Following the Catholic daily bible readings we arrive at the family tree of Jesus 

Reading 1, Genesis 49:2, 8-10

2 Gather round, sons of Jacob, and listen; listen to Israel your father.

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you: you grip your enemies by the neck, your father’s sons will do you homage.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; You stand over your prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, a mighty lion: who dare rouse him?

10 The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute be brought him and the peoples render him obedience.

"A mighty lion: who shall rouse him?""

Gospel, Matthew 1:1-17

1 Roll of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:

2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers,

3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram,

4 Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon,

5 Salmon fathered Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse;

6 and Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,

7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa,

8 Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah,

9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah,

10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah;

11 and Josiah fathered Jechoniah and his brothers. Then the deportation to Babylon took place.

12 After the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah fathered Shealtiel, Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel,

13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor,

14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud,

15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, Matthan fathered Jacob;

16 and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary; of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

17 The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.

The use of the “Lion of Judah” as a title for the messiah almost certainly pre-dates Jesus. In Genesis the “Lion’s Whelp” is part of the blessing of Israel on his children, reflecting ancient views of the character of the tribes. Genealogies were creative ways of claiming pre-eminence amongst your contemporaries: King David’s genealogy is a way of claiming a blessing that goes back to the patriarchs. Jesus’ genealogy includes David’s, which makes Him part of the tribe of Judah, but also gives Him such dubious female ancestors as Tamar, who seduced her father-in-law to get justice, Rahab, the prostitute, Ruth, the foreigner from Moab and Bathsheba who betrayed her husband with David. Perhaps Mary is the culmination of this line of mothers.  The patriarchal line the runs through the mixed bag of Davidic kings, until the exile to Babylon; after which it takes in the reformers of Israel, Zerubbabel and Zadoc, ending in Joseph who is depicted in Matthew’s gospel as Jesus’ legal father, that is, he accepts Jesus as his own child. The number fourteen as twice the holy number seven may indicate perfection, and it is also the numerical value of the Hebrew consonants of the name David. If we note these facts along with the explicit mention of the five mothers by an author not especially favourable to women, we might guess that the genealogy comes from the female side of Jesus’ own family, who may have hoped to mother the Messiah, but that would be speculation. Others have suggested that for such a long genealogy to have been constructed its present lame ending “Joseph the husband of Mary” cannot be original, and conceals an ending which made Joseph the biological father of Jesus. In truth, Matthew is telling the reader that if she wants to understand Jesus, she should read the Jewish Bible, which weaves the most unlikely people into the story of God’s love for Israel.

 The most creative use of the image of the Lion of Judah is by the author of The Revelation. In chapter five he has a vision of a book, in which is sealed up the events of the last days, but no one is found worthy to open the book and let the story roll. He is told the only One worthy is the “Lion from the tribe of Judah, the conqueror.” He looks and between God’s throne and the elders he sees…..a lamb with the marks of slaughter! This lion is a lamb, this conqueror is a victim, this victory is a sacrifice. This is a profound insight into the cross of Jesus, as a triumph over evil and means of redemption. J.S. Bach used this insight when he interrupted his musical depiction of the finality of Jesus’ death on the cross, with the exultant aria, “The Lion of Judah fought the battle, and has prevailed.” In this way, an ancient tribal blessing becomes a creative part of the vocabulary of salvation.