FRIDAY, December 23

Matthew 1:1-17. An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

As a teacher of English in a multicultural and multi-lingual setting, I interact every day with young adults from all over the world. Many of them negotiate with remarkable grace the divide that separates their daily lives in an American university from the daily lives of their parents in traditional cultures elsewhere. I am awed by their ability to examine, understand, and appreciate new ideas without compromising the core of their cultural beliefs. Perhaps they are able to do this because they know so well and so deeply who they are and where they come from.

This introduction to Matthew’s Gospel recites Christ’s lineage. It may seem like an outmoded, archaic reference—Manasseh was the ­father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, and so on for generation after generation. Why should that matter to us? But Jesus knew who he was and where he had come from. That knowledge empowered him to be the new idea. He established God’s kingdom on the foundation of the ancient traditions of his region and culture, and they live on for us even now. The new need not supplant what came before; tradition provides the foundation.

PRAY for the Diocese of Yokohama (Japan)

Ps 93, 96 * 148, 150; Baruch 4:21-29; Galatians 3:15-22; Luke 1:67-80 or Matthew 1:1-17

View the daily Lectionary Readings at http://satucket.com/lectionary/

Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com or Oremus Bible browser.

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