Glory to Jesus Christ, Father, Son, Holy Spirit,
Amen. Last night after Vespers, maybe you'll
laugh about this, Matsuka Ann and I watched Charlie
Brown Christmas. It's always great. And of course,
Charlie Brown doesn't get what Christmas is about.
And Linus comes on the stage. And he says, this
is what it's about. And he reads a passage from
the gospel. Who knows which gospel that's taken
from? I mean, you hear it every year, right?
It's from Luke. And it's the story with the shepherds.
And it's important that we know that. But St.
Matthew is coming at this from a different angle,
from a different perspective. What we heard today,
what we always hear on the Sunday before Christmas
is this gospel from the beginning of the Gospel
of Matthew, which starts with the words, the
book of the generation. Of Jesus Christ. The
son of David. The son of Abraham. And then this
family tree. You may not think. The family tree.
Is that important. You may not think. Most of
us. That pointed out. That there were 14 generations
here. And 14 generations there. And 14 more generations.
But to Saint Matthew. And those. who heard these
words after he wrote them, it was foundational
to their faith. You have to know the story because
it gives you hope. Because it gives you strength.
It gives you hope in a terribly confusing, violent,
difficult world. And it gives you strength to
know this story. First, why is it important that
St. Matthew would tell us about the 14 generations?
Because it's six sevens. To them, that meant
quite a bit. A seventh, it's the Sabbath. There's
six Sabbaths. A Sabbath is God's enthronement,
his rest, his rule over all creation. And they're
waiting for what? One more perfect Sabbath. The
seventh, who is Jesus Christ. So he points out
there's six of these. Jesus is the seventh. He's
saying, have hope. God is with us. He is ruling
in the midst of his enemies. He is not distanced
from his creation. And so he gives you this long
family tree of incredibly dysfunctional people.
Some evil people. Yes, some saints, some prophets,
some priests. Also prostitutes. Rahab. And you
heard, by faith, Rahab. Imagine that. A harlot
justified by her works. We see all kinds of wickedness
in our ancestors. Our ancestors, because we have
been grafted onto that same tree. Child sacrifice.
Incest. You know the story of Judah? and Tamar.
Murder and adultery. You know the story of the
repentant king and prophet and Saint David? Idol
worship. Manassas. Even the great Solomon before
he repented and died. That's the family tree.
That's where Christ comes from. And notice How
we read and the gospel culminates in this incredible
statement. Notice it didn't say, and Joseph begat
Jesus. It didn't say Joseph is the father. It
said, Joseph, the husband of Mary who bore Jesus.
Having conceived him, how do we say in the creed?
By the Holy Spirit. Newness. God is with us.
In Christ, we have hope. We have glory. And we
see in that family tree the generous, how God
includes everyone. Everyone in his embrace. In
the church, everyone, absolutely everyone is
welcome. Just look at our saints from all walks
of life, from all types. all ethnicity, all color,
language, sexual orientation, beliefs and passions.
God welcomes all and he says, your sins are forgiven.
Go sin no more. And we are transformed in baptism
and we leave that sinfulness behind. Here's a
new Genesis for us. The generation of Jesus Christ.
God has entered the world to rescue it. God himself
has entered the world. And we say, before the
liturgy starts, every single time we serve liturgy,
glory to God in the highest on earth, peace,
goodwill toward men, the words of the angels
to the shepherds. And it is true. It's not the
peace. You won't find it in Gaza. You won't find
it in Ukraine. You won't find it in Sudan. You
won't find it all over the place. But if you
look, in your heart, God has made it possible
for each of us to acquire peace that's not dependent
on anyone else, but his gift, the gift of the
Holy Spirit. And he has come to be the Savior.
It says, St. Matthew says, they named his name
Jesus for he shall save his people from their
sins. Not the Savior of just mankind in general,
but the Savior of me. and you in particular to
conquer death in yourself to conquer fear and
corruption do you know everything in this world
corrupts everything everything you see except
one thing the christian is going to be raised
from the dead every person is going to be raised
from the dead the question jesus poses to us
in the gospel of john Is it the resurrection
of life or is it the resurrection of judgment?
But for now, in the church, this place of forgiveness,
we partake during each divine liturgy of the
peace of God, Jesus Christ, the medicine of immortality,
the antidote to death. God. Jesus Christ in us,
the hope of glory. Let us gather again this evening
at 6, and tomorrow at 9 .30, to celebrate the
only and the one new thing in all creation that
ever happened, that God became man. We might
discover that there's not just a Bethlehem in
that war -torn, confused, place of Palestine
where people don't forgive each other. But there's
a Bethlehem in our soul where the Lord will come.
O lover of man, we sang, thou art wrapped in
swaddling clothes, tearing to pieces the bonds
of my countless sins. Therefore I joyfully praise
and worship thy holy birth, for thou didst come
to set me free. To our Lord be glory, now and
ever. Ages of ages. Amen.