Today's reading from the One-Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Mark 1:1, Luke 1:1-4, John 1:1-18, Matthew 1:1-17, Luke 3:23-38, Luke 1:5-38.
Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Today we begin the
(I feel like there should be some trumpet fanfare or something, don't you?!) And I am so excited to be able to post about the genealogies of Jesus!
Yes, you read that right ~ I love reading through these particular lists of names!
The accounts in Matthew and Luke differ a fair bit for a couple of reasons: 1) Matthew's only goes back to Abraham where Luke's goes all the way back to Adam, and 2) Matthew's traces Jesus' lineage through his earthly father Joseph, where Luke's traces Jesus' only biological lineage, which is through His mother, Mary.
Where Matthew was concerned about linking Jesus with the Jews, Luke ~ a Gentile ~ was concerned with linking Jesus to the entire human race. Where Matthew used official records, Luke used eye-witness accounts, and according to tradition, actually interviewed Mary to get his information about the foretelling and the birth of Christ. But while those things are of interest to me, my favourite thing about the lists of names is found only in Matthew's account. Can you think what that might be?
That's right ~ Matthew's account includes some women.
But I don't love these women for the reasons you might think. I don't love them because, "ah, FINALLY, the Bible is recognizing the importance of women in the appearance of Christ!" No, that's not it. What I love about the inclusion of these women is that all but one stand out because of sin ~ either theirs or the sin surrounding them.
Take Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law. She was married to Judah's son, Er, but God killed him because he was evil. Then Judah gave Tamar to his next son, Onan, as was the custom, but Onan was wicked too, and refused to preserve his brother's lineage by producing an heir with Tamar, so God killed him, too. Judah's third son was obviously considerably younger and needed time to grow up, so Judah invited Tamar to live in his home where he could provide for her until such time as his youngest son was old enough to marry her. Only that never happened. And Tamar got tired of waiting, stuck in cultural limbo. So she takes matters into her own hands, dresses up like a prostitute, and seduces her own father-in-law (who obviously had issues of his own, given he paid for the services of a prostitute), and became pregnant with twins as a result. And one of those twins, Perez, is recorded in the line of David and Jesus.
Take Rahab, the prostitute, whose faith saved her after she hid the Israelite spies on her rooftop and lowered them over the wall to escape. She ended up being the great-great-grandmother of King David, and also, as a result, an ancestor of Christ.
Take Ruth, the Moabitess, who should never have been taken as a wife by an Israelite man in the first place. She was from a nation God hated and He had forbidden intermarriage between Israel and Moab. Yet her love and dedication to her widowed mother-in-law is one of the most loved stories in the Old Testament; the love story of her meeting and marrying Boaz is one of the most beautiful. And in marrying Boaz, she became Rahab's daughter-in-law and King David's great-grandmother.
And then there's Bathsheba, who isn't even mentioned by name, but everyone knows this is who Matthew's talking about when he writes, "Uriah's wife." Man, one little relaxing bath on the rooftop before bed and her life is plunged into the centre of one of the biggest, ugliest, most notorious scandals of the Bible! And yet she becomes the wife of a king, the mother of the wisest man who ever lived, and an ancestor to The Messiah. Interestingly, Joseph is a descendant of her son Solomon and Mary descends from her son Nathan. This woman is inextricably linked to Christ!!
And then...
...and then we come to Mary, who stands in stark contrast to the other women mentioned; the only one in the list who doesn't appear as a result of any national or personal sin. The only one willing to take on the appearance of sin for the glory of God. She is young ~ oh, so very young ~ but so dedicated to doing God's will, no matter how she'll be labelled, no matter what Joseph and all Nazareth will think of her when they find out she's expecting yet still unmarried. No matter the cost, she gives herself up as a sacrifice to God and puts herself fully at His disposal to do with whatever He pleases. She uses the word "handmaiden," which is the feminine version of the word bond-slave ~ the word used to describe people who, though they had been set free, VOLUNTARILY CHOSE to stay and spend their lifetime serving their masters.
