Saturday, December 17, 2011
Matthew 1:1-17

So there are two genealogies given in the gospels - which makes sense if one is for Jospeh and one for Mary. This is the Joseph one and that's always been kind of an odd thing to think about. Of course, studying the Renaissance gives you an appreciation of how lineage used to work before the days of paternity tests when inheritance was everything. One of the few things that worked in a wife's favor was that any kid she had after marriage was legitimate and indisputably her husband's responsibility whether he was the spitting image of the mailman (or king) or not. Even if everyone knew it was Henry the 8th's kid.

So this connected up in my head with what an old religion teacher said about the geneaology: all the additions to the Jewish line (Ruth, for example), all the strays the Patriarchs brought home, are in Jesus's family. And that works great for Jospeh's line (although there's overlap with Mary's far enough back). Joseph gets included. Jesus was inclusive. In fact, since we've been talking about John the Baptist all week, let's link things up to Jesus's Baptism when He was determined that none of the formal ceremonies would be left out. Jesus came down to be a formal part of our world - so that He could be a full part of it and redeem all of it.

And make the point that everyone else gets to be a part of it. Jospeh's line was important to the world at large despite the fact that he wasn't actually involved in Jesus's conception - but we make the point that he's still important. Jesus is inclusive. He uses the world's forms and functions to make His point wherever possible.

We are ALL part of the family of God, the Body of Christ.