We move from Mark to Matthew
today. Matthew starts off with a family
tree of Jesus. Two things to note: there
are four women named in the genealogy.
The four are particularly interesting.
Tamar was sexually assaulted, Ruth was a foreigner (one of those
people); Bethsheba (who isn’t named, but referenced in vs. 6 as, ‘wife of
Uriah’) had an affair with David, and Mary has a child out of wedlock. I love how Scripture is not afraid to air our
human-size dirty laundry. I love how
Scripture honestly says, humans are messy, and their halos are not nearly as
blindingly bright as you’d think. We
have in Scripture stories of abuse and violence; pain and suffering, because
this is part of the human story still today.
These stories are traumatic, and they also offer an opportunity for
us to talk about the pain that still exists today. Sexual abuse still happens far too much today. Too often we treat foreigners not with
kindness and humanity, but as “illegal” and unwanted and less than. We don’t talk about sexual ethics, rather we
still shame and shun women who have children out of wedlock ~ while not holding
men accountable. Jesus’ genealogy is
dripping and drenched with honesty and humility in Matthew.
Which raises the question:
what are the family secrets in your genealogy?
There is a great song in the Disney movie, Encanto, “We don’t
talk about Bruno”? Bruno has been
banished by the family for a variety of reasons and the family acts like he
never existed. Go ahead, Google the
song, it is really catchy! And it is so
true. There are family members who have
been cut off from the family tree. The
writer of Matthew is willing to say what got us here isn’t a bunch of saints,
but people who were human-sized. To be
sure, you don’t have to know the story of every name in Matthew’s
genealogy. But it can help you think
about your relatives, the ones you know and the ones you rarely
see, even at the family reunion. Who are
some of the relatives that have shaped your life? What ways are their fingerprints still on
your heart? Who are the family members
you don’t know, because you don’t talk about the “Bruno” on that branch of your
tree?
In chapter 2, we hear how
humans are still motivated by fear where Herod (like Pharoah in the Exodus)
let’s his ego cause heartbreak and soul ache by killing boys under the age of 2
when the Magi don’t come back with a full report of where to find God’s
son. It is not a coincidence that
Joseph, Mary, and Jesus flee to Egypt. In
Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses.
It is not a coincidence that on Thursday you will read the Sermon on the
Mount, echoing how Moses received the 10 Commandments on the mountain. Matthew lays his cards on the table by
showing us in the first two chapters, God’s presence among us doesn’t mean
chocolate rivers and pony rides. There
is suffering and struggles and stumbles as we try to make our way up the
mountains of life. We get lost, wander
away, run away in fear, have dreams, and try to be open to God amid the fear
that is very real around us. Too often
we read the coming of the Magi without hearing the death/pain that followed by
their not following Herod’s demand. I
know they were told not to, but the ripple effects are real. This is an adult story that is still repeated
and replayed in our world today. What
truths do you see in the first two chapters?
Take time to record these in a journal and hold these close as we lean
into the promise of Emmanuel, God with us and for us, even when the evidence
around us doesn’t quite look to convincing.
May God’s love protect and provide for you this day. Amen.
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