WEBVTT 00:00:06.160 --> 00:00:09.679 In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:17.420 Spirit. Amen. On one occasion, a man went to 00:00:17.420 --> 00:00:22.539 his doctor and asked, Doctor, can you help me 00:00:22.539 --> 00:00:31.760 with my problem of snoring? And the man said, 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:37.899 as soon as I fall asleep, Immediately I begin 00:00:37.899 --> 00:00:42.320 to snore. You know, it happens all the time. 00:00:43.740 --> 00:00:49.659 Can you help me with this situation? The doctor 00:00:49.659 --> 00:00:56.479 asked, does this bother your wife? The man answered, 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:02.280 it not only bothers my wife. it disturbs the 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:10.519 whole congregation when I'm at service. And I 00:01:10.519 --> 00:01:17.560 mention this for a reason because on this Sunday 00:01:17.560 --> 00:01:22.459 immediately prior to the celebration of this 00:01:22.459 --> 00:01:25.500 great festival of the Nativity of our Lord the 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:32.459 church designates the entire first chapter of 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:41.060 St. Matthew to be read. Now, out of the 25 verses, 00:01:41.379 --> 00:01:51.659 the first 17, as you heard, contain these long 00:01:51.659 --> 00:01:56.079 names. And I wouldn't be surprised that during 00:01:56.079 --> 00:01:59.109 the Deacons, reading, some of you might have 00:01:59.109 --> 00:02:13.569 sung it out. I recall one of our beloved parishioners 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:19.030 who is now with the Lord said, Father, I don't 00:02:19.030 --> 00:02:25.689 mean to be disrespectful or irreverent, but reading 00:02:27.180 --> 00:02:32.379 the Old Testament names is the least interesting 00:02:32.379 --> 00:02:37.280 to me. And it doesn't matter what language you 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:42.599 use. I consider it one of the least spiritually 00:02:42.599 --> 00:02:51.080 up, the least uplifting and uninspiring passages 00:02:51.080 --> 00:02:56.259 of the New Testament. And then he went on to 00:02:56.259 --> 00:03:00.840 say, this is probably one of the reasons I don't 00:03:00.840 --> 00:03:05.860 give my full attention to the reading at least 00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:13.819 of those verses, 17 verses. Now it's true that 00:03:13.819 --> 00:03:22.020 this reading of some unpronounceable names and 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:29.590 the law of the beginning seemingly seems to be 00:03:29.590 --> 00:03:33.889 uninteresting. Yet the church continues to read 00:03:33.889 --> 00:03:42.569 this passage year after year. And I'm glad you 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:49.789 asked why. Because the people that are mentioned 00:03:49.789 --> 00:03:55.990 in this passage have historical and spiritual 00:03:55.990 --> 00:04:02.969 impact and significance. The first reason is 00:04:02.969 --> 00:04:10.830 like all people, the Lord had ancestry. He had 00:04:10.830 --> 00:04:17.970 a family tree. But what is surprising, and perhaps 00:04:17.970 --> 00:04:21.810 even disturbing, if you know your Old Testament 00:04:21.810 --> 00:04:28.560 history, about these people, you will find that 00:04:28.560 --> 00:04:34.339 some of them are morally and ethically have a 00:04:34.339 --> 00:04:40.019 checkered history. Now without going into detail, 00:04:40.220 --> 00:04:48.680 there were a few righteous, but many were unrighteous. 00:04:50.759 --> 00:04:59.759 Some were good, And some were evil. Most of them, 00:04:59.800 --> 00:05:05.040 unfortunately, reflect the darkest picture of 00:05:05.040 --> 00:05:10.899 distorted human relationships. And this is one 00:05:10.899 --> 00:05:14.779 of the reasons, incidentally, why our church 00:05:14.779 --> 00:05:21.180 put out that reading list for the entire year. 00:05:22.040 --> 00:05:26.589 Because you would get some sense of understanding 00:05:26.589 --> 00:05:35.110 of history, why these names were included. Of 00:05:35.110 --> 00:05:41.750 the 14 kings mentioned from the time of David 00:05:41.750 --> 00:05:50.810 to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon, 14 00:05:50.810 --> 00:06:01.579 of these kings, really men of questionable character. 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:08.779 Only two, Hezekiah and Josiah, could be considered 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:16.240 as righteous people. So the second reason then 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.720 for reading illustrates, and this is important, 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:27.379 to what degree our Lord identified with humanity. 