Wednesday of the Third Week of Advent
Today, the Church reflects on the genealogy of Jesus as reported by St. Matthew. There are many famous people in the genealogy with rich stories. There are also people about whom we know virtually nothing. Take, for example, Matthan. The only time the name appears in the Bible is in this genealogy. We know nothing about him except the fact that he was the grandfather of St. Joseph. Other than that, his story has been lost and forgotten - as are the stories of most people throughout human history. There are no stories being told about Matthan, and yet can we say his life did not matter? His life certainly did matter. Make no mistake, I do not say this in a saccharine, “everybody is special” way. I mean that his life was one of great historical consequence. Without Matthan, St. Joseph would not have existed and the Holy Family would have been vastly different. Matthan surely did more with his life than sire offspring, but even if that were all he did, it still changed the course of history because of St. Joseph. Matthan is important even though we know little about him.
We really do not know about the impact that we will have. We may even be convinced that our life is unimportant. However, we do not at all have access to all of history; we cannot yet see the big picture. We do not know the role that each of us plays, but each of us does, in fact, have a role. Maybe you’re a Matthan. Maybe you’re a Joseph. Maybe you’re a Ruth or a David. Whatever role you have, a lot actually depends on you - more than you realize. May we have the wisdom not to squander our life away. Our decisions today, for instance, may set things in motion that might change the world.