What’s in a Name? Rahab Tamar Ruth and Bathsheba in Jesus’ genealogy - A Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent December 1st 2024

SCRIPTURE READING: Matthew 1:18-23

A reading from Matthew.
  18 Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the Holy Spirit. 19 Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. 20 But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
 23 “Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son,
  and they shall name him Emmanuel,”
which means, “God is with us.”

GOSPEL: Matthew 1:1-17

The holy gospel according to Matthew.

Glory to you, O Lord.

  1 An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
  2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, 4 and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of King David.
  And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10 and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11 and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
  12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14 and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15 and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, 16 and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, who bore Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
  17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

I’m convinced God is a mathematician:

note the number 14 in Jesus’ lineage:

14 generations from Abraham to David,

14 generations from David to the exile,

and 14 generations from the exile

to the birth of the Messiah.

Two reasons this matters:

14 is the numerical value of David’s name in Hebrew.

That’s no coincidence.

Jesus is the Christ from the line of David,

and even the math helps us see it.

But also, perhaps more importantly

from the creation stories,

you’ll recall that 7 is the number of completion.

So we have 7 plus 7 generations;

three times over.

It is subtle,

but this is one way Matthew tells us that

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s covenant.

You’ll note that Jesus’ genealogy in Matthew’s Gospel

is on Joseph’s side.

This might seem backwards to us.

Joseph might be the earthly father and guardian,

but Christians highlight Jesus’ birth of Mary,

born of the Holy Spirit.

We want to hear about Mary’s family tree!

But here's why this matters:

Joseph took Jesus in as his own,

as his first born son,

giving up the possibility of siring his own first born.

Joseph was well within his rights

to divorce Mary over this.

Think of it like Joseph adopting Jesus.

That’s a God thing;

it took God’s messenger to change Joseph’s mind.

God invites us to look away from the things of this world,

and to see the gifts God has given us,

and trust that they are more than

we could ever ask or imagine.

On this day that we give thanks for 45 and 40 years,

trust that God will continue to gift us

with more than we could ask or imagine.

The genealogy begins by naming Jesus

as Son of David and Son of Abraham.

This is significant,

Jesus doesn’t just qualify for the throne.

Jesus fulfills God’s covenant with Abraham,

the promise of land, descendants and blessing.

From Noah and the flood,

God has been irrevocably connected and dedicated to

these people;

to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,

to Joseph and his brothers,

and on through the family line.

These people do not earn God’s favour,

God simply chooses them,

and despite their flaws,

God blesses them.

Jesus’ family line is full of these people:

imperfect and broken people,

who God is irrevocably connected with and dedicated to

people like us.

4 names to notice today,

and we will move quickly here,

and note that many of the insights that follow

come from Anna Carter Florence’s book:

A is for Alabaster: 52 Reflections on the Stories of Scripture.

Tamar is in Jesus’ family line.

We hear about her in Genesis 38.

She gave birth to twins,

impregnated by her father in law,

she survives many men in her life

who cannot and will not

do the right thing.

She was cheated out of her rights,

not unlike the daughters of Zelophehad.

Tamar’s story deserves more time.

Rahab is in Jesus’ family line.

She has been known as an innkeeper,

but from Joshua 2,

we hear that she is a Canaanite prostitute

who helped Israelite spies at Jericho.

Her story is an echo of the Passover,

as death passes over her house

and God brings Israel victory.

We might have difficulty with Rahab’s profession,

but in addition to being called a prostitute,

she is called a prophet,

a heroine,

and in the book of Hebrews,

part of the roll call of faith;

she sees truth where others don’t

her’s is a persistent faith.

Rahab’s story deserves more time.

Ruth is in Jesus’ family line,

a Moabite who married into a Jewish family.

Ruth’s story is about faithful presence,

and God’s wide embrace.

People were suspicious of foreign women in that time,

but Ruth’s story opened the people

to be more open to the other.

Ruth’s husband died,

but she was committed to Naomi,

her mother-in-law.

“Where you go, I will go,

where you lodge, I will lodge,

your people shall be my people

and your God my God.” Says Ruth.

Ruth’s story deserves more time.

The wife of Uriah is in Jesus’ family line.

You’ll note that she isn’t even named here,

It is presumed the listener already knows her story. 

This is Bathsheba,

You might recall the story from 2 Samuel 11-12,

how King David lusted for Bathsheba,

seeing her bathe while on the roof,

and he had Uriah killed

in order to take Bathsheba for himself.

Some have said Bathsheba was complicit,

that she was bathing in public,

that she was asking for it,

or that she had her period 

and the religion required a royal bath.

Allow me to be clear;

Bathsheba was not on the roof. David was.

He did not avert his eyes.

She is the one sinned against,

her and her husband, Uriah.

Bathsheba’s story deserves more time.

