IF IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR JESUS, IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME

Rahab of Jericho and the Two spies 

Note to the genealogy expert of the family (any family, really).  I have some questions that may seem to be a little bit osées (risquées?) but I'm gonna go for it.

This morning (12/17/2010) the gospel reading from Saint Matthew was from chapter 1.  It was the genealogy of Jesus.  This is a part of the gospel of Matthew that could take up a lot of time and space to explain and clarify.  My addressing this to you, dear genealogy person, is a sign that I have given this part of the bible quite a bit of thought over the years.  Now let me slip some stuff by you for simple clarification. 

The line of Jesus has some really questionable "ladies" in it.  Would our family have a madame in its past?  Consider dear Rahab in full regalia there in the picture on the right.  You can find her and her operation by clicking here.  

Then there is ol' Tamar.  Now, she's a piece of work.  You can meet her and read a part of her story by clicking here.

From Rahab to Mary

Have you checked to see if there is anyone like that on our family tree?  Now that would be quite a branch.  Somewhat more than just a twig, I would say.  Talking about the women whose names appear on the list, what about the import from the mortal enemy, Ruth the Moabite?  We wouldn't happen to have anyone like that in our line, would we?  You know, some maliciously misguided miscreant of a Protestant or something like that?  Can you assure me that we are pure there?  

Who knows, maybe we have a king in our past, after all, Jesus did.  But give me a break, a murderer and an adulterer.  Do we have to live with that too?  But worse still, Jesus goes back to the great sinner / saint (David) through the king's bastard son (Solomon) whose mother even Matthew has the decency not to name.   I sure hope that we can do better than that.  The last woman to be named in the genealogy is Mary, and we all know her story.  She was blessed and latched on to a real nice guy from another line of Jesse, the father of the aforementioned king.  It is a good thing that this happened this way because between Samuel, the first king of Israel, and a real low-life, hateful of David, all the way to the days of Herod there was a long string of riff-raff in the royal descendency of Our Beloved Lord, Jesus.  Seriously, you have checked out our ancestors and weeded out the chaff, right?  I mean, look what it got Jesus.  He didn't make it past 33.  Maybe there is some kind of strange worm in our family tree, what with all the young men and women disappearing at real young ages.  Of course, there were some interesting stories in that bunch too...and the one that sprung from them.  My feeling is "Hey, if it could happen to Jesus, who am I to complain?"

So, two things.  One:  You'll be hearing this genealogy read in church in the very imminent future, so check it out, enjoy it and remember the stories.

Two:  If you still have some homework to do to clear certain anomalies up that could make us feel better about ourselves, (Yourselves) you're invited to come to Italy and France in August of 2011 to polish the ol' apple, so to speak.  More details later.

So, how's that for a thought?