If you are just joining us, make note that we are on Day 3. You may want to scroll down and catch up first.
We discussed yesterday how God decided to come get us for a multitude of reasons: to reconcile His relationship with us, to clear up our misconceptions about Who He is and how He longs to relate to humankind, and to give us directions to the true reality – a reality that we have replaced with a life that seems real, but isn’t (think The Matrix). There are other reasons too – not the least of which I’m sure was to touch us and be touched - but the former are the ones we mentioned yesterday.
Not to prolong the inevitable appearance of shepherds and Magi even further, but I think it may help us to look at HOW He came, or at least one aspect of it.
When I talk about the Gospels, I am talking about the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books tell the story of God as a man – Jesus – from birth to death to life. Both Matthew (1) and Luke (3) include a genealogy for Jesus. Fair warning, the genealogies differ, but it’s Matthew’s that I am interested in today.
Matthew writes a long list of strange names. It was always a joke, when I was still on a church staff, if one of us had to read this part of Scripture out loud in front of the congrega
tion. We knew, amongst ourselves, that none of us really knew how to pronounce many of these names, but if you stood behind the pulpit and read with confidence, no one was the wiser. Here they are:
1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Later, Matthew tells us that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, which is a somewhat abstract concept to grasp, but here he is being quite literal and definite. THIS is how God came, he is telling us, through these people, generation after generation.
The list is fascinating and important for a ton of reasons, but I will resist writing a dissertation on my blog today. Instead, let’s just focus on the dubiousness of this list.
Matthew does something unheard of for his time and place in history. He dares to include four WOMEN (gasp) on his list. Not only did he include their names in the middle of a patriarchal society, but two of the w
omen he mentions had interesting sex lives (Tamar had sex with her father-in-law, and Rahab was a prostitute), one an adulterer (Bathsheba was married to Uriah when King David saw her bathing on a roof and had an affair with her), one worked for a living (Ruth) and one who would become the most famous teenage mother in history (Mary). And it gets worse because two were foreigners, one was married to a Hittite (Canaanites, Moabites and Hittites, oh my…) and one claimed to be a pregnant virgin.
These are the women Jesus comes from. These are the women God included in His plan to come get us. A questionable group, to say the least, and I think it would be awesome to see them all in a front lawn manger scene.
Why did Matthew do this? Well, scholars have debated the reasons for centuries, and it is interesting to note that many greater and more virtuous women could have appeared on this list, but don’t.
For me, it is simply one way that God is beginning to clear up our misconceptions about Him through Christmas (remember His reasons for coming?). God is gracious. God is inclusive. God longs to fix broken things. God wants to prove that seemingly shameful and ugly things can be used for good - they can be REDEEMED. No matter what has happened, no matter what you have done, you are not outside the reach or heart of God.
Questions (quickly, since you’ve almost gotten fired for reading this novel while at work): Did you know that Jesus had such questionable relatives? What does that tell you about God and how He came? Have you ever felt outside the reach of God? Aren’t you glad these names didn’t appear in your 7th grade spelling bee?
‘Til the morrow.
We discussed yesterday how God decided to come get us for a multitude of reasons: to reconcile His relationship with us, to clear up our misconceptions about Who He is and how He longs to relate to humankind, and to give us directions to the true reality – a reality that we have replaced with a life that seems real, but isn’t (think The Matrix). There are other reasons too – not the least of which I’m sure was to touch us and be touched - but the former are the ones we mentioned yesterday.
Not to prolong the inevitable appearance of shepherds and Magi even further, but I think it may help us to look at HOW He came, or at least one aspect of it.
When I talk about the Gospels, I am talking about the first four books of the New Testament – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. These books tell the story of God as a man – Jesus – from birth to death to life. Both Matthew (1) and Luke (3) include a genealogy for Jesus. Fair warning, the genealogies differ, but it’s Matthew’s that I am interested in today.
Matthew writes a long list of strange names. It was always a joke, when I was still on a church staff, if one of us had to read this part of Scripture out loud in front of the congrega
tion. We knew, amongst ourselves, that none of us really knew how to pronounce many of these names, but if you stood behind the pulpit and read with confidence, no one was the wiser. Here they are:1A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: 2Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, Hezron the father of Ram, 4Ram the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, 6and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife, 7Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, 8Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah, 9Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. 12After the exile to Babylon: Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, Eliakim the father of Azor, 14Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Eliud, 15Eliud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, 16and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Later, Matthew tells us that Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, which is a somewhat abstract concept to grasp, but here he is being quite literal and definite. THIS is how God came, he is telling us, through these people, generation after generation.
The list is fascinating and important for a ton of reasons, but I will resist writing a dissertation on my blog today. Instead, let’s just focus on the dubiousness of this list.
Matthew does something unheard of for his time and place in history. He dares to include four WOMEN (gasp) on his list. Not only did he include their names in the middle of a patriarchal society, but two of the w
omen he mentions had interesting sex lives (Tamar had sex with her father-in-law, and Rahab was a prostitute), one an adulterer (Bathsheba was married to Uriah when King David saw her bathing on a roof and had an affair with her), one worked for a living (Ruth) and one who would become the most famous teenage mother in history (Mary). And it gets worse because two were foreigners, one was married to a Hittite (Canaanites, Moabites and Hittites, oh my…) and one claimed to be a pregnant virgin.These are the women Jesus comes from. These are the women God included in His plan to come get us. A questionable group, to say the least, and I think it would be awesome to see them all in a front lawn manger scene.
Why did Matthew do this? Well, scholars have debated the reasons for centuries, and it is interesting to note that many greater and more virtuous women could have appeared on this list, but don’t.
For me, it is simply one way that God is beginning to clear up our misconceptions about Him through Christmas (remember His reasons for coming?). God is gracious. God is inclusive. God longs to fix broken things. God wants to prove that seemingly shameful and ugly things can be used for good - they can be REDEEMED. No matter what has happened, no matter what you have done, you are not outside the reach or heart of God.
Questions (quickly, since you’ve almost gotten fired for reading this novel while at work): Did you know that Jesus had such questionable relatives? What does that tell you about God and how He came? Have you ever felt outside the reach of God? Aren’t you glad these names didn’t appear in your 7th grade spelling bee?
‘Til the morrow.
1 comment:
Ironically, Jesus was born of a virgin and the genealogy is of Joseph who does not necessarily have any close genetic connection whatsoever. It would be interesting to see Mary's genealogy if such were ever recorded in ancient scripts (though not so likely since, as you say, it was a patriarchal society).
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