Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

Last page from the Genealogy of Matthew depicting the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and Christ, illuminated manuscript:  From The Armenian Gospels of Gladzor, 1300-1307, painter Toros of Taron, p 35 (full manuscript)

 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:  Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.  Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.  Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.  David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.  Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.  Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.  Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.  Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.  Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.  Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.  Eliud begot Eleazar, Elezar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.  And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.  

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In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

'Prepare the way of the LORD;

Make His paths straight.'"

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

 

- Matthew (1:1–17) 3:1–6 

 

  The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:  Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers.  Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram.  Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon.  Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David the king.  David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.  Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.  Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah.  Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah.  Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon, and Amon begot Josiah.  Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.  And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel.  Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor.  Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud.  Eliud begot Eleazar, Elezar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob.  And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.  So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.   Today the lectionary begins readings in the Gospel of Matthew, and that Gospel begins with this genealogy for Jesus Christ.  My study Bible comments that Jesus means "O Lord, save," which refers to His role as Savior.  Christ means "Anointed One," the Messiah, the One who is filled with the Holy Spirit (see John 1:33).  Although the Son alone became a human being, God the Father and teh Holy Spirit work in Jesus Christ to save us.  We note as we begin Matthew's Gospel, that it is understood to have an orientation toward a Jewish audience, and clearly from Christ's lineage we know that He became a human being as a Jew, from the lineage of Abraham, the father of all Jews, and of David, Israel's greatest king and the prototype of the royal Messiah.  My study Bible explains that this genealogy reveals that the Son of God so identifies with the human condition that God the Son takes it all on Himself and becomes part of it.  It is very important to note that Christ's ancestry given here includes both righteous and wicked people, faithful kings and murderers, Jews and Gentiles, kings and peasants.  If we compare to Luke's genealogy (which runs from Jesus back to Adam (Luke 3:23-38), Matthew's list makes clear Jesus' descent from Abraham, with whom God established the Old Covenant of circumcision, to Jesus, the author of the New Covenant.  My study Bible notes that God promised to bless all the tribes of the earth in Abraham (Genesis 12:3; 28:14), and this promise is fulfilled in Abraham's greatest son, who is Jesus Christ.  While Jewish genealogical lists would normally include men only, the mention here of women (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba) is unusual.  Each one was either a Gentile or a sinner:  the inclusion of these women, my study Bible comments, declares God's graciousness and prefigures the calling of the Gentiles into the Church.  Also, it underscores powerfully the role of women in the plan of salvation by God, and especially anticipates the special place of the Virgin Mary in that place.  David was made king through anointing by Samuel -- but through his psalms, David was revealed as a great prophet.  Therefore, David foreshadows both the royal and the prophetic nature of Jesus Christ (Psalm 110).  David was also an adulterer and murderer, and so he also functions as a type for all repentant sinners.  Joseph is named here as Jesus' immediate predecessor as Old Testament marriage laws confer hereditary rights on adopted as well as biological sons.  The church fathers teach that Mary also was descended from David.  In the original Greek language of the text, "of whom" (in of whom Jesus who is called Christ) is feminine, which refers to only Mary.  therefore Jesus is shown to be born of Mary, but not begotten of Joseph.  My study Bible also notes for us that Christ's ancestors are arranged in three groups of fourteen generations.  Fourteen is the numerical equivalent of the consonants in the name David, which underlines Jesus' descent from David.  It also shows the division of the leadership of the Jews, being under judges until David, under kings until Babylon, and under priests until Christ.  

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"  For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:  "The voice of one crying in the wilderness:  'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.'"  My study Bible comments that the wilderness of Judea is the barren region which descends from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea.  The preparation for the ministry of Christ begins with the call of John the Baptist, to repent.  Repentance accompanies faith, and it indicates a total about-face, my study Bible says.  The word in Greek for repentance (μετανοια/metanoia) means literally to change on'e mind, or more generally to turn around.  Repentance is, in the words of my study Bible, a radical change of one's spirit, mind, thought, and heart, a complete reorientation of the whole of one's life.  It is the necessary first step in the way of the LORD.  It is accompanied by the confession of sins and the act of baptism (Matthew 3:6), and followed by a life filled with fruits which are worthy of this change (Matthew 3:8).

