Who Is Missing?
Luke 3:21-23, 31-38
There are two genealogies of Jesus found in scripture: one in Matthew (Matthew 1:1-16) and one in Luke (Luke 3:21-38). And with a little bit of digging into the details, you can begin to see how, even with something as mundane as a family tree, the authors of Luke and Matthew begin to paint their own unique picture on who they believed Jesus was.
Here is an important caveat always to remember when we read the Gospels: all of them were written decades after Jesus died. When I grew up I believed that these Gospels were journalistic accounts of what Jesus was up to in his ministry--but Paul's letters were likely written sooner!
Here is another caveat: all four Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--had different audiences in mind. Matthew's gospel had a jewish audience in mind, with lots of references to the hebrew scriptures, many references to Jesus as rabbi...
Mark's gospel had Roman citizens generally in mind (it was also the briefest and likely earliest written), with subversive stories of Jesus ministry that challenged the authority of emperor worship.
Luke's gospel also had a jewish audience in mind, but it was a gospel with the intention of lifting up the stories of the downtrodden and poor, women and foreigners, the author of Luke also self-proclaimed their intention to provide a more historical account.
John's gospel had greek gentiles in mind, with constant references to how salvation came to those who were "in the know"("If you had known me you would know my father" John 14:7).
And so, unsurprisingly, the genealogies of Matthew and Luke are different, too! We have no idea knowing how exact they were. One could be more correct than the other. Both could be seeking to paint a mythological figure out of Jesus, connecting him to the line of King David and Father Abraham. But they also go in different routes, too. One has Jesus descending from Solomon, the other from Nathan, both sons of David and Bathsheba. One genealogy goes as far back as Abraham (Matthew), the other, rather ambitiously, traces Jesus' lineage directly to God (Luke) through Adam and Eve!
And yet, someone is missing. In the lineage of Jesus that establishes his authority in the passage we will be exploring this week found in Luke, we get an exhaustive list that goes back to God that repeats the refrain: “son of ____, son of ____, son of ____.”
Someone is missing!
While this genealogy in Luke goes as far back as Adam, we can't forget Eve. While Judah is the son of Jacob, we can't forget he is also the son of Leah! The lectionary we are following this year adds in the missing elements inside brackets, which includes some rather fascinating characters in scripture. Rahab, who was the woman that helped Joshua's armies conquer the city of Jericho. Tamar who was the woman who tricked her father in law to sleep with her in order to become pregnant. Bathsheba who was the woman that King David raped before he killed her husband Uriah--mother of Solomon and Nathan.
These stories are as important as the ones pertaining to the men in Jesus lineage. As we tell our Christian story and bear witness to Christ's love, who is missing from our telling of the story? When we think of being a church in our neighborhood and think of the neighbors we will serve, who is missing from that list?
Join us to explore this question further this Sunday!
