主題：從慈悲角度看瑪竇福音的耶穌族譜
在聖誕彌撒中聽神職人員讀耶穌的族譜，是一件很沉悶的事。不過，如果你知道每個名字背後的故事，聽耶穌的族譜就變得回味無窮了。今年是慈悲禧年，我準備從慈悲的角度，看耶穌的族譜。
中國人用姓和名來表達一個人是誰。名是屬於自己的，姓是屬於家族的，由祖先代代相傳的。猶太人祗有名，沒有姓。他們循著父親的名，就可以追溯他們的祖先了。耶穌是猶太人，不是中國人。所以，耶穌就是耶穌，不是姓耶名穌的人。耶穌是沒有姓氏的。如果想知道耶穌的祖先是誰，可以翻查他的族譜。在四部福音之中，瑪竇和路加記載了耶穌的族譜。
族譜非常簡單，大部份都是「某某某生某某某」，所以聽來沉悶。但這個族譜絕不簡單，它上溯四十二代，不下一千八百年。表達出舊約和新約是一脈相承的。倘若沒有瑪竇這些第一代猶太人基督徒，把新舊約連成一體，舊約的許諾，應驗了也沒有人知道；而基督信仰就不知是從那裡傳來的異端邪說了。瑪竇看到在耶穌基督身上，舊約的預言一一實現。所以天主是非常慈悲的，在人類犯罪之後不久，便很有耐性地實現救贖的工程。
從創世紀十二章以前的族譜，我們會發現到以色列人和中國人一樣，注重長子嫡孫的思想。亞當以後直到亞巴郎，都祗記載某某某在幾幾歲時生了某某某，以後活了幾百年，生了很多沒有名字的兒女等。在古代，這是理所當然的。長子承繼父親所有的產業，其他兄弟另謀高就，不用爭家產。自從天主召選亞巴郎以後，天主打破這種用長子嫡孫作為世襲的秩序，為其他的兒子出頭。例如依撒格和雅各伯都是排行第二，猶大在十二兄弟中排行第四，達味王是八兄弟中最年幼的一個，撒羅滿王亦非長子。在這裡，我們看到天主是慈悲的，同時是公義的。祂既喜歡鋤強扶弱，又扶植有才能的人得位。
現在，請大家幫手尋找耶穌族譜中的女性，除了瑪利亞之外，還有四個，每個都有動人的故事。塔瑪爾、辣哈布、盧德、烏黎雅的妻子。
不要以為耶穌是天主子，他就會從人類之中，祗挑選一些有才幹的人，或者有權勢的人，或者德行崇高的人，做他的祖先。在耶穌族譜中，確實有符合這些條件的人。但天主沒有忽略那些被社會所遺棄和歧視的人。天主原本可以為耶穌安排一個純正的血統，祂沒有這樣做，為甚麼呢？
首先，猶太人社會和中國社會一樣重男輕女，女性素來沒有地位。其實，耶穌的族譜祗要記載父親的名字，就足夠証明耶穌是達味的後裔，是默西亞了，根本沒有必要提及任何女性的名字。而耶穌的族譜提及她們，表示天主非常重視女性的貢獻，希望她們獲享應有的地位。
其次，且看那四位女性，有被欺負的、要為自己爭取社會保障的寡婦塔瑪爾；有冒生命危險，收留了兩個以色列探子的妓女辣哈布；有決心與婆母相依為命的外族女子盧德；有要嫁給殺死自己丈夫的仇人的不幸女子，因為這仇人位高權重，所以連她的名字也沒有記載在福音中！她們都是在制度下被欺負的人。天主出於慈悲，把這些人物都納入耶穌的族譜中，成為耶穌的血統的一部份。為的是教訓重視血統，重視法律制度的猶太人，必須以天主的心為心，不要計較個人功過或社會地位，要接納所有信靠天主的人。倘若這些人得不到合理的照顧，天主便會插手干預，替她們伸張正義了。
聖誕節到了，我們來慶祝救主耶穌的降生。祂固然帶著皇室的血脈，同時亦帶著被欺負，被剝削的人的血脈。祂選擇這些人物，是告訴我們，天父的慈悲，天父是不會離棄這些被社會邊緣化的人，天父沒有遺忘這些貧困和受壓迫者。作為基督徒，我們要報的佳音，就是天父的慈悲，沒有遺忘有困難的人的慈悲。當我們到馬槽朝拜聖嬰的時候，請在祈禱中，記住一個有需要照顧的人。
瑪竇寫福音，是為了說服讀者，相信耶穌是默西亞。做默西亞的其中一個條件，就必須是達味王的後裔。希伯來文是用字母的，但祗有聲母，沒有韻母，即是沒有響音。所以，達味的名字在希伯來文祗有三個字母，就是DVD。每個希伯來文字母又可以用來表達一個數值。D代表4，V代表6。DVD合共14。所以，為了証明耶穌是達味的後裔，瑪竇除了把達味的名字放在族譜中，還刻意把耶穌的族譜排成三組，每組十四代。這意味著其中有些人的名字，並沒有記錄在族譜中。
天主保祐。
Christmas Vigil (Year C)
Theme: To read the Matthean genealogy of Jesus in the perspective of God's mercy
Listening to the clergy reading Jesus' genealogy during Christmas masses is extremely boring. However, if you know the story behind each name, listening to Jesus' genealogy become interesting. In this Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, let us look at it in the perspective of God's mercy.