I love these women.
I love Bathsheba and Ruth whose names should never have appeared due to their nationalities, and whose circumstances were so unfortunate and so beyond their control, yet God used them in remarkable ways to shape the men in their lives and their descendants for many generations.
I love Rahab and Tamar, two women of VERY questionable repute who did some truly despicable things, and yet were both blessed for their faithfulness in the end, and rewarded with a position in the heritage of the most famous, powerful, loved and revered Jewish king of all time, and even of the Messiah Himself.
I love how through the inclusion of these women, and really, all the men as well ~ the good, the evil, and the mediocre ~ that God shows us over and over again, that He is in control. And not only that He's in control, but that He can work with ANYTHING we humans have to offer Him. If He can provide salvation to the world through these unsavory characters who, by all outward appearances, had absolutely NOTHING to offer Him, surely He can use us to show off His glory as well.
And I love the example Mary sets for all people ~ of giving herself ENTIRELY to God's purpose. I love her willingness to be used by Him at all costs. I love that she's so young ~ God can use people of ANY age to do amazing things!!
We see in this genealogy that God can use people even if they are not committed to serving Him, but oh, I pray we would rather all have Mary's heart of service and say, "Behold the handmaids/bondslaves of the Lord; be it unto [us] according to thy word."
PS. I found SO much more information than I ever dreamed one would need about the details of the two genealogies, their discrepancies (including the case of Shealtiel's two fathers ~ Luke says it's Neri and Matthew says it's Jeconiah), possible reasons for them, and SO much more! If you're a geek like me, and have some time on your hands, there's some pretty cool stuff there.
Guess what, ladies and gentlemen? Today we begin the
NEW TESTAMENT!
(I feel like there should be some trumpet fanfare or something, don't you?!) And I am so excited to be able to post about the genealogies of Jesus!
Yes, you read that right ~ I love reading through these particular lists of names!
The accounts in Matthew and Luke differ a fair bit for a couple of reasons: 1) Matthew's only goes back to Abraham where Luke's goes all the way back to Adam, and 2) Matthew's traces Jesus' lineage through his earthly father Joseph, where Luke's traces Jesus' only biological lineage, which is through His mother, Mary.
Where Matthew was concerned about linking Jesus with the Jews, Luke ~ a Gentile ~ was concerned with linking Jesus to the entire human race. Where Matthew used official records, Luke used eye-witness accounts, and according to tradition, actually interviewed Mary to get his information about the foretelling and the birth of Christ. But while those things are of interest to me, my favourite thing about the lists of names is found only in Matthew's account. Can you think what that might be?
That's right ~ Matthew's account includes some women.
But I don't love these women for the reasons you might think. I don't love them because, "ah, FINALLY, the Bible is recognizing the importance of women in the appearance of Christ!" No, that's not it. What I love about the inclusion of these women is that all but one stand out because of sin ~ either theirs or the sin surrounding them.
Take Tamar, Judah's daughter-in-law. She was married to Judah's son, Er, but God killed him because he was evil. Then Judah gave Tamar to his next son, Onan, as was the custom, but Onan was wicked too, and refused to preserve his brother's lineage by producing an heir with Tamar, so God killed him, too. Judah's third son was obviously considerably younger and needed time to grow up, so Judah invited Tamar to live in his home where he could provide for her until such time as his youngest son was old enough to marry her. Only that never happened. And Tamar got tired of waiting, stuck in cultural limbo. So she takes matters into her own hands, dresses up like a prostitute, and seduces her own father-in-law (who obviously had issues of his own, given he paid for the services of a prostitute), and became pregnant with twins as a result. And one of those twins, Perez, is recorded in the line of David and Jesus.
Take Rahab, the prostitute, whose faith saved her after she hid the Israelite spies on her rooftop and lowered them over the wall to escape. She ended up being the great-great-grandmother of King David, and also, as a result, an ancestor of Christ.
