By who's authority

A Pastoral Letter

Bishop James Alan Wilkowski
Presiding Bishop for the Evangelical Catholic Church

 

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham:

2 Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. 3 Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez begot Hezron, and Hezron begot Ram. 4 Ram begot Amminadab, Amminadab begot Nahshon, and Nahshon begot Salmon. 5 Salmon begot Boaz by Rahab, Boaz begot Obed by Ruth, Obed begot Jesse, 6 and Jesse begot David the king.

David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife[a] of Uriah. 7 Solomon begot Rehoboam, Rehoboam begot Abijah, and Abijah begot Asa.[b] 8 Asa begot Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat begot Joram, and Joram begot Uzziah. 9 Uzziah begot Jotham, Jotham begot Ahaz, and Ahaz begot Hezekiah. 10 Hezekiah begot Manasseh, Manasseh begot Amon,[c] and Amon begot Josiah. 11 Josiah begot Jeconiah and his brothers about the time they were carried away to Babylon.

12 And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, and Shealtiel begot Zerubbabel. 13 Zerubbabel begot Abiud, Abiud begot Eliakim, and Eliakim begot Azor. 14 Azor begot Zadok, Zadok begot Achim, and Achim begot Eliud. 15 Eliud begot Eleazar, Eleazar begot Matthan, and Matthan begot Jacob. 16 And Jacob begot Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, from David until the captivity in Babylon are fourteen generations, and from the captivity in Babylon until the Christ are fourteen generations.

Christ Born of Mary

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. 20 But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

22 So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.”

24 Then Joseph, being aroused from sleep, did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took to him his wife, 25 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son. [d] And he called His name Jesus. 
Matthew 1:1-25

Matthew begins with the account of Christ’s parentage and birth, the ancestors from whom he descended, and the manner of his entry into the world, to make it appear that he was indeed the Messiah promised, for it was foretold that he should be the son of David, and should be born of a virgin; and that he was so is here plainly shown; for here is, I. His pedigree from Abraham in forty-two generations, three fourteens (v. 1-17). II. An account of the circumstances of his birth, so far as was requisite to show that he was born of a virgin (v. 18-25). Thus methodically is the life of our Savior also written to settle the question of the authority upon which His ministry is based.

In additional to desiring food, water and shelter - I believe that the human person desires structure and organization to deal with basic human and social interaction or as according to Aristotle, "“Man is by nature a social animal; an individual who is unsocial naturally and not accidentally is either beneath our notice or more than human. Society is something that precedes the individual. Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

Man and Woman are social animal because their nature makes them so. Sociality or Sociability are their natural instinct. They can’t but live in society. All their human qualities such as to think to enquire to learn language, to play and work only developed in human society. All this developed through interaction with others. One can’t be a normal being in isolation. Their nature compels them to live with their fellow beings. They can’t afford to live alone.  Man and Woman are social animal not only by nature but also by necessity. It is said that needs and necessities makes them social. They has many needs and necessities. Out of these different needs social, mental, physical and spiritual needs are very important and needs fulfillment. They can’t fulfill these needs without living in society.

Over the course of human development and psychological growth, humankind began to embrace and struggle with mythology and its representative deities - ultimately leading to humankind's participation in religion and religious communal life.
 

Emergence of Authority Figures

In Hebrew history, one must acknowledge the authority figure of Abraham: "like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her lord. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear."  1 Peter 3:6.  Because of the special relationship between Yahweh with Abraham and Sarah, Sarah knew that when Abraham spoke on matters of Yahweh, he was speaking with Yahweh in his heart and Sarah never questioned anything said by Abraham.

The emergence of authority figures in in journey of faith with the Hebrews must focus heavily with Moses.   In Numbers 12, Aaron (Moses’ brother) and Miriam (Moses’ sister) challenge his authority on the basis of some apparent racial issues over Moses’ choice of a wife. The text makes it clear that, although they cited Moses’ wife as the reason for their opposition, they were really questioning Moses’ God-given authority to speak for God.

We learn two important things in this moment of family drama. First, we learn some things about Moses and his relationship to God. Notice the description of Moses in verse 3: “Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.” Meek just means “humble”, so Moses had not let his close relationship to the Lord make him arrogant or prideful. This even highlights the pride and arrogance of Miriam and Aaron in challenging his authority. So, God Himself vindicated Moses before his brother and sister. God offered his own description of his unique relationship to Moses.

And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”  Numbers 12:6-8

God spoke directly to Moses, face to face as a man speaks to his friend (Exodus 33:11). Keep in mind that there were no Scriptures at this point, so God spoke more directly through men to His people. There were prophets as well – and verse 6 tells us that God spoke to them through dreams and visions. Challenging the authority of a prophet of God was bad enough – and there are plenty of examples in Scripture of God vindicating his prophets in front of those who challenged their authority. But this was even worse, because Moses was clearly more than a prophet. He was God’s primary revelation of Himself during this period in Israel’s history.