Context No. 3607 of 4322 · Matthew

Matthew 1:1-11: in context

1The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers. 3Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram. 4Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon. 5Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse. 6Jesse became the father of King David. David the king became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah’s wife. 7Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa. 8Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah. 9Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah. 10Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah. 11Josiah became the father of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

Matthew opens his Gospel with the genealogy of Jesus, tracing his descent from Abraham, through David, to the exile. It might seem a dry list of names, but there are surprises woven into it. Matthew includes women, unusual in a genealogy, and the ones he names are striking: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba.

Several of them were foreigners; several were connected to scandal or shame. God deliberately wove into the lineage of the Messiah people the world might have hidden away, outsiders, the shamed, sinners. The family tree of Jesus is not a spotless line of the respectable but includes the broken and the outsider, by God's grace. This is the gospel from the very first verses: Jesus comes from, and comes for, people like these, the flawed, the foreign, the failed, drawing them into his own story. No one's past or origin puts them beyond the reach of the grace that runs down through his line.

Do I see in Jesus' own family tree the grace that welcomes the flawed, the outsider, and the shamed, and does that assure me that my own past does not put me beyond his reach?

Sources

Matthew 1:1: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham."
Matthew 1:5-6: "Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth... David... became the father of Solomon by her who had been Uriah's wife."
Matthew 1:3: "Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar."