A woman of valor

Today's Scripture

St. Matthew, in his Gospel, goes to great lengths to document Jesus as the answer to Israelite prophecy, the rightful heir to David's throne. As a matter of fact, the opening of his Gospel is this: "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,

the son of David, the son of Abraham." It's not the Gospel, the story of the Messiah, the Good News, NOPE - the Geneology - not of the Son of God, but of the son of David and Son of Abraham. It's that important.

In this list we can easily gloss over the list of names that we can barely pronounce, but if we pay a bit of attention, we will notice four names that kind of stick out from the rest. They are not the traditional names of the fathers of the bloodline, but of MOTHERS. Tamar, Ruth, Rahab and 'the wife of Uriah'. These women are an interesting cohort indeed. An assemblage of infidelity and sexual misdeeds is a mild description of the circumstances. So why did Matthew feel compelled to include them? He could have just included the father's names, they are all known and included in the OT scriptures. Here is my take on this: these men failed and the women made sure that these sons had a heritage.

All the ills of a grossly patriarchal society come to play here. We have David's epic fall as a leader who starts by spying on the lovely Bathsheba who is the wife of his captain Uriah. Judah will not carry out the law and provide Tamar with the husband the law calls for so that she can bear a son to honor her dead husband, without Rahab, the Israelites might never have been able to claim their promised land.

These women endured and overcame these negative circumstances and some very ineffective men to ensure that the plan of God would happen. (my wife did NOT make me write that). We can be equally appalled at the circumstance and in awe of the women who persevered.

It's also important to note that Matthew is not trying to pretty up the story so that everything looks just right. NOPE. It's been a bit messy getting here - and Jesus is stepping right into this hot mess. As He is in this mess, though, He never forgets His mission. We have a savior who has been in our mess and did not waiver. We might not be as strong as the Son of God, but He has also thought of that - forgiveness for when we don't get it right. The story of these women and the circumstances they overcame makes the final story that much greater.

We should remember that all of the greatness of Abraham and Jacob and David never come to fruition without these great women.