Last updated on October 23, 2024
Today’s readings focus on Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogies. It’s a long list of names that are mostly foreign to us. Some names are difficult to pronounce.
What is the purpose for these lists? A purpose is obviously to show Jesus’ lineage, but I think it’s deeper than that. These list contain some surprises. First, women are mentioned. That wasn’t normally the case with Jewish genealogies in this day. Second, while heroes of the Jewish faith are mentioned as ancestors of Jesus (Abraham and David), there’s also a king (Manasseh – 2 Kings 21) who the listeners would prefer to forget.
Finally, there’s just a lot of humanity here. And humanity is above all complex. Rahab is here. She was a prostitute, but also hid the Jewish spies. And then there is David and Bathsheba. David used his power to commit evil when he took Bathsheba, a married woman, as his own, and then had her husband killed to cover it up.
I think this is a second theme that we will see again and again. We as humans are complex. Our spirituality is complex. And even God is complex. We must continue to wrestle with the complexities in our lives. There is nothing neat and simple about them.