The scepter shall never depart from Judah,
or the mace from between his legs,
While tribute is brought to him,
and he receives the people’s homage.”
Every American child and adult should be familiar with the phrase, "When in the course of human events...." Thus begins the Declaration of Independence.
The idea that human events have a "course" with a goal and purpose, that our history is a true story and not a meandering river with no destination, is anchored in the Bible. Jews believed, and Christians inherited the belief, that the Word of God must be fulfilled. A seed must bear fruit.
Our first reading today recalls the words the Patriarch Jacob gave to his twelve sons, a promise for each of them. Those words must be fulfilled in real human history, and not in a mythological Neverland.
The second reading recalls the tortuous path of God's word through forty-two generations, and a complex history from Abraham to David to the Exile and finally to the present day, when Jesus is born in the fullness of time. If the story seemed chaotic at times, and perhaps even doomed to failure, Matthew demonstrates how God planned it from the outset, with three times fourteen generations.
Deep in our practice of faith is this confidence that God's plans are being worked out. Whether we're struggling through an American Revolution, a Civil War, a Civil Rights crisis, an opiate epidemic or a global warming with its displaced millions, we believe that God's plans are being worked out. No one can see the past clearly, nor can they understand what is happening in the present moment, until its fruits are revealed by the future. Matthew, recalling the past, saw the pattern of God's promises. They had come to fulfillment in Jesus. But of the future he could only expect God's continuing presence. Even during the final generations of Jesus' ancestors, Eleazar the father of Matthan could not suppose his great-grandson would be the Christ.
We live by faith, as Saint Paul often said. How the present crises will be resolved no one can imagine. We can be reasonably certain that the issues we fail to address today will not go away. Today's problems will be tomorrow's crisis, but today's promise will be tomorrow's satisfaction. Of that we are assured.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.