The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Micah 5:1-4 | Psalm 12:6-7 | Matthew 1:1-16,18-23
St. Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus from Abraham in today’s Gospel. It’s an impressive 39 generations’ worth of names, some familiar, many not.
But then I asked myself the question: How many ancestors does the Son of Man have, going back to Abraham? In other words, how many people are in the complete family tree (2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, etc.)?
In theory, Jesus would have had 240-1 = 1,099,511,627,775 ancestors. That’s 1.1 TRILLION people.
Now, the tree probably crosses itself at one or more points, with marriages between close or distant cousins, or even at different generational levels, helping to drastically reduce the number of actual branches. Still, it’s clear that if any of us were to trace our own family tree back that far, it would potentially be HUGE.
And look at some of the names that appear in just one line of that tree:
- Tamar, seducer of her father-in-law Judah
- Rahab, the harlot of Jericho
- David, king, adulterer and murderer
Only God knows what character imperfections stain the other billions in this family tree. Surely He could have found at least a line without such grievous sinners, to bear His Holy Son, the King who is to rule the universe.
This, however, is human thinking, the vindictive kind that says that the sins of the father shall cling to his sons. Woe betide the children of a mass murderer; they shall bear their parent’s stigma till their dying days, especially in the eyes of his victims’ descendants. Such irrational hatred fuels feuds that can last for centuries, till no one on either side remembers why it all began.
God doesn’t bear such grudges; only the woman who was to bear Him, our Blessed Mother Mary, had to be Immaculate. Our ancestors get to bear the punishment for their own sins, and we for our own. As I’m sure I have mortal sinners somewhere in my family tree, as do we all, I’m grateful to God for having to atone purely for my own transgressions.
So as we celebrate the birth of Our Blessed Mother today, let us look to our own spiritual rebirth, free from the yoke of our forefathers’ transgressions, and committed to living the Gospel life day by day.
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
Father, forgive us our trespasses,
and those of our ancestors,
as we forgive those who trespass against us. Amen.