Today we make room for their stories,

if only to note that there is resurrection there.

Part of this preaching series,

“What’s in a Name”

is the invitation for you and I

to make space for the stories

of the lesser-known biblical characters,

especially those whose stories get silenced or muzzled

and we find God is at work in each of us,

and in all the lesser-known characters

in our own lives.

I believe Mary, the mother of God,

and Joseph, like an adopting father,

made room for their stories with Jesus.

Jesus’ ministry is the proof,

if only that time and time again,

Jesus made room to listen to people,

men, women, children,

and their messy stories.

Consider the woman caught in adultery.

Let the one without sin cast the first stone,

Jesus says after he wrote in the sand.

Perhaps Jesus wrote Bathsheba in the sand?

Jesus knows it takes two to tango.

Jesus knew about the king who did not avert his eyes:

that story might get men to put their stones put down.

Jesus has a heart for those sinned against.

Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well,

the one who had 5 husbands,

likely a victim of Levirite marriage laws,

Jesus offered her living water

gushing up to eternal life.

Maybe Jesus thought of Tamar,

who survived many men in her life

who cannot and will not

do the right thing,

and is cheated out of her rights.

Consider Rahab, the Canaanite convert & helper,

I wonder if she came to mind for Jesus,

when Mary Magdalene broke open

the Alabaster jar of costly nard?

Some were grumbling about it,

that the ointment should be sold

and money given to the poor,

but Jesus saw goodness and faithfulness in her,

so much so that Mary Magdalene becomes

the first to proclaim the resurrection of Christ.

Consider Ruth,

where you go, I will go.

It sounds like Jesus’ closing words in Matthew:

and remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.

The stories of Bathsheba, Ruth, Tamar, Rahab,

and Abigail, Vashti,

the daughters of Zelophehad,

Rhoda, Puah, Shiphrah,

they are stories of resurrection.

Theirs are stories of new life,

of God’s presence with God’s people,

stories of justice and equity,

stories of the power of love,

and their stories echo in Jesus,

with the stories that I mentioned,

and at the wedding at Cana,

and with the Syrophoenician woman,

and with Mary and Martha,

and I’m sure many others I haven’t considered.

Genealogy can be messy.

Think of your own family tree,

you do not need to look far to find some mess.

Our families are imperfect.

I know my family line is not perfect,

and there are some names that I’d like to skip over

when considering my own lineage,

but that negates God’s work in them,

and diminishes the truth of where we come from,

and where we are going.

Our Bible doesn’t hide these people and their stories,

it’s people like us who glance over them,

or misinterpret,

or ignore them.

Jesus’ family line is a story of mixed blood:

Jesus is of mixed blood.

Jesus is not just Jewish,

but has the blood of incest,

the blood of a prostitute,

the blood of Moabites and Canaanites,

the blood of Jew and Gentile.

When we talk about the blood of Jesus

covering a multitude of sins,

it is more than an image of Jesus’ death on the cross;

it is in Christ’s genealogy,

in Christ’s very being.

This genealogy is not a list of

ideal ancestors of faithfulness.

This is a list of broken people.

Broken people that God is committed to,

broken people that God redeems.

As we give thanks for this building today,

we trust not in the foundations of our building,

but the foundation of faith,

and the faithful of every generation

who have built Christ’s Church.

Through this Christ, Jesus the Messiah,

God continues God’s work of redemption

throughout the generations,

the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,

who made their ancestors great,

who gave them the promised land,

who blessed them to bless others,

who rescued through the sea,

who remained through Israel’s kingship,

who journeyed through their exile

and their return.

This is the God for whom we wait at Advent,

the God who is born at Christmas,

Jesus of Nazareth,

Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus’ genealogy matters

because the line of Jesus

looks a lot like our dinner tables,

and our Communion Tables.

They are filled with imperfect people,

with difficult pasts,

of mixed races,

mixed motives,

yet people that God is irrevocably connected with

and dedicated to.

Our God is irrevocably connected with

and dedicated to you, Advent.

So trust that there is no exclusion from God’s family.

You of so-called pure blood,

and you of mixed blood,

we all have a place at the Lord’s table.

We are about to sing a hymn that is very important

to this congregation.

As you pull into our parking lot,

the sign that greets you says:

“All are welcome in this place.”

It is one way to understand Advent’s mission and purpose

right from the very beginning,

reaching out first to people in Silver Springs

and Scenic Acres,

welcoming life-long-Lutherans

and each and any who come through our doors,

or who log in to worship with us on Zoom.

All are welcome at the Lord’s Table,

for this is where heaven scapes the pavement,

where we are the Body of Christ,

45 years ago,

40 years ago,

today,

and in the promised land to which God is leading us.

Let us rise

and continue to proclaim the Gospel in song,

641 - All Are Welcome.