Now John himself was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.  The text gives us a hint about John's ascetic life, which was conformed to that of the Jewish sects such as the Essenes, who lived in the wilderness and whose devoted purpose was to prepare for the coming Kingdom of God.  John's clothing sends us "signals" regarding his role as prophet, as it is typical of a prophet, and specifically that of Elijah (2 Kings 1:8).  My study Bible comments that the monastic movement in the early Church was patterned after John's manner of life.  This also gives us clues about the significance of John the Baptist in the arc of the story of salvation.

 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.  My study Bible says that confession of sins is essential to baptism under both the Old Covenant and the New.  But John's baptism was a sign of repentence and the forgiveness of sins alone; it did not confer total regeneration or adoption as a child of God, as does Christian baptism (Matthew 3:11).

 

 One important thing we learn from today's reading is all about God's hand acting throughout history to reveal and manifest the plan of salvation, especially through the human history of those who bore faith into the world.  From Abraham, through David, to Christ, Matthew's genealogy gives us the depiction of salvation history, working in and through human beings as God's spirit calls each one.  In this genealogy are both sinners and saints, Jews and Gentiles, and as my study Bible points out, those from all manner of life in the context of the society, including peasants and kings, men and women.  There is a continuity through history in this depiction, with humankind as the locus of a kind of battleground for the world.  We really can't lose that perspective (which a modern world all too often either forgets or represents as some sort of political or cultural battle), because it is truly the background for all spiritual struggle as depicted in Scripture, whether we are talking about pagan gods and idol worship to the present day.  This battleground takes place within human beings, but is basically spiritual in nature, and that is why we must take care in learning to read the Gospels and the Old Testament on which all is based, the context into which the New Covenant was born.  Therefore to read the genealogy of Jesus is to understand the entire arc of the spiritual manifestation of Jesus as human being, both God and Man.  This is because Jesus depicts for us the reality of God's work in the world, ultimately born as human being in order to live among us and fully experience human life, to give us an icon or image of what and who God is, and to call us all to the transformation within that image.  In so doing, Christ "conquered death by death" as the Orthodox Paschal hymn tells us, befitting today's reading so soon after the celebration of Easter.  Death, in this context, means not only the physical death of human beings, but also the realm of evil, synonymous with death, and personified in the devil.  As we begin the Gospel of Matthew, we are taken to chapter 3, the beginning of Christ's earthly ministry -- which, just as the genealogy of Christ reflects an entire history which prepared for the birth of Christ, we understand is also "birthed" through the baptism of John the Baptist, and his role as the last and greatest of all of the Old Testament prophets.  Without John, we could ask, would there be a ministry of Jesus?  We, of course, leave that answer up to God, with whom, Jesus tells us, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26).  But the story of salvation works through human beings, as we understand from today's reading, and we cannot leave out the specific significance of John and John's role in this story, the one who would become the model for monasticism, as he was devoted to the Kingdom of God and its coming through Christ.  We are meant to understand the incredible significance of human beings, and their specific roles in the coming of the coming of the Kingdom of God, and in the ways in which God manifests God's work in the world, in and through God's creatures and creation.  We are not simply decreed a Kingdom from on high through celestial messengers, neither are human beings simply slaves of the divine, but there is quite a different economy going on here.  We are the center of the struggle for the world, as we human beings become the bearers of its "good news" or those who reject and participate on the "other side," so to speak.  The great spiritual battleground for the world and the cosmos, even the whole created order, is in the center of human beings, for we are the ones who participate in its reality or choose to reject it for ourselves, a constant struggle going on in the midst of our lives at any moment in time.  So, here we are, in what might be thought of as the center of human history, the moment we await Christ's Baptism in the Jordan at the hands of John the Baptist, the one who announces the preparation for Christ to the world.  Are you ready?  For that center is always within us, to receive and to prepare, to repent and to look toward Christ, to become "like Him" as He images for us what it is to be a bearer of the kingdom of heaven.