Matthew 1:12-16: a reflection

12After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel. 13Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor. 14Azor became the father of Zadok. Zadok became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud. 15Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob. 16Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

This portion of Matthew's genealogy covers the generations after the exile to Babylon, down to Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. It is a list of mostly obscure names, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, and on, many of them figures we know nothing about. But the list is doing something significant: it traces God's promise, unbroken, through the generations after the catastrophe of exile, all the way to the Messiah.

Notice what this stretch of the genealogy quietly testifies. The exile had been a devastation, the destruction of Jerusalem, the end of the kingdom, the line of David reduced to obscurity. It might have seemed that God's promise, the promise of a coming King from David's line, had been buried in the rubble. But the line continued, generation after generation, through the obscure post-exilic names, and arrived, at last, at Jesus. The catastrophe did not derail God's purpose; his promise survived the exile and came to fulfillment.

There is reassurance in that for times when it seems that disaster has buried God's purposes. The exile looked like the end; it was not. God carried his promise faithfully through the generations after the catastrophe, through obscure and unremarkable people, to its fulfillment in Christ. God's purposes are not derailed by disaster; he carries them on, often through hidden and ordinary means, to their appointed end. When it seems that some catastrophe has buried what God promised, remember the line from the exile to Christ. God's promise survived; his purpose arrived. He is not thwarted by disaster.

Lord, through the obscure generations after the devastation of exile, you carried your promise faithfully, all the way to Christ. When it seems that some catastrophe has buried your purposes, remind me that the exile looked like the end but was not, that you carried your promise on through hidden and ordinary people to its fulfillment. Thank you that your purposes are not derailed by disaster. Help me trust that what you have promised will arrive, in your time, as your promise arrived in Christ.