Names and God!

Wednesday, December 17, 2025

Gen 49:2, 8-10; Mt 1:1-17

Today, we read the Matthean genealogy ahead of Christmas. 

Why is it important to have the genealogy read ahead of Christmas? What significance does it serve to celebrate the nativity of the Lord? What do we learn from it?

There are four insights from genealogy. 

1. Genealogy tells us something about God. The names serve as a ladder back to God’s promise to Abraham. Hence, it is not a boring list of names but a remembrance of important persons through whom God achieved humanity’s salvation. Above all, it is a testimony to God’s faithfulness throughout the centuries in bringing His promises to fulfilment in Christ. 

2. Genealogy tells us something about God’s grace. The list of names is a reminder and proof of God’s salvation in Christ through a broken people who had a history of moral failure, exile, and brokenness. The honest naming of those imperfect persons in the list demonstrates that God can work through imperfect people to work out His plan of salvation. 

3. It tells us something about Jesus Christ. The Son of God did not directly descend into the world but was born as a vulnerable and fragile child in the house of David. Even Jesus’ family tree contains imperfections. But God did not hate the imperfect but turned them into His instruments. Jesus, the climax of history, becomes humanity’s hope of salvation. 

4. It tells us something about four women and Mary, the fifth woman. The names of the four Gentile women show that the barrier between Jew and Gentile has been broken. The female names in Jewish genealogy, which were not customary, break down the barrier between male and female. The inclusion of the names of women of questionable character shows that the barrier between saint and sinner is broken so that God can use them for His purposes. 

Finally, everything is about God’s magnanimity. While we reflect on the fidelity of God, we are called to imagine how we fit in God’s plan.

Let us pray that we may become useful instruments in God’s hands.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar