Monday 17 December

Genesis 49:2, 8-10, Ps 72, Matthew 1:1-17

The family tree

It is very common these days for families to trace their family tree. For Maori it is just part of life to know your whakapapa. The family tree, whakapapa, of Jews was important too. In today’s Gospel we have a record of the ancestors of Jesus Christ, son of David and son of Abraham. Matthew gives 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 from David to the exile and 14 from the exile to Jesus’ birth. As members of the Church, the family of Christ, we are descended spiritually through baptism and faith handed on by those who have gone before. I give thanks to you loving God for my baptism, my faith and my spiritual ancestors.