Matthew's Gospel contains a fascinating numerology (observance of God's providence). The genealogy at the start of his Gospel says "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham" (Mt 1:1). After stuttering through all the names of Jesus' ancestors, we can then read his conclusion to the first verse: "Thus the total number of generations from Abraham to David is fourteen generations; from David to the Babylonian exile, fourteen generations; from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah, fourteen generations" (Mt 1:17).
Why does Matthew mark the importance of these moments as mathematically proportioned? As Matthew is the only Gospel writer who discusses the need to build one's house on rock (Mt 7:24-27) and follows this with naming the actual rock (Mt 16:18) upon which Jesus will build God's house, then we can safely deduce that Matthew is giving us the measurements of time that it took for God to construct Himself an everlasting "house." The exact number — repeated three times to form a perfect cube — is like the measurements used to create the inner sanctuary of Solomon's temple which was a perfect cube: "twenty cubits long, twenty high, and twenty wide" (1 Kgs 6:20). As we come to understand Jesus a little better as the true temple and inner sanctuary (cf. Heb 10:20-21), we understand Matthew's choice and the prerogatives of Mary, the Immaculate Conception.
Titles and Their Significance
The first line of Matthew's Gospel is actually more shocking than we often appreciate. We are so used to hearing the title "Son of David" and "Son of Abraham" we forget to whom these names were first applied. The "Son of Abraham" was first and foremost, Isaac, the child of promise through whom all the peoples of the world were to receive God's blessing (Gn 22:18). The title "Son of David" was first applied to Solomon, the son God promised would build a house for Him (2 Sm 7:13). The mystery is that both of these sons were not the ultimate fulfillment of God's plan. In the opening verse of Matthew's Gospel, we are being told that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of what God promised.
The promise of blessing through the descendants of Abraham was connected to a sacrifice on Mount Moriah of an only son. The sacrifice was never completed. God prevented the sacrifice of Isaac because God was preparing the world to see in this pre-figurement a far greater "Isaac" through whom the worldwide blessing would come. It was God's only Son (Jn 3:16) who would become the true sacrifice on Mount Moriah for the salvation of the world. Likewise, the promise of building God's house was only partially realized in Solomon. The Babylonians, fourteen generations later, burnt that one to the ground and plundered it. It was the true "Son of David," the one who said "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will rebuild it" (Mt 26:61 and 12:6, 42) who revealed that the true temple God spoke of was His own resurrected body. In Jesus we find the true sacrifice and the true temple; true "Son of Abraham" and true "Son of David." Through the Holy Spirit we are all united with the resurrected body and built into Him, as Jesus lives in us through the Holy Spirit.
The Last Adam: Formed from Blessed Earth
Saint Paul tells us: "‘The first man, Adam, became a living being,' the last Adam a life-giving spirit" (1 Cor 15:45). Because Jesus has resurrected His body by reuniting it with His human soul, there is now a new image which all humans can receive into their souls, the image and likeness of Jesus' soul in us. The Holy Spirit recreates this image in us which infuses us with the grace in Jesus' soul and makes us a new creation, participating in God's divine life (cf. CCC #460) while maintaining our unique identity. Because the "Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14) we can be reborn from above (Jn 3:7) and not have to suffer eternal death.
Calling Jesus the "last Adam" shows that He is the true fulfillment (cf. Mt 5:17) of what the "first Adam" (while still in innocence) only prefigured; much like Jesus is the true "Son of David" and true "Son of Abraham." What must be remembered is that the first Adam was taken from blessed earth. Adam had not yet sinned and the earth was not yet cursed for that sin. If there is a new and last Adam, then we must look from where He was taken. Was He taken from cursed earth or blessed earth?
We know that Jesus was taken from blessed earth. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee" (Lk 1:28); "you have found favor with God" (Lk 1:30). Not only that, but when the Book of Revelation presents a war between a woman and a serpent, and her seed and the seed of the serpent, it is showing us the true war which was mentioned in Genesis, chapter three. Genesis 3:15 talks about a war between a woman and her seed and a serpent and his seed. Since Mary is the mother of Jesus in Revelation 12, and since Genesis 3 is addressed to Eve, then we see that Mary is presented to us as the new Eve just as Jesus is presented as the new Adam. The earliest Christians pointed to the new Adam being taken from the new Eve as God untying the knot in which the first Eve entangled us by her sin. They presented Mary as the blessed earth from which the new Adam was taken.
When we read Matthew's account of the genealogy of Jesus, we are reading about temple construction. All stones of a temple are taken from a quarry (1 Kgs 6:8). The stones of Solomon's temple were taken from the mount upon which it was built. We cannot help but think of Mary providing the flesh for our true God and temple, Jesus Christ, when we hear Matthew's repetition of the number fourteen. God preserved Mary from sin in preparation for His Incarnation. Upon Jesus' birth she gave the true temple to the world in human flesh. She is the mother of Jesus and she is the mother of Jesus in us. She is the New Eve, the new "Mother of the Living" and she is with us, "her offspring, those who keep God's commandments and bear witness to Jesus" (Rv 12:17). Through the Spirit in us, we have become living stones "built into a spiritual house" (1 Pet 2:5).
