We are in Cycle A of the Sunday readings that feature Matthew, the Gospel which comes first in the New Testament. Selections from Matthew don’t appear only in this cycle. Of course the daily Gospel readings repeat each year, going through selections from all four Gospels. Certain feast days and solemnities feature the same Gospel each year, such as the story of the Annunciation from Luke 1 that we recently read at the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

The Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ has the same readings each year, albeit three different sets of readings for the Vigil Mass, the Mass during the Night, and the Mass during the Day. The Vigil’s Gospel comes from Matthew. The Night’s Gospel comes from Luke. And the Day’s Mass takes its Gospel from John. One can use these three different sets at  any of the Christmas Masses for pastoral reasons. But, since they each highlight a particular theme appropriate to the time of celebration, it is good to preserve their proper place in the order of services and read them as they are presented.
In particular, I’d like to highlight the Gospel for the Vigil Mass which is the opening section of the Gospel of Matthew. This particular selection occurs three times in the cycle of readings:  one, on September 8 for the Birth of Mary, the Mother of God; then again at the daily Mass of December 17 to begin the Octave before Christmas; and finally at the Vigil Mass for Christmas.

The reading begins:  “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham became the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.” The genealogy of Jesus continues for quite a few more generations until the passage describing how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. The Lectionary gives the option to exclude the genealogy. Through the years I have varied the practice. Some years I read the shorter section on the birth of Christ. Most of the time, I read the entire passage.
  
I first started paying attention to this passage during my first year of college at Conception Abbey. It was the 17^th of December and one of the monks was celebrating the Mass for the seminarians in the seminary chapel. He was one of the organists for the monastery and had a very fine singing voice. He sang the entire Gospel. I was amazed. His homily helped me make the connection to the countless generations who were telling the story of Israel before Christ, and the countless generations after. It was a beautiful example of the core of our faith, that God is the God of history and has a plan for our salvation. 
I was becoming more familiar with the Old Testament at that time and some of the names that were read started meaning something to me. The figures weren’t just incomprehensible and often unpronounceable names. These were truly my ancestors in the faith. And it was God’s action through them that prepared the way for the Messiah. It was because of that history that I was listening to the story of Jesus’ birth thousands of years after they had lived.

I’ve had many discussions about this Gospel through the years, especially on some occasions where the attention of many was to the many young children that would be at the Vigil Mass. “It’s a bit much to ask of children, to sit through the litany of names,” some would say. Yes. It is a bit much, even for older folks to sit through.

However, as the years have gone by, I am more and more convinced that we should only on rare occasions read the shorter version of the Gospel at any Mass. And even this Mass, with so much going on during Christmas Eve, it seems most appropriate to read the entirety of the genealogy of Jesus Christ. There are several reasons why.

First, let us remember that the liturgy is the privileged space to proclaim the Word of God. Sharing the Good News is the first mission of the Church. The evangelization means proclaiming the Gospel. Therefore, the first thing that we must do as a Church is to proudly and boldly speak the Gospel out loud, in public. How can we preach to others in the marketplace if we can’t even speak the Good News in our own church?
 
The liturgical proclamation of the Gospel is when and where God speaks to His people. Remember that the interpretation of the Scriptures is not a private, individual act. The Word forms us into the People of God. Unless we proclaim and listen to the Scriptures together, we won’t be able to live truly as a community rooted in the Word of God. 
The proclamation of the Word of God demonstrates the sacramentality of the Sacred Scriptures. The Word becomes flesh today on the lips of the one who proclaims the Word, and in the ears of those who hear God’s voice. In a world with so many competing messages dividing humanity up into countless special interest groups, proclaiming and listening to the Scriptures unites us more closely together. Our unity as a Church so beautifully expressed in the Eucharist where we are united in communion with our God in Jesus Christ necessarily requires the Liturgy of the Word to properly dispose us to the gift of unity in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.

Second—and here is where the imagination of faith is required—a reverent and attentive proclamation of the genealogy of Jesus Christ is a better expression of a people disposed to receive the whole mystery of the Incarnation.
 
There is of course a natural tendency to skip over details that are unfamiliar, difficult, or incomprehensible. That is the challenge of genealogies. The ones doing the research are more than happy to give you all the details of how great-great-grandmother got the last ticket for the last ocean liner departing before the guns of August broke out in 1914. If it is your own relative, you might have a passing interest. If you are interested in history, the story might pique your curiosity. But by and large, it is difficult to endure the seeming endless listing of names and dates since it just seems that there is really nothing that has anything to do with you.
Of course, that is the danger of self-interest. In fact, every one of those ancestors was necessary for you to come into being. We may feign indifference, but on reflection and with a little more detail, each of us is amazed at all the little details of history that had to have taken place for us to be born.

Can it be that we are tempted to skip the genealogy because we just don’t know who these people were? I confess, I really can’t recall off the top of my head what made Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, and Abiud famous, but I do know that their story is part of my story.
 
I put myself back in time, as a little boy, perhaps seated around a campfire. This was before writing and books were common. It was an oral culture that depended on news being passed word of mouth. It’s a family reunion. Everyone has quieted down and it’s time to listen to Grandpa recite the story of our ancestors. And there he goes, another year of a flawless recitation of the many generations that went into making me. Imagine hearing the names of these ancestors and wondering, being curious. Just who were they and what did they do? Why are they important? It’s that spark of curiosity about these strange names from ages past that makes one want to know more. It’s faith that God has been active in my own history because he wanted me to be born!
 
I know it is a cultural thing. We have been born at a time when generational connections are sorely tested. Very few of us can recite the first and last names of our eight great-grandparents. Only a few of us take the time go back and study beyond a few generations. Even those who do the work of genealogy know how difficult it is to trace back one’s ancestry, even with all the modern research tools and now DNA resources to boot. We have convinced ourselves that the past doesn’t matter. Isn’t it really only what is happening now that counts?

If that is the case, then why is there any type of celebration of Christmas, religious or secular? We embrace the familiar rituals of family and community because we know that there is good to be found and to be held onto.

The genealogy of Matthew has a surprise that happens so quickly that one might miss the point. After listing 42 generations of a human father begetting a son, there is a break. Joseph is introduced as the husband of Mary. “Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” To make it clearer, an angel appears to Joseph in a dream,  “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

And then we can get the full impact of the recitation of the long genealogy of Jesus Christ. God has worked through the generations of man to get to this unique point in history. But the birth of the savior is different. Conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus is the Son of God and the Son of Mary. He is the Word Made Flesh, dwelling among us. Jesus is God and Man.

No story told at Christmas is complete unless it speaks this truth.