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:35.259 Even St. John Chrysostom in one of his sermons 00:06:35.259 --> 00:06:39.939 said Christ was not embarrassed by the skeletons 00:06:39.939 --> 00:06:48.519 in his ancestry. And another reason is given 00:06:48.519 --> 00:06:52.639 by St. Matthew in today's Gospel, the 26th verse 00:06:52.639 --> 00:07:00.240 tells us that he writes all of this that took 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:06.100 place in order to fulfill that which was spoken 00:07:06.100 --> 00:07:15.899 by the prophets. Jesus fulfilled all the prophetical 00:07:15.899 --> 00:07:23.720 remarks made by the prophets regarding his birth, 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:30.959 his death, And his resurrection. And in that 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.480 verse. Today we have. A very conclusive remark. 00:07:36.259 --> 00:07:43.060 Behold. A virgin. Shall be with a child. And 00:07:43.060 --> 00:07:47.819 bear a son. And he shall call his name. Emmanuel. 00:07:48.680 --> 00:07:53.399 Which means what? God is with us. God is with 00:07:53.399 --> 00:08:03.449 us. Now this list, as I said, appears to be irrelevant 00:08:03.449 --> 00:08:10.329 and almost not appropriate for the occasion. 00:08:11.569 --> 00:08:20.470 But for this list, God tells us that He is the 00:08:20.470 --> 00:08:26.620 God of history. So when we hear the passing of 00:08:26.620 --> 00:08:34.200 generations, these are not haphazard events or 00:08:34.200 --> 00:08:40.080 arrangements that have occurred in these personalities. 00:08:40.960 --> 00:08:49.620 And through them, God was reaching out to sinners, 00:08:49.840 --> 00:08:54.039 and I want to emphasize this, and through sinners. 00:08:56.139 --> 00:09:00.039 He was reaching out to sinners and through sinners 00:09:00.039 --> 00:09:08.159 because of his love for mankind. So our Christian 00:09:08.159 --> 00:09:15.059 faith is not a discovery by man. Certainly it's 00:09:15.059 --> 00:09:19.659 not a philosophy conjured up by some overstimulated 00:09:19.659 --> 00:09:28.960 imagination. Our faith Is based on divine revelation. 00:09:31.340 --> 00:09:35.759 Meaning. That the word of God. Became flesh. 00:09:35.960 --> 00:09:42.000 In the person of Jesus. And lived among us. God's 00:09:42.000 --> 00:09:50.100 revelation. Is expressed. Through. Jesus. And 00:09:50.100 --> 00:09:53.820 in the words of St. Paul. When the fullness of 00:09:53.820 --> 00:10:01.990 time came. God sent for his son. So there is 00:10:01.990 --> 00:10:09.870 a basic reason for the reading of this passage. 00:10:12.509 --> 00:10:23.889 In Jesus we see what God is like with the coming 00:10:23.889 --> 00:10:29.539 of the birth of the Messiah, the time of guessing 00:10:29.539 --> 00:10:38.220 about God is over. And the time of absolute certainty 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:46.879 is come. Jesus said, he that has seen me has 00:10:46.879 --> 00:10:54.419 seen the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen 00:10:54.419 --> 00:11:05.399 the Father. And St. Paul said that Christ is 00:11:05.399 --> 00:11:13.399 the inexpressible gift. And so as we grow closer 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:19.220 to the feast of the birth of our Lord, let us 00:11:19.220 --> 00:11:26.379 recall once more What the shepherds heard from 00:11:26.379 --> 00:11:30.940 the angel. And this will give us the reason why 00:11:30.940 --> 00:11:36.600 we should be here on the day we celebrate that 00:11:36.600 --> 00:11:42.960 glorious feast. Behold, I bring you glad tidings 00:11:42.960 --> 00:11:48.720 of great hope, which shall be to all people. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:56.720 And in Luke, second chapter, the angel said to 00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:05.820 Joseph, Mary, your wife will bring forth a son, 00:12:06.019 --> 00:12:13.799 and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:29.509 save his people from their sins. God has delivered 00:12:29.509 --> 00:12:35.509 us from the dominion of darkness and transported 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:40.450 us to the kingdom of God, said St. Paul in his 00:12:40.450 --> 00:12:46.649 first chapter to Colossians. This is why, my 00:12:46.649 --> 00:12:53.309 dear people, that this season is filled with 00:12:53.309 --> 00:13:01.429 special liturgical services, hymns, sacred celebrations, 00:13:02.129 --> 00:13:09.370 festive lights, praise and hymns. Because as 00:13:09.370 --> 00:13:22.250 God's people, we know and we experience at the 00:13:22.250 --> 00:13:28.000 deepest level that long lay the world in sin 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:33.840 and error primed until He appeared and the soul 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:40.080 felt its worth. Now let us look toward the future. 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:46.799 Let us look with anticipation and a sense of 00:13:46.799 --> 00:13:52.340 joy and thanksgiving and worship, leaving open 00:13:52.340 --> 00:13:57.730 the possibility And the opportunity for the God 00:13:57.730 --> 00:14:05.070 of wonder. To use this present time. Your time 00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:11.350 and my time. To bring about his kingdom. For 00:14:11.350 --> 00:14:15.970 God is with us. In the name of the Father, the 00:14:15.970 --> 00:14:36.769 Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you.