During my first week here at Emmanuel as I slowly unpacked the boxes in my office, I was handed a stack of directories; lists of names, telephone numbers, addresses, birthdays, and emails. Some were older, with bits of information scribbled in the margins. Some were a good deal older, perhaps ten or fifteen years old with their outfits and hair styles still held firmly by hair spray in the mid-nineties.
But as I started on the job, it quickly became apparent that these directories were not going to be enough. I decided that what I needed if I were to truly understand this congregation was a genealogy. A double sided directory on eight by eleven was nice, but what I needed was a giant family tree printed out on one of those big architectural plotters. If I had this family tree with its branches sprawled out across my office walls, I would be able to begin to see and understand how everyone is connected and how this place works.
While they don’t make for particularly exciting or easy to pronounce biblical readings, genealogies are important. This can be seen in the passion with which people dive into ancestry.com or the Mormon library. Our genealogies, who we understand ourselves to be, where we come from, affect us in profound ways of which we are only occasionally aware.
The recent PBS series, ‘The Face of America,’ researched in depth the genealogies of a handful of celebrities. One of the most interesting parts came when they compiled a genetic genealogical profile of the celebrities. I distinctly remember when they revealed the results of this profile to Eva Longoria. Longoria had talked at length and with passion of her connection and heritage as a descendent of the indigenous people of Mexico. She spoke with the same fervor and spirit as Mexican soccer legend Cuauhtemoc Blanco’s Aztec inspired goal celebration. But the profile revealed that Longoria’s genetic makeup was mostly Spanish or European, by a significant margin. Upon hearing this news she was visibly shaken, how she understood herself and her identity had changed drastically in just a few moments.
Eva was so shaken because our genealogies, who we understand ourselves to be matter. They not only tell the story of past generations, but they also tell and shape the story of the generations of the present and the future. The important role they play in our lives moving forward is often reflected in family stories that tie one’s lineage into a king or queen. Many people search for these prominent figures sitting on the limbs of their family trees because if they are found they just might change our lives in the present.
As we first glance through the long list of names in Matthew’s lineage of Jesus, it seems that this lineage is the fulfillment of our grandest of hopes. We find Jesus, and therefore ourselves, tied to many of the great kings and leaders of God’s people. Jesus’ line runs through Solomon and David, all the way back to the fathers of the nations; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As we might expect, his family tree has royal roots.
But if we look a little bit closer at the genealogy of Jesus we find that just like the rivers this week, the waters begin to muddy. There are some surprising inclusions in the family tree Matthew lays out. The most striking is the presence four unusual women; Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Ruth. They are included in this genealogy even though they are women, but also despite the fact that they are not Jewish, they are four gentile women. As such, they wouldn't have any legitimate claim to the royal line of David. Furthermore, each of these women have interesting and muddy stories. Tamar’s inclusion into the line comes through a foggy account of prostitution. Similarly, Rahab was a prostitute, Bathsheba was known as an adulteress, and Ruth is sometimes seen as a seductress. And when we start to head down this road, it doesn't long before we start to realize that the men of this genealogy (I’m looking at you David, Jacob, and Ahaz) aren’t exactly princes either. Woven into what seems to be Jesus’ perfectly regal lineage are outsiders, connivers, and a variety other sometimes unsavory characters.
It turns out that what holds all of the people together in Jesus’ family tree, from Abraham to David to Ruth and most certainly to us, is not some sort of hereditary royal title or genetic trait. Rather what ties the sullied people of God together in the midst of a muddied world is the common experience of God’s grace and love. In this way our reading from Matthew tonight, a seemingly endless list of names, proclaims God’s good news for us. In it, we find story after story of God coming and fulfilling his promise to the people. To Abraham, God fulfilled the promise of the nations. To Rahab, God brings life. To Hezekiah, God brings safety. With each name listed, from Abraham to yours, there is the story of how we are tied together by the life Christ brings.
This evening we hear that this is our genealogy. We hear that we are first and foremost, the people who have over and again experienced God’s transformative presence. It is not our identity as Sweedes or Norweigens, Indigenous Mexicans or US citizens, mothers or fathers, prince or pauper which define us. Rather it is our identity, rooted in baptism, growing from the stump of Jesse, which will shape us and which will shape that which is to come on Christmas morning. AMEN.
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