Take Ruth, the Moabitess, who should never have been taken as a wife by an Israelite man in the first place. She was from a nation God hated and He had forbidden intermarriage between Israel and Moab. Yet her love and dedication to her widowed mother-in-law is one of the most loved stories in the Old Testament; the love story of her meeting and marrying Boaz is one of the most beautiful. And in marrying Boaz, she became Rahab's daughter-in-law and King David's great-grandmother.
And then there's Bathsheba, who isn't even mentioned by name, but everyone knows this is who Matthew's talking about when he writes, "Uriah's wife." Man, one little relaxing bath on the rooftop before bed and her life is plunged into the centre of one of the biggest, ugliest, most notorious scandals of the Bible! And yet she becomes the wife of a king, the mother of the wisest man who ever lived, and an ancestor to The Messiah. Interestingly, Joseph is a descendant of her son Solomon and Mary descends from her son Nathan. This woman is inextricably linked to Christ!!
And then...
...and then we come to Mary, who stands in stark contrast to the other women mentioned; the only one in the list who doesn't appear as a result of any national or personal sin. The only one willing to take on the appearance of sin for the glory of God. She is young ~ oh, so very young ~ but so dedicated to doing God's will, no matter how she'll be labelled, no matter what Joseph and all Nazareth will think of her when they find out she's expecting yet still unmarried. No matter the cost, she gives herself up as a sacrifice to God and puts herself fully at His disposal to do with whatever He pleases. She uses the word "handmaiden," which is the feminine version of the word bond-slave ~ the word used to describe people who, though they had been set free, VOLUNTARILY CHOSE to stay and spend their lifetime serving their masters.
I love these women.
I love Bathsheba and Ruth whose names should never have appeared due to their nationalities, and whose circumstances were so unfortunate and so beyond their control, yet God used them in remarkable ways to shape the men in their lives and their descendants for many generations.
I love Rahab and Tamar, two women of VERY questionable repute who did some truly despicable things, and yet were both blessed for their faithfulness in the end, and rewarded with a position in the heritage of the most famous, powerful, loved and revered Jewish king of all time, and even of the Messiah Himself.
I love how through the inclusion of these women, and really, all the men as well ~ the good, the evil, and the mediocre ~ that God shows us over and over again, that He is in control. And not only that He's in control, but that He can work with ANYTHING we humans have to offer Him. If He can provide salvation to the world through these unsavory characters who, by all outward appearances, had absolutely NOTHING to offer Him, surely He can use us to show off His glory as well.
And I love the example Mary sets for all people ~ of giving herself ENTIRELY to God's purpose. I love her willingness to be used by Him at all costs. I love that she's so young ~ God can use people of ANY age to do amazing things!!
We see in this genealogy that God can use people even if they are not committed to serving Him, but oh, I pray we would rather all have Mary's heart of service and say, "Behold the handmaids/bondslaves of the Lord; be it unto [us] according to thy word."PS. I found SO much more information than I ever dreamed one would need about the details of the two genealogies, their discrepancies (including the case of Shealtiel's two fathers ~ Luke says it's Neri and Matthew says it's Jeconiah), possible reasons for them, and SO much more! If you're a geek like me, and have some time on your hands, there's some pretty cool stuff there.
Tomorrow's passages: Luke 1:39-80, Matthew 1:18-25, Luke 2:1-40.
2 comments:
Great post, Tammi, thanks! I had noticed the women's names in the one account but didn't give it that much thought, beyond thinking that it was amazing what God could do with us pitiful, weak humans who seemingly have little to offer. It comforts me that in spite of the fact that sometimes I feel the things I do are not that important, every fiber of every thread that makes up a tapestry is important in its own role.
That what makes the Bible so indisputably authentic - it does not shy away from the ugliness of our human nature because there in shines the grace of God and the sovereignty of God. Great post!
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