No more discrimination among Christians!

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.

In the time of Jesus it was 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; it means that with Jesus 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. Jesus is our peace.

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 along men; 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. Any political or ecclesiastical policy that discriminates against women has no standing among followers of Jesus.

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).