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[…After the Babylonian exile,
Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud.
Abiud became the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok.
Zadok became the father of Achim,
Achim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar.
Eleazar became the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary.
Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.] (Mt. 1:12-16)

In our Gospel  today St. Mathew presents us with the genealogy of Jesus (Mt. 1:1-17).  Here we zoom into the very end of His genealogy and something pretty striking sticks out.

Following the practice of the time, St. Mathew traces Jesus’s ancestry through paternity with mothers rarely being mentioned.  However, the pattern is broken wide open when St. Mathew says, “…Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.” Joseph is not mentioned as the “father of Jesus”, rather he is merely the “husband of Mary.” The Virgin Mary takes center stage as Jesus’s mother “of her was born Jesus who is called the Christ.”

At the very start of his Gospel St. Mathew therefore proclaims to the entire world that Jesus is God. His father is not Joseph.  Jesus’s father is God.  Jesus has an illustrious human ancestry, and an even more awesome divine generation. This is the baby boy born in the manger, Jesus Christ Who is God and man!