"The prophecy of all the prophets is fulfilled: Christ is being born in the city of Bethlehem from a pure handmaiden of God." (hymn from the pre-Feast)

Advent Meditation:

"The prophecy of all the prophets is fulfilled: Christ is being born in the city of Bethlehem from a pure handmaiden of God." (hymn from the pre-Feast)

There is undoubtedly no family tree more impressive or important than that our our Lord, Jesus Christ. In order for the early Christians to convincingly prove that Jesus was the

Messiah for Whom the Jews had long-waited for centuries, it had to be shown that His genealogy was the fulfillment of all of the prophecies of the Old Testament that dealt with this matter.

St. Matthew begins his Gospel by tracing Christ's lineage back to Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation, significantly showing that Jesus is a descendant of King David, for the Savior would be looked upon as the new "King of Israel." Jesse was the father of King David, thus connecting Christ to the prophecy of Isaiah, who wrote: "There shall be a Root of Jesse; and He shall rise to reign over the Gentiles, in Him the Gentiles shall hope." Thus, the Christmas services of our Holy Orthodox Church poetically describes Jesus as the "Flower" that blossomed forth from the Root of Jesse.

In the Gospel of St. Luke, however, the Evangelist looks at the genealogy of Christ from a slightly different perspective. Unlike St. Matthew, who starts Christ's family tree with Abraham and works down through Joseph, St. Luke begins with Joseph and works upwards through Adam, thereby connecting Jesus with the very inception of the human race. Thus bestowing holy illumination upon the theological mystery of the Creator budding forth from that which He created!

Fr. John