At the heart and locus of our Catholic faith, is the Catholic family.

The Church is built with the foundational stone of Family.

The Gospel of Matthew opens with an extensive genealogy of Jesus spanning fourteen generations. The first two sections draw information from the books of Ruth and 1 Chronicles. In the third section, except for the names Jechoniah, Shealtiel, and Zerubbabel, none of the names are found in any part of the Old Testament (USCCB, n.d.). The Genealogy of Jesus is interesting, because on one hand it presents the continuity of God’s plan of Salvation, but on the other, a closer examination reveals some irregularities. The women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the controversial Bathsheba bore their sons through unions that were in many ways not in alignment with societal expectations, and could be said to be strange and unexpected (USCCB, n.d.).

Jesus came from a line of very colourful characters indeed.

Jacob the son of Isaac, had no qualms at cheating his old and nearly blind father. Through unscrupulous means, he stole Esau’s birthright, and tricked Isaac into giving him the blessing that was meant for his elder brother.

Judah was tricked by his daughter-in-law, Tamar who had disguised herself as a street-side prostitute and laid with Judah. This unlawful union bore Perez.

Boaz was borne by Rahab, whom Biblical commentators attribute to the prostitute Rahab in Jericho who entertained and hid the spies of Joshua, thus betraying her own country and people.

Ruth was a pagan foreigner who finds herself at the feet of Boaz. It would be her lineage which would lead to Obed, Father of Jesse, who eventually fathered David.

David of course happens to chance upon Bathsheba bathing, slept with her and mediated the murder of her lawful husband, Uriah.

While peace reigned in Solomon’s time, his son Rehoboam was materialistic, proud, and greedy, and lost most of his family’s fortunes. Rehoboam in his rule, also encouraged pagan cult worship and sacred male prostitutes.

Abijah his son was equally depraved.

His son, Asaph, and his grandchild, Jehoshaphat however tried to amend things. Under Jehoshaphat, who was a good and just ruler, Israel flourished. Nonetheless, Joram, the son of Jehoshaphat, took as his wife, the sister of Ahab, the same Ahab who was having relations with Jezebel, and Joram inevitably became corrupted by Ahab’s evil ways. Along the line, there were many other massacres, murders, masochists, and oddballs.

Uzziah was a leper, Manasseh had a penchant for burning babies alive, Amos carried on the legacy.

(McCabe, 1991)

Jesus’ family tree was very messy indeed.

The crux of the matter is this: God’s plan came to fruition not via people who were righteous, or good, or religious, or pious, or learned, or whole, or wealthy, but came to be from a set of people who were thoroughly misfits, depraved, perverse, self-serving, and completely disreputable and unsavoury. While there were clear exceptions, these exemplars of holiness were not the norm. Nonetheless, despite all of these things considered awful and unwholesome, we see through God’s providential hand, Joseph a just man who would be the link to the lineage of King David, who would eventually wed Mary, the Immaculate Conception to become the foster father of Jesus on Earth.

Interestingly, the Jews were not too bothered about how Joseph was not really the physical father of Jesus. For them culturally, people could belong to one family without being too hung up about genetics and biology (McCabe, 1991). So we have, thus, the curious incident of Jesus belonging to the family genealogy of a long and illustrious line of kings and other things.

This necessarily lengthy introduction about the Messiah’s identity and Jesus’ family enables us to see how God’s plan is an impeccably timed plan that current generations may not even see the fruits of. What role we would play in this plan also remains a mystery, that we will only understand when we meet God our Father in the beatific vision. The emphasis on the family of Jesus is also not coincidental.

In the ten commandments, we see the first three commandments geared towards God, and the following seven commandments geared towards the loving of one’s neighbour. The order of the commandments shows us the order by which we need to exercise our charity. The fourth commandment – “Honour your father and your mother”, tells us that after God, in the right order of things, we should honour our parents who gave us life. At the same time, this commandment extends also to those whom God has ordered for our good, the people in authority, and as the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, this commandment “concerns the ties of kinship between members of the extended family. It requires honour, affection, and gratitude toward elders and ancestors. Finally, it extends to the duties of pupils to teachers, employees to employers, subordinates to leaders, citizens to their country, and to those who administer or govern it.” Furthermore, “this commandment includes and presupposes the duties of parents, instructors, teachers, leaders, magistrates, those who govern, all who exercise authority over others or over a community of persons” ( CCC. 2199).

The family is “the original cell of the social life.” (CCC. 2207). It is the place where the knowledge of the Faith, and our customs and culture are handed on. The fourth commandment thus gives a pivotal context to the social dimension of a Christian’s life – The fourth commandment lays the foundational stones for the other commandments, and from it emanate 1) the respect for life (“You shall not kill”); 2) Marriage (“You shall not commit adultery”); earthly goods (“You shall not steal”); speech and conduct (“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour”). In the fourth commandment is thus found a foundational cornerstone of the Church’s social teachings and doctrines (Levada, 2006).

The Church places a pronounced and monumental emphasis on the family, because in Holy matrimony, and in the family, the human being is introduced into the human family, and into the family of God, the Church. In alignment to God’s plan of salvation, the family then becomes the means and the way towards the attaining of holiness, and discovers in its mission to become a community of life and life, the roots of God’s own love for humanity, and the love of Christ for His Church, the Bride. As God is love, the family which is a reflection of God’s own community in the Holy Trinity, must thus safeguard, protect, reveal, and communicate this love of God. The human family taking its cue from these family units forming the microcosms of society, then previously disunited from the aftermath of sin, is once more sanctified, reunified and reconstituted in God’s redemptive love through the redemptive power of the death and resurrection of Jesus (Pope St. John Paul II, 1981).

In conclusion, Pope St. John Paul II. encourages us to look towards the Holy Family as our model, and source of strength and inspiration: “Through God’s mysterious design, it was in that family that the Son of God spent long years of a hidden life. It is therefore the prototype and example for all Christian families. It was unique in the world. Its life was passed in anonymity and silence in a little town in Palestine. It underwent trials of poverty, persecution and exile. It glorified God in an incomparably exalted and pure way. And it will not fail to help Christian families-indeed, all the families in the world-to be faithful to their day-to-day duties, to bear the cares and tribulations of life, to be open and generous to the needs of others, and to fulfil with joy the plan of God in their regard.” (1981, pt. 86)

By the Grace of God,

Brian Bartholomew Tan

References

Catechism of the Catholic Church. (1993). Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM

Levada, W. J. (Cardinal). (2006). The Family in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. [Faith document]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20060707_levada-valencia_en.html

McCabe, H. (O.P.)  (1991). The Genealogy of Jesus. C21 Resources. Catholic Families Carrying Faith Forward. Boston College. Retrieved August 23, 2023 from https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/top/church21/pdf/C21 Resources Spring 2015 Catholic Families.pdf

Pope. St. John Paul II. (1981). Familiaris Consortio. [Apostolic Exhortation]. Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Retrieved from https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). (n.d.) Commentary on Matthew 1. USCCB. Retrieved August 23, 2023 from https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/1