In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
“And Jesus came and spoke to them,” we are told by the Evangelist Matthew at the end of his Gospel,
saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.
Matthew 28:18–20
But who is this Jesus to whom all authority has been given? This is the question which the Evangelist is answering in today’s Gospel reading.
When the Lord scattered the nations and divided the tongues (see Genesis 11:1–9) no people remained faithful to the living God. So God created his own nation and called Abram out from Ur: “I will bless those who bless you,” says the Lord to Abram, “And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the tribes of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3) And Abram, who became Abraham, remained faithful to the promises of the Lord so that God said to him, “In your seed,” which is to say in Christ (see Galatians 3:16, 19), “all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:18, see also 26:4, 28:14)
And we now have received the promises. Abraham was faithful to the promise without beholding the incarnate Christ, “by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise,” the Apostle tells us this morning,
as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.
Yet what has been given to me is greater than that given to our Father Abraham: I have beheld the transfigured Christ on the mountain, I have beheld the crucified Christ on the Cross, I have beheld the buried Christ in the tomb, I have beheld the risen Christ—and, what’s more, I have been baptised into Christ and put on Christ (Galatians 3:27), I have received Christ—I have received all the promises given to Abraham through Christ and yet I refuse to live a life of faithfulness. I see my life here and now to be of value and eternity to be an afterthought.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I must change. I must draw closer to Christ and come to know him more deeply. Not merely to know about him, but to know him and unite myself with him. I must train myself that my heart’s desire is not to take possessions in this world but to know him, “the son of David, the son of Abraham,” and thereby be found to be of Christ. “And if you are Christ’s,” says the Apostle, “then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)
May this be our lot, our hope, our fulfilment, that by living faithfully we too may come to know Emmanuel: for God is with us.
To our incarnate Saviour and Victor over death, in whom all are blessed, Jesus Christ be all glory, honour and might, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, by faith Abraham sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets – who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, received promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and scourging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were killed with the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, ill-treated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering over deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though well attested by their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had foreseen something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
— Hebrews 11:9–10, 32–40
The book of the Genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asa, and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; and her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel” (which means, God with us). When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus.
— Matthew 1:1–25