Sermon: Jesus’ Genealogy
Text: Matthew 1
Date: Nov. 14, 2004
Kendall H. Brown Kendall's Notebook page 35
Matthew begins his account of Jesus’ life and ministry by making a trip to the family cemetery – so to speak. His storytelling starts with one of the least read books in the Gospels, Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus. Many of us find our roots and connectedness by visits to family plots and graves. There we learn our story and there is much to learn about Jesus’ story by visiting the family plot as Matthew has given it to us.
A part of my childhood was to visit my paternal grandparents once a year. They lived in Western Massachusetts. Before the interstate system; a trip from Maine to Dad’s parents home was an annual summer adventure. The visit always included a trip to the cemetery where many of my ancestors and family are buried. My grandmother’s eyes watered up on every one of those visits, as she would point to a small stone and say, “There is where the baby is buried.” The moment was so emotionally charged that it took me several years to find the courage to ask for more information. The baby was an older sister of my father’s, who had died in infancy. She was my grandmother’s first child and it seemed that my grandmother never got over her loss. That is one of the family stories tucked away in that mountain plot in the Berkshire Hills.
Trips to my mother’s parents’ home also brought new insights through cemetery visits to my maternal grandparents’ family plots. I had always been told that my grandfather was an orphan and that his parents had died when he was very young. Trips to the cemetery and lots of questions finally revealed that my grandfather was not an orphan but in fact an abandoned child. His father back in the late 1800’s left my grandmother and her children for another woman. My great grandmother did die when my grandfather was twelve years old and an aunt and uncle raised him with the story that he was an orphan. My great grandfather’s abandonment was the unspoken family shame and secret for over a century. It is odd. The bodies get buried in cemeteries but the stories find their way out.
Matthew’s cemetery in the chapter one genealogy is filled with stories. You might open the Bibles in the pews this morning to Matthew 1. It is very easy to find, being the first book in the New Testament. The oldest grave in Jesus’ family plot belongs to Abraham the elder Patriarch with whom it all began. (verse 2) From Abraham the family line runs all the way to King David, reminding us that Jesus is royalty in more ways than one.
It is interesting to note the missing as we visit the Jesus’ family plot in Matthew’s genealogy. You will notice that no graves can be found for the first several generations of Biblical first ladies. Where are Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel? Even a young child might notice that their names are missing; Matthew does not include them in the family listing. One would have to explain to the children that women in those days were not of much account: Not even important enough to be mentioned along aside the men, who couldn’t have done what they are famous for without the women, namely produce a family line that became the Israelite nation.
It is fascinating to notice the women who are mentioned. Tamar’s name is there. (verse 3) Tamar was Judah’s daughter-in-law who is famous for having seduced and becoming pregnant by her father-in-law. No family secret there! And she is mentioned as one of Jesus’ ancestors. You can also find the name of Rahab. (verse 5) Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho. Like a lot of people with colorful stories, she had a heroic side. We are so used to writing some folk off because of one thing that we don’t like about them. Ahab’s presence in Jesus’ family tree reminds us that we might be a little more open minded and open hearted to others around us and look for the pluses as much as we cherish, relish and embellish the negatives.
She courageously hid Joshua’s spies before the battle of Jericho and thereby contributed to Joshua’s victory over the city.
Bathsheba is even mentioned in the family story, although not by name. Matthew refers to her as Uriah’s wife. Bathsheba is best known for her adulterous affair with King David that resulted in the birth of Solomon. The affair also resulted with David setting up Uriah to die in battle in order to cover his and Bathsheba’s sinful behavior. Ruth too is mentioned in Matthew 21.
It is noteworthy that none of the women specifically mentioned in Jesus’ family tree were Jews. They were all outsiders – Jordanians, Palestinians, Arabic – but not Jewish. Matthew’s genealogy foreshadows Jesus’ ministry of inclusiveness. God was speaking through Matthew’s words that became Holy Scripture. God was acting through Jesus’ ministry to the marginalized and ostracized. God is still speaking and acting through our church even as we work towards an outreach campaign that embraces our UCC identity as a church of hospitality and welcome today.
