The liturgical year begins with this the first Sunday of Advent.
Five years ago I wrote a post reflecting on the genealogy of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew.
Matthew 1.1-17Matthew's genealogy is noteworthy for two reasons. First, Matthew mentions women, five to be exact. In itself, this is an unusual move. But even more interesting, and this is the second thing to note, is what links the women Matthew selected to mention.
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham:
Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.
David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah's wife,
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.
After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Eliud,
Eliud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.
Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Christ.
All five share something in common: Sex scandals.
Rahab was a prostitute. Bathsheba was involved in adultery. Tamar tricks her father-in-law into sex leading to a pregnancy. And the unmarried Ruth goes and sleeps with an intoxicated Boaz at night (uncovering his "feet," a Semitic euphemism for the male organ).
Some speculate that Matthew highlights these sexual indiscretions to contextualize the scandal of Mary. Mary, Matthew may be arguing, isn't so different from other women in Israel's faith history. Matthew might be trying to normalize the scandal around Mary and the whiff of illegitimacy about Jesus.
Some speculate that Matthew highlights these sexual indiscretions to contextualize the scandal of Mary. Mary, Matthew may be arguing, isn't so different from other women in Israel's faith history. Matthew might be trying to normalize the scandal around Mary and the whiff of illegitimacy about Jesus.
But I think a more interesting way to read the genealogy is that Matthew is trying to highlight the scandal.
Presumably, God could have entered the world in a variety of fashions. We know Jesus enters the world under humble circumstances (peasant parents, occupied outpost of the Roman world, born in a stable, refugees in Egypt, raised in a backwater town, etc.).
But what does it mean that God enters the world under the cloud of moral scandal?
God chooses to enter the world in the middle of small town gossip. (And if you've ever lived in a small town you know exactly what that is like.) What does it say about God in this choosing to enter the world under these particular circumstances?
But what does it mean that God enters the world under the cloud of moral scandal?
God chooses to enter the world in the middle of small town gossip. (And if you've ever lived in a small town you know exactly what that is like.) What does it say about God in this choosing to enter the world under these particular circumstances?
I think it is a hint about where and how God begins God's work in the world. Then, as now, God doesn't start in churches. Nor does God start in world capitals or with superpowers. God doesn't start with the talented, powerful, rich, or famous.
Rather, God starts with the poor, the alien, the immigrant, the person on the street out in the cold.
And God starts in the midst of moral scandal and gossip. God starts in the place of social shame and moral blame.
God starts with an unmarried pregnant teenager. A human being--along with her embarrassing "situation"--still shunned, shamed and shut away in our churches.
Where does God begin?
Here, in the place the religious and the powerful least expect it.
Rather, God starts with the poor, the alien, the immigrant, the person on the street out in the cold.
And God starts in the midst of moral scandal and gossip. God starts in the place of social shame and moral blame.
God starts with an unmarried pregnant teenager. A human being--along with her embarrassing "situation"--still shunned, shamed and shut away in our churches.
Where does God begin?
Here, in the place the religious and the powerful least expect it.
(Photo: Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Annunciation, oil on canvas, 1898)
