I’ve been thinking through the significance of genealogies, and the importance of tracing one’s family pedigree. It is ironic that in a Christian world where we say that it really doesn’t matter where you come from it is only important where you are you are going and the fact that Christ has transformed you, that we still place bias on where people come from, rather than meeting people where they are and letting them explain themselves.

I was meeting with a guy who got ordained this year and has taken up a position in another Anglican diocese, and as we were talking he said to me “why do they hate me so much? I got first class honors, my theology is biblical, but because I studied at @@#%$#%#%$# they accused me of all these crazy things and didn’t want let me be appointed to the position”.
This just made me really really sad that we live in a world that is so… i don’t know, “stupid or ignorant” is the best way i can describe it, but then nothing has changed in 2000 years, Jesus got the same rejection and ignorance from the “church” back then so i don’t think i shouldexpect much more from the church today.

As i was reading through the genealogies in Matthew I tried to put myself in the position of a Pharisee as he was reading this “good news” that Matthew had written about.

As i read through it I had a mixture of emotions. I was impressed with people this Jesus rabbi was a decedent of people like Abraham,  Isaac, Judah, David, Solomon and Josiah, wow this is an impressive CV. but then i kind of felt a bit uneasy, these women are there, these people who are not even Jews:

There are five women in his genealogy. This is notable because it is not customary for Jews to include women in their records.
Even more insane is the fact that Matthew includes some women who had questionable lives. The five women included were: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.

Tamar: Genesis 38:6-30
Tamar was the daughter-in-law of Judah. She was a childless widow, who was given to her brother-in-law after her husband’s death. By this marriage, her offspring would continue the name and inheritance of the deceased. Such a union was later called a Leverite marriage (Deut 25:5-6).
Unfortunately, Tamar’s brother-in-law refused to have proper intercourse with her. God killed him for this. Afterwards, Judah would not give Tamar to any of his other sons. So Tamar disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced Judah.

Rahab: Joshua 2:1-24
Rahab was a prostitute who lived in Jericho. She hid the spies of Joshua.

Ruth: Ruth 1:1-4:22
Ruth was a foreigner from the land of Moab. She was the widow of a Jew.

Bathsheba: 2 Samuel 11:1-27
Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, who was a soldier in the army of King David. She and David had an adulterous affair.
When David discovered Bathsheba was pregnant, he tried to cover it up by summoning Uriah home from war, hoping that Uriah would have sex with his wife. Uriah came home to Jerusalem, but refused to lay with Bathsheba as long as the armies of Israel were at war.
So, David sent Uriah back into battle, with orders that Uriah be put in the front line so he would get killed.

Mary: Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 1:26-56
Mary was the mother of Jesus and the wife of Joseph. She was a virgin when Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit.
Joseph was betrothed to Mary when he discovered she was pregnant. He intended to put her away secretly because this was shameful. However, an angel told Joseph what had happened. So Joseph took Mary as his wife, and kept her as a virgin until she gave birth to Jesus.

All of these women were ancestors of Jesus, I don’t know why Matthew put them in but if I kind of get the feeling that if Jesus was born today he wouldn’t have the right pedigree to be a minister in the Anglican church:)