[26/02, 7:50 am] Caswald Jemmott: Welcome to the period of Lent–a time when we pay attention to the life of Jesus from His temptations in the wilderness to His suffering, death and resurrection. This year we are reading the gospel of Matthew to help us in our reflection and I will try (God willing) to post a short devotional every day to help in that regard. Fell free to also share your thoughts with the WL community.
[26/02, 7:50 am] Caswald Jemmott: Matthew 1:1-17
The most noticeable thing about the genealogy of Jesus is the mention of women—not one but four excluding Mary. But what is even more noticeable about that is the reputation of those women. It is unusual in the Bible for women to be mentioned or listed in a Jewish genealogy and if they were one would expect that those women would be the most noble or noteworthy of the women of Jesu’s ancestry. But it almost appears that it is their notoriety rather than their nobility or noteworthiness that is the key to their inclusion. Tamar tricked her father in law, Judah to have sex with her (Gen.38:6-30); Rahab’s profession is not the one that a mother would desire for her daughter as she is described as a prostitute (Jos.2:1; 6:17, 25, Heb.11:31); Ruth’s brazen pass at Boaz violated proper decorum for a woman (Ruth 3:1-14); while Bathsheba, though not mentioned by name, was the partner for David’s adultery and the cause of Uriah’s murder (2 Sam.11:1-27).
So why would Matthew, in commending Jesus to his readers include, even highlight, such sordid stories. There must be some compelling reason which may not be obvious at first glance. I would like to contend that the one pertinent lesson is found in a right understanding of your past. Matthew highlights for us the fact that Jesus could identify with any one of us who recognises that not very one of our ancestors was saintly. Everyone of us has a past that contains some elements of which we are not proud, but he also exposes the truth that we are not our past or our parents and ancestors; we do not have to be like them.
What I believe Matthew tells us is that we are not to let our ancestry define us our past nor are we to let it derail our present or dictate our future. What we know of Jesus from the gospels is far different to the reputation of the women mentioned in his ancestry. We can rise above and beyond our sordid (disreputable, wretched, ignoble or whatever word you would use to define it) past to become someone of whom God declares, “… this is my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”
DO NOT LET YOUR ANCESTRY DEFINE YOUR PAST, DERAIL YOUR PRESENT OR DICTATE YOUR FUTURE.