I know it might strike some as odd, but I find the reading of the Gospel for today’s feast a wonderful experience. Yes, one does have to struggle a bit with all the strange names. However, these opening verses to the Gospel of St. Matthew fill me with a sense of wonder as I contemplate the lengths to which God went to save you and me.
Of course, the reading should not be taken too literally. It is written in a highly stylistic fashion, breaking the history of Israel into three sets of fourteen generations - forty-two generations in all. The three sets of fourteen represent the three different divisions of the history of Israel.
The first set of fourteen tells us of the various and well-known patriarchs of the early days of Jewish history and includes the names of three women. While this might not seem out of the ordinary to us, it would certainly have been out of the ordinary for this male-dominated society. These people did not have any sophisticated knowledge about procreation and thought that the woman’s role in giving birth was simply a matter of being a receptacle for the seed of the man which they thought was all that was necessary for generation.
The second set of fourteen generations chronicles the period of the Kings of Israel beginning with David and ending with Josiah. This period of Israel’s history was marked by a constant struggle to remain faithful to the covenant relationship into which the Israelites had entered with God. It ended with the captivity which has become known as the Babylonian Exile. One woman is also named in this section; namely, Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon.
The third set of fourteen generations enumerate the people who repopulated Israel after the exile. They are basically unknown in that we have very little historical information about them. Once again, another woman is added to the list; namely the Blessed Mother, Mary of Nazareth.
There are many lessons that can be learned from this listing. However, today, because we celebrate the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Mother, I want to focus on the women who are named or to whom the sacred writer alludes. The four women of the Hebrew Scriptures include two prostitutes, a Gentile, and an adulteress. The fourth woman stands in stark contrast to these three. However, commentators point out that Mary is related to each of them by the fact that like them, her acceptance of God’s will allowed God’s providential care for us to proceed as planned. Tamar was unjustly condemned. Rahab acted to protect her people. Ruth was originally rejected because of her Gentile heritage. Bathsheba was the victim of David’s lust. Yet in each case, God acted to further the plan of our salvation.
As we celebrate the Blessed Mother’s birth, we pause to give thanks for God’s intervention in her life, for her courage in accepting God’s plan for her, and for her faith despite the suffering that was part of her human life. She stands for us as not only the glory of Israel but also the precursor of our own destiny.
Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M.