Rev. George Miller
Jan 1, 2023
Matthew 1:1-18
Last week we welcomed Jesus into the imperfection of our lives.
As shepherds we welcomed Jesus into our night, into our loneliness, into
our own unique story of revival and grace.
As we welcomed Jesus, we heard stories and sung songs about his Mother’s
virginity, based on the historic church’s view that the only way Jesus could
enter into our world is through a pure vessel.
To which our Bible study group asked, “What is pure?” Does one have to be a virgin to be pure?
Is purity a physical state, or can it be a state of the mind, state of
the soul, state of intent?
For example- are all lies bad? Are
there times in which lying is good? Is there
be such a thing as a pure, or noble lie?
We have the command “Don’t bear false witness against your neighbor” but
is it Ok to bear false witness for the sake of your neighbor?
What is purity? Who is pure? Who gets to decide? Can anyone live a fully realized life and
stay completely pure?
I wonder if the first group of Christians really worried about these
things.
I wonder if they were too busy healing, feeding, clothing, visiting to use
a moral ruler and decide who was pure and who was not.
There’s a good chance that the earliest followers of Jesus were far from what
we’d consider pure.
There’s a very real chance that the earliest followers of Jesus sparkled-
that they just sparkled with every quirky characteristic and walk of life you
could imagine.
There would have been the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the beggars, unchurched,
unclean, the immigrant, the bold and bawdy women and all the folk the Temple
had kicked out.
I wonder, what if it wasn’t until the followers of Christ started building
buildings and having deacons and official meeting times that anyone worried if
you were pure or not.
When did the church get caught up if the mother of Jesus was a virgin or
pure or without sin?
Paul, the first missionary, was not.
He never spoke of Mary.
Mark and John do not say a word about the birth of Jesus. Only Matthew and Luke pay any attention to Jesus’
birth and the sexual status of his mother.
Why focus on her virginity; why the worry if she was pure or not?
As we hear in today’s reading, Jesus came from a long family line in
which nearly every person has a shocking story to tell.
Nearly all of his relatives had a moment in which they did what they did
in order to survive or protect their family.
There’s Abraham who took his wife’s advice and slept with her slave so
that he could have a child.
Look at Tamar who pretended to be a prostitute so that she could have a son
by her father-in-law.
We have Jacob who tricked his brother, deceived his father, and slept
with the wrong woman.
Rahab, a brothel worker who hid spies, lied to the authorities, in order
to save her family.
Ruth, a widow who is directed by her mother-in-law to creep into the bed
of Boaz and sleep by his feet so that he will marry her.
By the way, both Rahab and Ruth are foreigners and non-Jews who become
part of the Israelite story.
We have David who broke half of the commandments when he lusted after
Bathsheba and forced her to commit adultery.
Do any of these people sound practically perfect to you? Do any of them sound “pure’?
They are wonderfully messy.
Human. REAL.
The beauty of today’s reading is that when you break it down, name by
name, story by story-
We discover that Jesus comes from a very, very human family.
Today’s reading reminds us that Jesus really did experience life as we
know it.
That includes having a family full of heroes, dreamers, mistake makers,
fighters, scandals, black sheep, skeletons, immigrants, bold women.
Messy, messy individuals.
Sure, we may sing “All is calm all is bright, round yon virgin,” but as I
age, that has less meaning to me.
I prefer Mary as the brave woman of faith who said yes, traveled on her
own and spoke words of justice to her cousin Elizabeth.
The notion of the purity involving Jesus’ birth does not carry the same excitement
as knowing about
the drama, the intrigue, the excitement of who his ancestors were and
what they went through.
I like this genealogy that Matthew gives us because it is so messy, so controversial,
so human, so real.
Because it is so real and relatable, it makes Jesus a Savior I can
admire, because clearly he didn’t come from the perfect family.
Clearly, he too was raised with family traumas to contend with.
Clearly Jesus was also who he was because of those who came before and
the legacy they left.
For me, this makes Jesus more relatable, more real, more honest. It makes his story more true.
And because it makes him more true, he becomes even more Emmanuel and the
one that we can follow.
Peace and amen.
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