inclusiveness

Matthew 1:5-6 “Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife . . . .”

Confession: For most of my life, I kind of skipped over the genealogy of Jesus at the start of Matthew. I didn’t recognize most of the names, so it wasn’t very interesting. Now, I read it every time, because to me it speaks volumes of the grace of Jesus.

I used to expect Jesus’ family tree to contain heroes and upstanding citizens, and it does. I’ve learned that Jewish genealogies were a formal legal description of a family that was used for business and ceremonial purposes. They had a certain form, and tended to put the family in the best possible light.

But the genealogy in first verses of Matthew breaks from Jewish tradition in a couple of ways that can only be meant to make a statement. For one thing, it includes four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Jewish bloodlines and inheritances were patrilineal, meaning they went through the men. But the first part of Matthew lists these women.

Second, the women it lists represent a kind of airing of the family dirty linen. These could be considered skeletons in the closet. Tamar seduced her father-in-law Judah because he failed to protect her place in society according to Jewish law. Rahab was a fallen woman in Jericho. Ruth was a foreigner, a Moabite woman.

And Bathsheba isn’t named, except as the ex-wife of Uriah. The lust- and guilt-induce murder of Uriah was probably King David’s worst moment, and King David was probably the best of all the men and women listed in Jesus’ genealogy. You’d think that at least would be too embarrassing to mention, but it wasn’t.

The few verses above are representative of the whole in that they contain leading citizens (Boaz) and kings (David) along with unknowns and several women. Some of the kings after Solomon led Israel into idolatry. There is a mix of humanity that covers the whole spectrum of good and evil, men and women, Jews and Gentiles.

For that reason, Jesus’ family tells me of the inclusiveness of his covenant. You don’t have to be Jewish or male or even all that good to become a brother or sister of Jesus. You just have to believe in what he did on the cross.

This very first passage in Matthew tells me a lot about Jesus and what he thought was important. It makes me want to know more about everyone in it. It makes me want to know more about my brothers and sisters of the covenant too.