In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit. Amen. On one occasion, a man went to
his doctor and asked, Doctor, can you help me
with my problem of snoring? And the man said,
as soon as I fall asleep, Immediately I begin
to snore. You know, it happens all the time.
Can you help me with this situation? The doctor
asked, does this bother your wife? The man answered,
it not only bothers my wife. it disturbs the
whole congregation when I'm at service. And I
mention this for a reason because on this Sunday
immediately prior to the celebration of this
great festival of the Nativity of our Lord the
church designates the entire first chapter of
St. Matthew to be read. Now, out of the 25 verses,
the first 17, as you heard, contain these long
names. And I wouldn't be surprised that during
the Deacons, reading, some of you might have
sung it out. I recall one of our beloved parishioners
who is now with the Lord said, Father, I don't
mean to be disrespectful or irreverent, but reading
the Old Testament names is the least interesting
to me. And it doesn't matter what language you
use. I consider it one of the least spiritually
up, the least uplifting and uninspiring passages
of the New Testament. And then he went on to
say, this is probably one of the reasons I don't
give my full attention to the reading at least
of those verses, 17 verses. Now it's true that
this reading of some unpronounceable names and
the law of the beginning seemingly seems to be
uninteresting. Yet the church continues to read
this passage year after year. And I'm glad you
asked why. Because the people that are mentioned
in this passage have historical and spiritual
impact and significance. The first reason is
like all people, the Lord had ancestry. He had
a family tree. But what is surprising, and perhaps
even disturbing, if you know your Old Testament
history, about these people, you will find that
some of them are morally and ethically have a
checkered history. Now without going into detail,
there were a few righteous, but many were unrighteous.
Some were good, And some were evil. Most of them,
unfortunately, reflect the darkest picture of
distorted human relationships. And this is one
of the reasons, incidentally, why our church
put out that reading list for the entire year.
Because you would get some sense of understanding
of history, why these names were included. Of
the 14 kings mentioned from the time of David
to the deportation of the Jews to Babylon, 14
of these kings, really men of questionable character.
Only two, Hezekiah and Josiah, could be considered
as righteous people. So the second reason then
for reading illustrates, and this is important,
to what degree our Lord identified with humanity.
Even St. John Chrysostom in one of his sermons
said Christ was not embarrassed by the skeletons
in his ancestry. And another reason is given
by St. Matthew in today's Gospel, the 26th verse
tells us that he writes all of this that took
place in order to fulfill that which was spoken
by the prophets. Jesus fulfilled all the prophetical
remarks made by the prophets regarding his birth,
his death, And his resurrection. And in that
verse. Today we have. A very conclusive remark.
Behold. A virgin. Shall be with a child. And
bear a son. And he shall call his name. Emmanuel.
Which means what? God is with us. God is with
us. Now this list, as I said, appears to be irrelevant
and almost not appropriate for the occasion.
But for this list, God tells us that He is the
God of history. So when we hear the passing of
generations, these are not haphazard events or
arrangements that have occurred in these personalities.
And through them, God was reaching out to sinners,
and I want to emphasize this, and through sinners.
He was reaching out to sinners and through sinners
because of his love for mankind. So our Christian
faith is not a discovery by man. Certainly it's
not a philosophy conjured up by some overstimulated
imagination. Our faith Is based on divine revelation.
Meaning. That the word of God. Became flesh.
In the person of Jesus. And lived among us. God's
revelation. Is expressed. Through. Jesus. And
in the words of St. Paul. When the fullness of
time came. God sent for his son. So there is
a basic reason for the reading of this passage.
In Jesus we see what God is like with the coming
of the birth of the Messiah, the time of guessing
about God is over. And the time of absolute certainty
is come. Jesus said, he that has seen me has
seen the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And St. Paul said that Christ is
the inexpressible gift. And so as we grow closer
to the feast of the birth of our Lord, let us
recall once more What the shepherds heard from
the angel. And this will give us the reason why
we should be here on the day we celebrate that
glorious feast. Behold, I bring you glad tidings
of great hope, which shall be to all people.
And in Luke, second chapter, the angel said to
Joseph, Mary, your wife will bring forth a son,
and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will
save his people from their sins. God has delivered
us from the dominion of darkness and transported
us to the kingdom of God, said St. Paul in his
first chapter to Colossians. This is why, my
dear people, that this season is filled with
special liturgical services, hymns, sacred celebrations,
festive lights, praise and hymns. Because as
God's people, we know and we experience at the
deepest level that long lay the world in sin
and error primed until He appeared and the soul
felt its worth. Now let us look toward the future.
Let us look with anticipation and a sense of
joy and thanksgiving and worship, leaving open
the possibility And the opportunity for the God
of wonder. To use this present time. Your time
and my time. To bring about his kingdom. For
God is with us. In the name of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. Thank you.