eAdventWithMatthewDec9 - Four or five women

   Ancient genealogies were the domain of males.  How odd that Matthew mentions four women - and such strange women!  Tamar (Genesis 38) seduced her father-in-law, Judah.  Rahab was a foreigner and prostitute of Jericho (Joshua 2).  Ruth (another foreigner) dressed up to lure rich Boaz into marriage.  Bathsheba slept with King David (2 Samuel 11).  Notice a fifth woman:  Mary.  Did she not seem as suspect as the other four?

   Weren't there holy women over the generations?  And while these women had checkered pasts, remember that a man was involved each time!  All four women suffered disadvantage at the hands of men; in the end, each came to be treated justly, each believed and was saved.

   But why not whitewash Jesus' genealogy?  Why mention women at all, much less these women?  Perhaps they remind us that the whole host of people to whom Jesus came, women and men, were sinful, lost, outsiders.  Jesus came to forgive, find, include.  Perhaps they remind us that Jesus is about justice, treating the disadvantaged charitably.  Perhaps the genealogy is just the way it was - which is good news for you and me.

   Lord, thank you for coming to us with our checkered pasts, and ushering us in to forgiveness and belonging.

James

james@mpumc.org

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