Chinese use surname and name to tell a person. Names belong to the individuals while surnames, which are handed down from generations of ancestors, belong to the families. Jews have names only. They do not have surnames. They trace along the fathers to their ancestors. Jesus was a Jew, not a Chinese. Therefore Jesus is Jesus, not a person whose surname was Ie and name Su. Jesus has no surname. If we want to know his ancestors, we can follow his genealogy. Among the four canonical gospels, we can find Jesus' genealogy in Matthew and Luke.
Genealogy is very simple. It mostly consists of "So-and-so begot so-and-so". That is why it is boring to listen to. But this genealogy is not simple. There are 42 generations, spanning more than 1800 years. It demonstrates that the Old Testament and the New are linked. If there had never been any first generation Jewish Christians like Matthew to join the two Testaments together, nobody would have known that the promises of the Old Testament had been honoured and Christianity would have been a heretic cult out of the blue. Matthew saw that many prophecies in the Old Testament were fulfilled. Therefore, God is very merciful. Soon after the fall of mankind, God has patiently begun the redemptive project.
Surveying genealogies before Genesis 12, we will discover that Israelites, like Chinese, attached primacy to the firstborns. From Adam to Abraham, the genealogies read like "When XXX had lived mmm years, he begot YYY and XXX lived after the birth of YYY nnn years and had other sons and daughters." Those other sons and daughters were anonymous. In ancient times, this was taken for granted. Firstborns inherited all the possessions of Fathers. The other siblings had to fend for themselves. Familial feuds were eliminated. But ever since God called Abraham, God smashed this firstborn system to help the other siblings. For example, Isaac and Jacob were second sons. Judah was the fourth among the twelve. King David was the youngest among eight brothers and King Solomon was not the firstborn either. Here, we see God's mercy and at the same time God's justice. He likes to help the weak defeat the strong, to help capable people get their rightful positions.
Now, I would like to ask you to help me locate women in Jesus' genealogy. Other than Mary, there are four other women each of whom told a touching story. They are: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and the wife of Uriah.
Do not think that since Jesus is the Son of God, God would choose among humanity the capable, the powerful or the morally noble people to be ancestors. Some such people do appear in Jesus' genealogy but God does not ignore those who were abandoned or had suffered discrimination. God could have arranged for Jesus a ‘pure' bloodline. Why didn't He?
First of all, Jewish and Chinese alike attached greater importance to males than females. Females did not have any status. In fact, putting father's names only down in Jesus' genealogy is enough to show that Jesus' was a descendant of David. Women's names are totally not necessary. But their names are found in the genealogy. This shows that God attaches great importance to the contribution of women and hopes to see that they receive the status they deserve.
Next, take a look at these four women. There was Tamar, a widow who had to fight for her social security herself. There was Rahab, a prostitute who risked her life to shelter two Israelite spies. There was Ruth, a Moabite widow who stayed by and supported her Israelite mother-in-law. There was a woman who had no choice but to marry the murderer of her husband. The murderer was so powerful that her name was suppressed in the Gospel. All of them were oppressed by the system. Out of mercy, God includes them into the genealogy of Jesus, makes them a part of Jesus' blood line. God wants to teach those Jews who attached importance to blood line and Torah that they have to take heart of God's heart. Do not look at achievements or social status. Accept all who trust in God. If they are not reasonably taken care of, God will intervene to restore justice.
Christmas has come. We celebrate the birth of Jesus our Saviour. Of course Jesus carries royal blood but at the same time, he also carries the blood line of the oppressed and exploited. God chose them in order to tell us that the Father is merciful. He would never abandon the socially marginal. The Heavenly Father does not forget those poor and oppressed. As Christians, the good news we proclaim, the carols we sing should be the mercy of the Father. He has not forgotten the men in difficulties. When we adore the Holy Infant at the crib, in our prayers keep a needy person in mind.
God bless.
Matthew wrote his gospel to persuade readers to believe that Jesus is the Messiah. One of the qualifications to be a Messiah is that the person must be a descendant of King David. Hebrew is an alphabetic language which does not write the vowels. Therefore, there are only 3 alphabets DVD in David's name. Each Hebrew alphabet also represents a numeric value. D is 4. V is 6. DVD together is 14. So, to prove that Jesus was a descendant of David, not only did Matthew put David's name in, but he also carefully arranged the genealogy into 3 groups, each containing 14 generations. This means some of the names might be omitted.
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