I’ll Be Home for Christmas: The Hopes and Fears of All the Years

First lines are important. English Language Arts teachers today encourage their students to begin with a “hook.” “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” the first line of Charles Dicken’sTale of Two Cities. J.K. Rowling set up the Harry Potter series with “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.”

Great beginnings draw you in. “All children, except one, grow up.” (Peter Pan) Don’t you want to know about that one child who didn’t, or wouldn’t, or couldn’t, grow up? They paint a picture in your mind’s eye, “The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” (William Gibson, Neuromancer) They make you think about what might be coming next, “In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.” (F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby)

Similarly, the writer of the Gospel of Matthew opens with “This is the geneology of Jesus the Messiah[b] the son of David, the son of Abraham.” To us, it may seem a tedious list. I almost didn’t include it in the Scripture reading. It’s not in the lectionary. I imagine most of us skip over it when we are looking to read the story of Jesus’ birth as Matthew records it. To the original hearer, though, this was a hook!

On the seminary campus in Richmond are two neoclassical, granite mansions, built for daughters by their fathers. When I was in seminary, one had been converted to apartments for single seminarians. The other, the “Gresham House,” was used by the seminary for parties and the upstairs had some rooms converted to classrooms. When you entered, you were aware how small you were in the massive, dark wood-paneled entryway. Immediately, your eye was drawn to the incredible magnificently detailed mahogany, winding staircase, rising to the second and then the third floors. Every time I attended a function, I was saddened that the home was empty…no books on the shelves of the library, no warmth in the kitchen, the ballroom on the third floor sat empty…dark and quiet. Every time I climbed that staircase to the third floor for pastoral care class, I noticed the sound of my footfall echoing through the house. I always thought there should be pictures hanging on the walls.

Matthew has written a mansion with a winding staircase, and he begins by pointing out the portraits that line it. This is how Jesus is part of God’s people, Israel. Matthew’s Jewish audience would have had familiar stories run through their thoughts as they heard this lineage recounted. It starts with Abraham, way back in Genesis 12 his name was Abram and his wife was Sarai. He was 75 years old when God came to him and proposed the first covenant, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” “So shall your offspring be.” He was 99 when Isaac was born. Isaac was the father of twins – Esau and Jacob. Jacob stole Esau’s place as heir. Esau was born first, but Jacob tricked their dad into blessing him as the oldest. And Jacob is the one who is an ancestor of Jesus. There are other names and stories we may recognize…Judah, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and then David the king. The first king anointed by God over the Jewish people. They begged and begged for a king like surrounding nations had, and finally God relented and chose the youngest son, the runt of Jesse’s family. In fact, when Samuel the priest came to Bethlehem to anoint the one chosen by God, Jesse brought his 7 sons to him…and none was the one God had chosen. Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” “All but the youngest. He is tending the sheep.” David…the king. 14 generations from Abraham to David. Then King Solomon, who built the first Temple in Jerusalem, and a list of 14 more generations until Israel’s deportation when Israel is conquered by the Babylonians. Then 12 more generations, Joseph is generation 13, and finally Jesus was born, who is called Christ, the anointed one.

Abraham to David – 14 generations, Solomon to deportation – 14 generations, deportation – Jesus – 14 generations. Matthew isn’t recording for us Jesus’ full lineage…the dates don’t work. Numerology was important to New Testament writers. 7 and 3 are numbers associated with completion/perfection/culmination. Doubling a number emphasizes it. Jesus’ lineage is seven doubled, three times over; ultimate doubled to ultimation. Matthew is telling us the important things to know about who Jesus is, how he is related to Israel’s relationship with God.

Matthew’s original hearers would not have missed that the line of David comes to Joseph, who is not Jesus’ father. And Matthew knew that he needed to address that and he does so in two ways. The most obvious way is that he tells Joseph’s experience of learning of and responding to Mary’s pregnancy, the visit of the angel, and his obedience. Joseph is the one who names him, Jesus. The other way that Matthew addresses the concern that Jesus was not of the line of Joseph and thus not of the line of David…of course changing it to have the line come through Mary was not an option because lineage is through the father…is to conclude the lineage with “Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.” Joseph is defined by his marriage to Mary. And, Matthew tells us, this is the way God works sometimes. Mary isn’t the first important female in the lineage.

Matthew includes four other women…and their stories are a not G-rated. Tamar, was married to the first two sons of Judah and both of them died. She should have been married to the third son, but Judah was worried that he would die too. So, he sent her to live with her family. Many years later, after Judah was a widower, she sat by the city gate as he entered dressed as a harlot. He was interested; she gave birth to twins, Zerah and Perez. Perez is in the lineage of Jesus. Also included is Rahab, who really was a harlot who lived in the city wall of Jericho. She helped the Israelite spies as Joshua prepared to fight the battle of Jericho, when the walls came tumbling down. She was the mother of Boaz, who married Ruth when she returned to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth is also named, remember her at the threshing floor tricking Boaz? And finally, Matthew includes the wife of Uriah the Hittite, her name was Bathsheba, the bathing beauty who caught David’s eye, was with child and so David sent Uriah to the front lines to fight so that he surely wouldn’t find out. And Mary, young, unmarried, whose betrothed planned to put her away quietly. Those are the women in the lineage of Jesus. All of Chapter 1 is the hook! Oh, what a HOOK!

Now that I have your attention – this is the one you have HOPED for! Sure there have been twists and turns. There have been times that you thought God’s plan had gone off the rails… Judah and Tamar, Salmon and Rahab, Boaz and Ruth, David and Bathsheba, now again with Joseph and Mary’s child. But this is the one for whom you have been waiting! Throughout Matthew’s Gospel, he will quote the prophecies spoken about the coming Messiah. As the prophet Isaiah said, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel.” As the prophet Micah said, “You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.”

Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, Matthew goes on, a star rose and attracted the attention of all who were paying attention and waiting…not just Jews! The quiet ballroom is filled with guests – and there are some that you didn’t even know were invited…they just saw the lights and showed up! This is important for the first hearers of Matthew because he is writing near the end of the first Century and the early church is struggling with identity. Those who were Jewish by birth were struggling with being less and less identified as Jewish and more and more identified as Christian. And the church was struggling with the place and role of Gentile converts, those who were not Jewish by birth, who were hearing and believing the Good News. The early church was struggling with their standing – whether they were or were not to be included fully, included in leadership, what was their relationship with God compared to the Jewish converts?

Matthew recounts, when he was born, Gentiles came asking, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East and have come to worship him.” He is born King of the Jews, but he is Messiah for all. The cosmos proclaimed his birth. In Hebrew, the word for worship describes the human response to the presence of God – “yi’rah” means worship that is awe and fear all swirled together in reverent veneration.

Welcome, says Matthew, to this glorious, historic mansion, long in the building. Here, as we climb up the grand staircase, see Israel’s hopes since Abraham have come to fruition, look at the portraits…see the family resemblance? Ah, and here, we dance! Have you met these folks? They are from the East…very different. And yet, here in Bethlehem, the hopes and fears of all, in all times and all places, are met, where the Everlasting Light shines. Amen.