The Son of God came into the world not out of nowhere and all of a sudden. God has a plan for salvation and he sent his son according to this plan. So, St. Paul wrote: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” (Gal. 4:4) The genealogy of Jesus, which is a list of the ancestors of Jesus, which spanned about 2,000 years, from the time to Abraham, is meant to tell us that Jesus, the Son of God made man, came from a long series of men and women which carried the plan of God for our salvation. In our first reading we heard of the dying words of Jacob to Judah. He told him of the place of his tribe in God’s plan. His is the kingly tribe and from his family would come one whose reign will be made firm. Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. He came from the kingly tribe of Judah. God’s plan to salvation continues up to our time, and we too are part of this plan. We participate and contribute to the work of salvation.