Matthew 1:1-17
An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.
Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the
father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the
father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron
the father of Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of
Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by
Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and
Jesse the father of King David.
And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of
Uriah, and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
and Abijah the father of Asaph, and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and
Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, and Uzziah the
father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of
Hezekiah, and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,
and Amos the father of Josiah, and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers,
at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was
the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, and Zerubbabel
the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of
Azor, and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim
the father of Eliud, and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of
Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph the
husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.
So all the generations from Abraham to David are
fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen
generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.
Food for thought!
There is so much food for thought in the gospel
reading. We can only mention some of it. By far the most amazing thing is the
names of the women who appear in Jesus' family tree.
It is not common to find the names of women in
Jewish pedigrees at all. The woman had no legal rights; she was regarded, not
as a person, but as a thing. She was merely the possession of her father or of
her husband, who could dispose of her as he liked. The very existence of these
names in any pedigree at all is not only surprising, it is revolutionary.
When we look at who these women were, and look at
what they did, the matter becomes even more amazing. (1) Rachab, or as the Old
Testament calls her, Rahab, was a prostitute of Jericho (Josh.2:1-7). (2) Ruth
was not even a Jewess; she was a Moabitess (Ru.1:4), and does not the law
itself lay it down, "No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of
the Lord; even to the tenth generation none belonging to them shall enter the
assembly of the Lord forever" (Deut.23:3)? Although Ruth belonged to an
alien and a hated people, she entered not just the assembly but the family tree
of Jesus Christ. (3) Tamar was a deliberate seducer and an adulteress; she
seduced her father-in-law and got herself impregnated by him (Gen.38). (4)
Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, was the woman whom David seduced from Uriah,
her husband, with an unforgivable cruelty (2Sam.11-12).
Be it as it may, there is something very lovely in
all this. Here, with these women, the gospel shows us the essence of the good
news of Jesus Christ, that there are no more barriers, between men and women,
between Jews and non-Jews. In Jesus there are no more discrimination due to
race, sex and religion. We all stand equal before the Lord. Jesus is for all
and all for Jesus.
It means that in Jesus the barrier between Jew and
non-Jewish is down. Rahab, the woman of Jericho, and Ruth, the woman of Moab,
find their place within the pedigree of Jesus Christ.
It means that in Jesus the barriers between male
and female are also down. In no ordinary pedigree would the name of any woman
be found; but such names are found in Jesus' pedigree. The old contempt is
gone; and men and women stand equally dear to God, and equally important to his
purposes. God can and does use men and women to accomplish his mission.
It means that in Jesus the barrier between saint
and sinner is down. Somehow God can use for his purposes those who have sinned
greatly. "I came" said Jesus, "not to call the righteous, but sinners"
(Matt. 9:13).
Here at the very beginning of the gospel we are
given a hint of the all-embracing width of the love of God. God can find his
servants amongst Christians and non-Christians, among men and women, among
saints and sinners.
In Christ’s family there can be no division into
Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal.
That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ.
(Galatians 3:18).
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