Rather than jump right in to the arrival of the Magi at Matthew 2: 1-11, I challenged the group to look back before that reading to the first words of Matthew's Gospel. Lots of us have been known to skip that chapter as we find it difficult to read through that Hebrew telephone Book of difficult names in the genealogy of Jesus. It doesn't seem like it is very theologically important anyway. My theory is, that it actually sets the stage for Matthew's most challenging message of all.
You see, as you go through that long list of names, you will come across 5 women in the list, and in the patriarchal society in which the Gospels took on their life, women were seldom thought of as important enough for mention. When you see women mentioned, take notice!! Something important is happening.
The five women that are mentioned, are Mary (of course), the wife of Uriah the Hittite, Ruth, Rahab, and Tamar, and every one of them has an important tale to tell. Mary of course, is the mother of our Lord. She came from Galilee, which in that day was known as Galilee of the Gentiles. Being from Galilee, the purity of her line as truly Jewish was suspect. She had a baby (Jesus) before she was married to Joseph, and she was a woman, which was always a problem for the men of that age. How could she possibly be the instrument of God with all three of these strikes against her.
The other four women are there to teach the lesson. The wife of Uriah (we know her as Bathsheba) was a foreigner (she was a Hittite). She became pregnant from David while her husband Uriah was off fighting David's war. and like Mary, she was a woman. And yet, God had given her the job of being the mother of the great King Solomon.
Ruth, if you remember the story of she and her mother-in-law Naomi, was a woman of the land of Moab. In desperation, she had laid with Boaz, so that she and Naomi would not starve. This woman was the instrument through which God sent her Grandson David, to reign over the people of Israel.
Rahab, shows up only in a short story in the book of Joshua. The people of Israel have come through their 40 years in the wilderness, and are ready to enter into the Land of Canaan. Joshua needs to send spies ahead to find out about the land. It is only through the prostitute Rahab that the spies gain entry into the land, and the people of Israel ultimately win the promised land. Once again, a foreign woman, with a questionable sexual story is the hero that brings God's plan into life.
Tamar, is the wife of Er, who is the son of Judah. Judah, of course, is the patriarch of the house of Judah. Er dies childless, and so following the Jewish law, Judah has Er's brother Onan go to raise up children for his brother. But Onan also dies childless. Judah tells Tamar to live as a widow in his house, but the upshot of that is that the line of Judah will die. And so while Judah is out of town, Tamar throws off her widow's gown and dresses as a prostitute, and Judah comes home, sees her in the gate, and sleeps with her. She get's pregnant, and the line of Judah is saved. Clearly, she fits into the list that Matthew is setting up. She is a foreigner, she is a woman, and there is a questionable pregnancy.
Matthew begins his Gospel by telling a community that is very concerned about how God could be working out a plan involving Mary, that at all the key moments of Israel's past, God has used foreigners, women, and those that others might be tempted to judge as the instruments of his purpose. Matthew reminds his audience that God works in and through all things, and is not limited by our biases. These were the three biggest biases of Matthew's day, but God knows that we have plenty of biases in our own day. Does God work in those people that we would judge to be on the outside of God's grace?
And then Matthew skips over having any sort of birth narrative, but begins with the arrival of the magi.
The child has been born, and who has God called to be the witnesses of this great news, but a group of foreigners. It isn't the folks at the temple or at the palace that know about what God is doing, but a bunch of foreigners. Matthew opens his gospel with a message to the church then, and now. He says, tear down the walls you keep building, because this good news is for ALL.
Matthew is not the only one that gives us that message. Luke tells that wonderful nativity story that we celebrated 13 days ago. We can still hear the Gospellor reading out, "In that country there were shepherds..." What we modern folks don't know is that shepherds were seen as such a crooked lot, that they were forbidden from being witnesses in the courts in the days when Jesus was born. In Luke's story, God chooses as his witnesses, those whom society had thrown aside as unfit to be witnesses. God choose those that were unacceptable. And God continues to do so.
As I write this, it is late in the evening, on Saturday night (the day after Epiphany). Upstairs in the Great Hall, a new ministry is being born as a cooperative mission between St. George's Cathedral and Club Church Ministries. It is called the Embassy. It costs $2 to come in, (although 120 tickets were given out to the folks that come to Lunch by George for free) and the ticket entitles you to an evening of live music, pizza and coffee. I've been upstairs to look around a few times, and have met the people that are there. They are a mix of students from Queens, and the folks that usually come to Lunch by George. The doors of the cathedral are open, and the folks are coming in. It is a drop in program, but it has been full all night.
Once again this Epiphany, God is speaking loudly in the voice of Matthew. "Tear down those walls you are so fond of building. This good news is for EVERYONE!"
