The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Fr Paul reads from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 1-17) in the first of a series of special readings that will take us up to Christmas Eve.

Matthew, as we realise reading from Chapter 1 Verse 1, begins his Gospel about the birth of Jesus with a long and elaborate genealogy of Joseph.  It is interesting though that Jesus is the son of Mary, not Joseph. The whole point of this story is that Joseph is not the genealogical father of Jesus but adopts Jesus into his line, into his family, the line or family of David.

As our final preparations begin for celebrating the birth of Christ this Christmas, and mindful that we have just heard the genealogy of Joseph, Fr Paul invites us to think of all our families today and in the days leading up to our Christmas celebrations. Many of us will be celebrating Christmas very differently this year and that will be the case for many of our families so we pray for everyone’s safety at this time.