earliest form of the Christian traditions about Jesus and that various traditions about the infancy were formed later. Matthew’s version of the traditions is greatly affected by the use of Old Testament texts. Theological imagination and symbolism also play a very large part in the composition of the infancy narratives. The reason why they both included a genealogy was to show that Jesus is the Messiah, the term of the history of salvation that was begun with the promises to Abraham.
Our Epistle reading is taken from Paul’s letter to the Hebrews. It expresses the faith of the Ancients. Paul clearly defines faith as “confident assurance concerning what we hope for, and conviction about things we do not see.” This is truly a wonderful definition, especially as we prepare to celebrate our belief that our God actually became incarnate in the Person of Jesus and, like all humans, came into time and history by being born as a human.
The “incarnation” of God as a human being is, truly, a wondrous miracle. It clearly expresses our belief that we are connected to God in an intimate and special manner.
As we think about this miracle we realize that it clearly expresses a truth not only about God but also about humankind. It says that God created us by sharing His very life-force with us and that we are created in His image. It also says that He has created us with the potential to also become in His likeness, as seen in the Person of Jesus. How can we say that? We can say that because He created us with FREE WILL and the ability to choose how we live.
Because Jesus is truly and fully a human like us, God revealed that we have the power to live like Jesus lived. It is all a matter of choice! If we choose to live like Jesus, we discover the fullness of life.