Last mentioned in Matthew’s family line is Joseph. Joseph had come to belong to the ages long before Mary passed away. He deserves a special place in Jesus’ family tree and in our hearts today. Joseph was engaged to Mary as the text tells us. We can easily forget that engagement was not the same thing in Joseph and Mary’s day. There were legalities around engagement. Engagement was a legally binding relationship and contract that could only be broken by a court action. The engagement period was often several years long. It would have been a huge disappointment for any man to find out that his fiancée was pregnant, as did Joseph and any man who experienced what Joseph experienced had rights to terminate the engagement.
How Joseph must have been torn apart when he heard that Mary was pregnant! One wonders how Joseph came to the decision to stick with his fiancée.
He might have gone and talked about it with a bunch of people. Stir up the gossip circle and get all kinds of stories going to make him look good and Mary look bad. But gossip never serves any decent purpose. The only purposes that gossip serves are wrong and full of sin and sinfulness. Gossip destroys trust. Gossip destroys honesty and honest communication. Gossip destroys truth. Gossip undermines the building of community. Gossip is a disease in Christ’s body that is always a debilitating disease. Gossip is the work of the Devil, and never does it serve any purpose in god’s plan nor does it ever contribute to healing, wholeness and health.
Joseph, in the face of a terribly personal challenge, did not take the low road to meet the challenge. He refused to disgrace himself and Mary by engaging in small talk to find out what other people might think or by taking a poll to assess what he would do. Joseph was his own person who found his strength in his relationship with God, who did not sway with whatever wind of rumor might be running amuck in the neighborhood, and did what his conscience declared as right.
Without a doubt Joseph had some friends who had all the answers because the answers are very simple. They would have told him that it was a matter of upholding family values and that the Bible (the Holy Scripture) is quite clear as it is always quite clear about what to do and what not to do. And what does the Bible say on this matter? The answer is as clear today as it would have been for Joseph. Deuteronomy 22 gives the answer in no uncertain terms. There is no wiggle room here. Deut. 22 says, “She is to be taken out and stoned to death in front of the people.” That is it. Short, to the point and not so sweet. Joseph, if he did what any Bible believing person would have done would have had Mary stoned to death.
Reading the Bible and living by its word is a lot like reading and playing music. There is the printed word and the printed sheet music. One can read a piece of sheet music and get the idea that the song is fast or slow, has a three/four waltz beat, or a calypso beat, and the lyrics tell a love story. But for one to really know the music, to fully appreciate the music and to allow the music to enter one’s spirit and soul, the music must be heard with the ear as well as seen with the eye. The written music, which an eye can see, can only hint at the rhythms, nuances, harmonies, and ethereal tunes that the inner ear must hear. The Scriptures are to be read the same way. They must be read with an eye that is connected to the inner ear of the heart that hears God’s love and purpose behind the stories. The Bible does not answer every single question that comes into human history. It didn’t for Joseph as he pondered what to do with Mary. He listened with the inner ear to what God was saying to him and decided to protect and honor Mary in what was at best a dishonorable situation.
Joseph is one of the first characters in the New Testament cast of characters. One of the greatest offerings that Joseph gives us is in his being the first person in the story of Jesus who showed that he knew how to read the Bible. He did not do what the Bible clearly said he should just because it says so in the Scriptures. He listened with the inner ear and heard God speaking. God still speaks. For us to hear him we too need to be listening with inner ears. Eyes unconnected to an inner ear are blind to all that God has to say to us. God leads us today into new places even as he led Joseph into a new space and a new definition of his life. God speaks to us that we be a Joseph people, who offer hope to others, not condemnation and judgment. Most importantly, by being a person who knew how to use both his eyes and ears, when reading the Bible, Joseph opened his life to Christ being born in it. That is what Christmas is all about. Advent is all about preparing our hearts for the birth of Christ in our lives.
(Credit should be given where credit is due. Thanks to Dr. Fred Craddock for the skeleton form of this sermon. See: Craddock: The Cherry Log
Sermons. “God is With Us.” Page1.)