When we hear the human lineage of Christ in Matthew 1.1-25, we hear about our human ancestors. The ‘list of names’ reminds us that God has never walked away from us, no matter how far we have strayed away from Him. The Feast of Christmas is a celebration of God’s saving act of becoming human and saving us. The story of our ancestors is a story of faith. It is a story of those who kept returning to God no matter how often or how far they may have strayed. It inspires us to return to Him and celebrate Christmas and our salvation.
My brothers and sisters, in this morning’s gospel, we hear of the lineage of Jesus Christ all the way back to Abraham. And this is something important for us because it is not just a list of names, it is a history of the people of God. It is a history, not just of facts and events, but it is a history of faith. Not always the faith of the people, because if we go back and read the Old Testament, which we should, if we go back and read the Old Testament and we read about all of these names that we just heard, then we will hear stories of sinful men and women in every generation from Abraham and even back beyond Abraham. In every generation of humanity, we have the story of sinful human beings, not always living like God wanted them to live, and yet God, with them, changed the world.
You see, as many times as our ancestors have walked away from God in their way of life, God has never walked away from us. That’s what we learn from this morning’s gospel. This list of righteous men and women. Not perfect, but righteous. Not sinless, but holy. This is our lineage. A people dedicated to God and a God dedicated to his people. One cannot survive without the other. Now sure, God can survive without us, but he desires to dwell and live among us. This is why it says with the birth of Jesus Christ, we hear all of this lineage because Christ decided to become human being through humanity, not as some foreign agent, but one of us, to live not just on the earth, but among the people, as one of the people of God.
And so as we are preparing to celebrate Christmas, it’s not too late to turn our attention to God. It’s okay if the decorations are not finished. It’s okay if the shopping is not finished, because even in our lack of preparation, God still comes to save us. That is what we learn in listening to these names. God among us, Emmanuel. You see, my brothers and sisters, we are the only religion in the history of the world where God became one of his created. In every ancient religion, think of us Greeks, all of the ancient Greek religions, God always remained distant and away from us, but in this morning’s gospel we learn he came as one of us ,not to give us excuses to sin, but to save us from sin.
So I don’t want you to hear this morning’s gospel as an excuse, “Well, they sinned. So, so can I.” I want us to listen to this morning’s gospel, my brothers and sisters, as inspiration and commitment to Jesus Christ. Even though we sin, God is wanting to save us, and that should inspire us as it inspired our ancestors. When we catch ourselves on the wrong path, to turn ourselves back to Christ, to return to him as many times as it takes, as many generations as it took. Humanity, walking with Christ, walks away, returns, walks away. Is this not the perfect example of our daily life? We wake up in the morning, we do our stavros, we do our prayers, “Thank you, God. Here’s a wonderful new day,” and by noon we’ve walked away from him. And by the evening we catch ourselves and we return to Christ in our prayers. “I’m sorry, God, I blew it again today. Give me another chance tomorrow.”
That’s the story of our ancestors, a God who gives us as many chances as we need to get it right, so long as we walk back to him and with him and toward him. This is the joy of Christmas. This is the joy of celebrating God among us, Emmanuel, so that we, even in our failings, get to walk with God in heaven and be blessed by him and receive that life and that gift and that joy. Something to think about between now and Christmas. We’ve already begun in the church to reference the birth of Christ in the readings, in the hymns. We are already beginning to celebrate. But I want you to come on Christmas. I know we’re tempted. “Well, I took communion on Sunday. Oh, Tuesday, I don’t have to go to church.” Come to celebrate Christ either in the evening or in the morning, but come to celebrate him, the joy of even when we get it wrong. He is still born and He is still risen and we will still be saved.
