Matthew 1 - New English Translation

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MATTHEW 1

1.1 This is the record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah (by Tamar),
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz (by Rahab),
Boaz the father of Obed (by Ruth),
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon (by the wife of Uriah),
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
Joram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

After the deportation to Babylon,
Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations,
and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations,
and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.

1.2 The Birth of Jesus Christ

Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way.
While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph,
but before they came together,
she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man,
and because he did not want to disgrace her,
he intended to divorce her privately.

When he had contemplated this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
“Joseph, son of David,
do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife
because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus
because he will save his people from their sins.”

This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled:

“Look! The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Emmanuel,”
which means “God with us.”

When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him.
He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her
until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus.

- New English Translation
https://netbible.org/bible/Matthew+1

Commentary:

[Verse numbers intentionally removed for greater readability.]

Even though Jesus was born through the Holy Spirit, and not via his father Joseph, we are given what appears to be Joseph's human genealogy. It's a very simple, direct way to show Jesus' connection to various OT characters, and especially King David himself.

Much like ourselves, Jesus was both a product of "the earth" in that he was a human being born of a woman, like all of us, but unlike us, the cause of his birth was the Holy Spirit. Hence, he was born of a virgin who had never had sex with a man up to that point.

Is it possible that the Holy Spirit caused the birth to avoid the transmission of sin via physical sexual intercourse? The Bible does not say so directly, but it seems implicit in the text. By avoiding physical sexual contact, Jesus can be born "clean" of sin, and instead be born directly by the Holy Spirit, very much unlike us.

Since the participation of Joseph in the birth of Jesus is obviously excluded by the text, is it possible that God used one of Mary's own eggs to begin the process of Jesus' human development? The text does not tell us. We have no information at all about the biological process that God used, other than the exclusion of a human father, and the inclusion of the Holy Spirit. But it is very obvious that Mary's womb was necessary, and perhaps, by association, one of her eggs was used as well to begin the natural, normal process of human birth.

This raises interesting questions about the nature of the sinfulness of man, particularly, is the sinful nature of human beings transmitted via physical sex? Again, the Biblical text never tells us directly, it must be inferred.

This passage from Romans 3, may be the most instructive passage in the Bible in regards to our sinful nature:

Romans 3:19-26

Now we know that whatever the law says,
it says to those who are under the law,
so that every mouth may be silenced
and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

For no one is declared righteous before him by the works of the law,
for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

But now apart from the law the righteousness of God
(although it is attested by the law and the prophets)
has been disclosed—
namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe.

For there is no distinction,
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
But they are justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith.
This was to demonstrate his righteousness
because God in his forbearance had passed over the sins previously committed.
This was also to demonstrate his righteousness in the present time,
so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness.

And here is a passage from Psalm 14 that states the same truth:

Psalm 14:1-4

For the music director, by David.

Fools say to themselves, “There is no God.”
They sin and commit evil deeds;
none of them does what is right.

The Lord looks down from heaven at the human race,
to see if there is anyone who is wise and seeks God.

Everyone rejects God;
they are all morally corrupt.
None of them does what is right,
not even one.

All those who behave wickedly do not understand—
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread
and do not call out to the Lord.

So Romans 3 and Pslams 14 both seem to agree that we humans are all sinful, and it seems to be an accidental trait of our existence, whether or not we wish to admit it. Hence, there does seem to be some sort of physical transmission of this sinful nature, even though we cannot be absolutely sure of the means of transmission. However, the virgin birth of Jesus seems to indicate that there needs to be a physical interuption in the process of sex and birth in order to stop the contagion of sin. We are also assuming that Jesus was free from sin, as the Bible often claims.

A bigger and more fundamental issue is this: can we, as humans, be found "guilty" of a sin that we inherited that we ourselves are not responsible for? In other words, we did not consciously choose rebellion ourselves, but instead found it somehow wrapped up into our DNA? To put it into the simplest possible form: Can someone be held responsible for a "crime" committed generations ago by an ancestor who greatly proceeded your birth, and is it moral or legal to be held responsible for the effects of that ancient crime? It certainly seems to be the case that we are being held responsible, but God also goes above and beyond to free us from that bondage.

But the important thing is this: God sent Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sinfulness. One single sacrifice, for all time. No need for to repeat the sacrifice, but there is need to repeat the message of what He did.

Our greatest work, our most important deed, must be our acceptance of Christ's death and resurrection as payment for our sins. By simply believing that was done, we can be rendered reconciled in the sight of God.

- Pseudo Boethius

Actual fortunes from my fortune cookies #2

Just two:

"Take care of your relationships, they are the mirrors of your soul."

"The husband is the boss -- if the wife allows."

- Psuedo Boethius

The One Thing Necessary

The latest homily from Bishop Barron:

- Pseudo Boethius

NO KINGS DAY

I guess on Saturday (June 14, 2025) there was a nationwide demonstration (by the Democrats, of course) called "No Kings Day".

Now, there has never been a king at anytime during the history of the United States. The closest we ever came to having one was a Democrat by the name of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a.k.a. "FDR". He died in office, much like a king, after serving for nearly 16 years.

Anyway, as is often the case with Democrats, they like to protest things that have no real existence. Since we haven't had anything like a king govern the USA since before the Revolution, protesting kingship is a rather worthless activity.

But you know who really hates the idea of kings? God. He told the Jews that kings were a really, really bad idea, and they should NEVER have one...but of course, they didn't listen.

Want proof? Here's a conversation that God had with the prophet Samuel:

1 SAMUEL 8 - The New Living Translation

As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to be judges over Israel.  Joel and Abijah, his oldest sons, held court in Beersheba.  But they were not like their father, for they were greedy for money. They accepted bribes and perverted justice.

Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel.  “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance.  “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer.  Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.  Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

Samuel Warns against a Kingdom

So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king.  “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots.  Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment.  The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him.  He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials.  He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants.  He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use.  He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves.  When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”

But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said.  “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”

So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said,  and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home.

- Pseudo Boethius

The benefits of being dedicated to the LORD

FYI: The land that the Philistines of biblical history occupied, is almost exactly the same as that of today's Gaza strip.

1 Samuel 7:5-15 New Living Translation:

Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.”  So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.

Then Samuel told them, “Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.”  So they gathered at Mizpah and, in a great ceremony, drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord. (It was at Mizpah that Samuel became Israel’s judge.)

When the Philistine rulers heard that Israel had gathered at Mizpah, they mobilized their army and advanced. The Israelites were badly frightened when they learned that the Philistines were approaching.  “Don’t stop pleading with the Lord our God to save us from the Philistines!” they begged Samuel.  So Samuel took a young lamb and offered it to the Lord as a whole burnt offering. He pleaded with the Lord to help Israel, and the Lord answered him.

Just as Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines arrived to attack Israel. But the Lord spoke with a mighty voice of thunder from heaven that day, and the Philistines were thrown into such confusion that the Israelites defeated them.  The men of Israel chased them from Mizpah to a place below Beth-car, slaughtering them all along the way.

Samuel then took a large stone and placed it between the towns of Mizpah and Jeshanah. He named it Ebenezer (which means “the stone of help”), for he said, “Up to this point the Lord has helped us!”

So the Philistines were subdued and didn’t invade Israel again for some time. And throughout Samuel’s lifetime, the Lord’s powerful hand was raised against the Philistines. The Israelite villages near Ekron and Gath that the Philistines had captured were restored to Israel, along with the rest of the territory that the Philistines had taken. And there was peace between Israel and the Amorites in those days.