We read this Gospel at least two times a year, on the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin and on December 17. Of course, if either of these occasions falls on a Sunday, we would miss out on hearing all of the names that trace Jesus’ lineage back to King David and Abraham, the two key figures of the genealogy. It consists of three sets of fourteen generations for a total of forty-two. It includes the names of the patriarchs of Israel, the kings of Israel, and several lesser known individuals from the period after the end of the Babylonian captivity. This genealogy is written by Matthew, a Jewish evangelist. There is a second genealogy that appears in the Gospel of Luke who was a Gentile evangelist. Luke’s genealogy traces Jesus back to Adam.
This genealogy also contains the names of four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. These four women have two things in common. They each conceived a child with someone other than their husband, and they were not Jewish. Some might think that it would be wiser to keep such things quiet. Why publicize the names of the Gentile unwed mothers?
One answer to that question is that for God, such vagaries and complexities of human life did not prevent the emergence of Jesus in God’s plan of salvation. God directs everything, even a murder, to his own purposes.
Another answer lies in the fact that these Gentile women give evidence that Jesus is not a redeemer for one race only. He is the redeemer of all people of all races.
Jesus was born into a particular human family at a particular time in history. The twists and turns in his family tree lead up to the biggest twist of all: a sinless, grace-filled woman who conceives the child Jesus – not with her husband, but through the power of the Holy Spirit. It calls to mind the saying, “God writes straight with crooked lines.” No matter how broken our families are, no matter how many twists and turns there are in our own family trees, God can still use us to carry out his plan. We need only to turn over our lives, and our families, to him.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator