This article asks an amazing
question. Just what in hell were the
names of four scandalous women doing in the lead genealogy of Matthew?
I have only leapt over that
particular grind forever. Suddenly we
stop and ask just what they were thinking?
I do know however, that a belief
in God’s providence can be found in history and seen in that history.
Just the actions of Pope John
Paul II who surely was informed by this belief as were his electors and this
led directly to the toppling of the Iron Curtain.
Today we witness a brewing
turmoil in the Islamic world that we do not understand yet I see rising
opportunity for Christianity there in a world which had blocked it out
completely. I just do not want to
believe it is possible. In China ,
the arm wrestle is now between Communism and Christianity and it is deep and
wide and almost invisible. The moment it
breaks the emergence will be abrupt. It
is in position to assist the people to throw off the Communist ideology
outright. Again I do not want to believe
what I am seeing is true.
Two generations ago the emergence
of a fully established State of Israel was impossible to see. It was impossible to see any circumstance
that would permit a Christian resurgence in Islam. It was impossible to foresee any interest in
Christianity in China . Yet this is what the prophetic strain of End
Days Christianity was happily preaching.
Today all those paths are open.
The Woman Problem in the Bible: Part One of Four-part series
Saturday, November 19, 2011
By Juli Loesch Wiley
In the beginning, there was a sex scandal. If the National
Enquirerhad been sold on some newsstand in Eden , this would have been the world’s first
tabloid headline: "Eve Tempts Adam: Bite My Apple." Of
course, the first sin had nothing to do with sex ---believe me, it didn’t ----
but that’s what sells newspapers. So as sure as the sun rises, instead of
talking about all the splendid things God had just done in Genesis, we would
have been talking about "Applegate."
Let’s look at the four ladies in Matthew’s genealogy who were
Jesus’ ancestors. But I won’t handle it the way it would be handled by a
supermarket tabloid.
The genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew's Gospel is often an embarrassment to Lectors. It seems so boring, as the lector goes on and ONNNN, reciting 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 more from David to the Babylonian Exile, and 14 more from the Exile to Christ. The names sound like a spell or incantation:
The genealogy of Jesus found in Matthew's Gospel is often an embarrassment to Lectors. It seems so boring, as the lector goes on and ONNNN, reciting 14 generations from Abraham to David, 14 more from David to the Babylonian Exile, and 14 more from the Exile to Christ. The names sound like a spell or incantation:
Perez,Amminadab, Rehoboam, Jehoshaphat,
Hezekiah, Jechoniah,Shealtiel, Zerubbabel. It’s comical. It is as if
a multitude of dwarfs, with strange curly beards and pointed caps, is joined
together by their baby-making equipment to form a living Eiffel tower of
humanity.
But Matthew’s genealogy is much subtler than you might think. For one
thing, contrary to the patriarchal mentality of the time, Matthew has inserted
four women into the long list of men— a fascinating innovation.
Matthew’s readers, who knew the Hebrew Scriptures well, must have
been unpleasantly jolted--- embarrassed, even --- at finding Tamar, Rahab,
Ruth and Bathsheba on the list.
Why? In brief:
First Tamar, an apparent Canaanite and apparent prostitute, who
apparently seduces her father-in-law and becomes an ancestress of Jesus---
apparently through incest. I just said “apparently” four times.
I’ll clarify that later.
Second Rahab, who really WAS All That --- a real Canaanite and
---- a real working prostitute.
Third, Ruth, a Moabite. This was a pagan tribal group the
prophets Ezra and Nehemiah forbade the Jewish people to intermarry with because
of their treachery.
Fourth, Bathsheba, who became the mistress of King David, and brought on a moral catastrophe which almost destroyedIsrael ’s most beloved king.
Fourth, Bathsheba, who became the mistress of King David, and brought on a moral catastrophe which almost destroyed
Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. It’s like saying the
Word was made Flesh from Calamity Jane; Typhoid Mary; the
murderous Lizzy Borden, and --- let’s say --- Monica Lewinski.
Instead of covering up Christ's "less acceptable" roots,
Matthew highlights them by mentioning these four women --- and these four only.
Did we need to know all this?
Yes.
For thousands of years all human relationships, public and private,
were seen in the context of pedigree: ancestors and descendants.
Mary, the mother of Jesus, sees her life this way. She says,
His mercy is from generation unto generations,
Behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
As he spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed for ever.
She was standing at the point of connection, between all the
generations of the past, including Eve, who is the one who famously blew it,
and all the generations of the future who would call her blessed. Why is
it important? Is this going to be a Patriarchal Parable, where all the
evil comes from women, starting with Eve? Or am I going to turn it into a
Feminist Folktale, where, as I’m sure you know, it always works out that
Women are Nice and Men are Lice?
I’m not going to tell you a patriarchal story--- and I wouldn’t waste
your time with feminism. Yes, it’s OK to be a feminist in the Church, if
you’re a feminist transformed by the Gospel. It’s even OK to be
a patriarchalist in the Church --- if you’re
a patriarchalist transformed by the Gospel. The important thing
isn’t patriarchy or feminism. The important thing is transformation.
But if transformation is important, why is this troublesome genealogy
important? For that matter, why is ANY Scripture important?
Is it because Scripture gives us weekly exposure to inspirational
poetry? No. You could get lots more inspirational poetry from Helen
Steiner Rice.
Is it important because Scripture provides us with a systematic code of
moral theology? No. Most of the Bible is not moral theology, and
it’s anything but systematic.
Is it important because Scripture has stories we can use atVacation Bible
School to get the kids to
behave? No, not even that. Parts of the Bible are not suitable for getting kids
to behave: if that were the point, the stories of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth
and Bathsheba would not be in there.
Is it important because Scripture has stories we can use at
Scripture is important for only one reason: because it’s true.
It’s not an “authorized biography” edited by a defense attorney and distributed
by a public relations firm. Scripture has not been carefully scrubbed by the
Big Man’s campaign manager. It tells what actually happened. It tells the
truth about men, women, families and nations. It’s history.
Catholic philosophy says that God’s Providence can be found in history. I
find this difficult to believe. Mind, you, I believe it, but I find it
difficult. It often looks to me like “History is just one damned thing
after another.” But the valuable thing about Biblical history is that
it’s not a cover-up. It shows you how it happened, one damned thing after
another. And then it shows you what God did with it.
Jesus was introduced into human history with a mostly-Semitic, 40
century, more-or-less 40 book prequel. The evangelist Matthew recaps the whole
4,000 year story in super-concentrated form via his Genealogy, with its few
heroes and its many humbugs, its anointed Prophets and its string of trifling
piffle kings.
It’s not a WikiLeaks Exposé. Even the most wince-worthy
details come to us, not from the foes of Israel, not from the enemies of
Christ, not from the mockers, the skeptics, unbelievers and the atheists, but
from the very first Apostle who wrote the very first Gospel, in fact, the very
first chapter of that Gospel.
Surprisingly, just four women are highlighted in the Genealogy, and
rather unrepresentative ones at that. If you don’t like the rather
eyebrow-raising selections, your quarrel isn’t with me, it’s with the
authors, Matthew and the Holy Spirit: the ones who decided who made the cut.
The point?
It’s that Jesus, God Incarnate, enters into this history and saves it
“from within”. He is not a magician who changes things “from outside” with one
swish of a magic wand, but the true Redeemer who will rescue and transform
every splintered and faltering good thing in the Universe, from the inside, for
those who have faith.
Those people in the Genealogies who had “faith,” who were believers, what did they believe in? They believed in One God, and they believed that his Anointed One was coming to bring a better law, a better triumph, “something better,” as the Epistle to the Hebrews says.
Those people in the Genealogies who had “faith,” who were believers, what did they believe in? They believed in One God, and they believed that his Anointed One was coming to bring a better law, a better triumph, “something better,” as the Epistle to the Hebrews says.
Take a good look at your botched personal past and your compromised
personal present, your rickety family legacy, the wince-worthy history of Israel ,
and the Church, and the World.
It’s a mess.
The Gospel --- the Good News--- is not that we’re going to be airlifted
out of it. It’s that He’s in the middle of it.
Tomorrow we’ll take a closer look at Scandalous Four Female Ancestors,
Exhibit One: Tamar.
Juli Loesch Wiley is a Spero columnist.
She has published articles in U.S. Catholic;
30Giorni (Italy); Caelum et Terra; New Oxford Review;
Commonweal; Sojourners; Touchstone; Voices; and Crisis. She has also
contributed chapters to articles by DonnaSteichen and
Studs Terkel.
3 comments:
The point is that Jesus came in "sinful flesh" inherited from Adam and debased by 4,000 years of genetic decline as Paul states over and over. The Roman /Catholic has Jesus coming in Unsinful flesh contrary to scripture and because He is NOT therefor fully human and divine at the same time he is not linked to us and cannot save us so they have to extend the link to Mary claiming she was born and remained sinless also and then they have to extend the chain link to the saints who can save us with their "merits."
Anyone who clalms that Jesus did not come in the flesh (even if an angel comes and says so) is anathema.
The point is that Satan claims that we can not overcome sin-that God has lied and that Jesus had an unfair advantage by using His Divine nature to overcome sin. But as told in the story of His temptation in the wilderness it was on this exact temptation that Satan tried to get Jesus to fall. Jesus relied on the Same power we can have-A Plain Thus Saith The Lord and reliance on the promises of God. In becoming the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world and becoming fully human He became linked to us in a bond closer than if Adam and Eve had never sinned!
biguser, my friend, I understand your point, and would agree with it, too, if I thought you were quite accurate about the implication of the Immaculate Conception doctrine. But I think you've misinterpreted it, and I ask you to think it through from a differnt angle.
The angel's greeting to Mary (in Greek, "Chaire, Kechaitomene") shows that she was full of grace, which is the 180-degree opposite of being full of sin. Moreover these words are used as a nominative or title, a form of personal address, which is on a par with Jacob being re-named Israel or Simon being tagged Peter: it shows exactly what, in God's eyes, she IS.
This is a paradox which does not at all negate that Christ, the son of Mary, came "in the flesh" -- it shows, rather, that He came in flesh as flesh is supposed to be: flesh as it was in Eden. Real flesh, but not corrupt, sinful flesh: "You will not allow your faithful one to undergo corruption."
I ask you to generously consider the possibility that your view of he Immaculate Conception might need another look.
P.S. I am the author of the article on Jesus' Genealogy cited on this blog.
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