There’s a sex scandal in what appears to be another boring old genealogy starting the Nativity story in the book of Matthew. The author names 4 women in this genealogy. This alone is highly unusual in that extremely patriarchal society, but these 4 women has something in common. By the standards of the day, they were all sexually deviant.
Tamar, after her husband died, dressed up as a sex worker and had sex with her father-in-law. Rahab was a sex worker. Ruth was a Moabite for whom Israelites were strictly forbidden from marrying, but she seduced Boaz into premarital sex (or at least sexual acts). To “lay at his feet” is a euphemism. And lastly, Bathsheba (referred to in the genealogy as “the wife of Uriah”) had an affair with or more likely was raped by King David. Given the fact that she probably couldn’t say no to the King, it seems fair to consider this rape. Though today we should recognize her lack of agency in the situation, given past standards she’d still be considered deviant.
These are people the author chose to highlight. Why?
The Gospel of Mark was the first written of the four gospels, and it doesn’t have a birth narrative. Instead, in it Jesus is referred to by folks in his home town as a “son of Mary.” This was likely an insult, basically calling him “illegitimate” or a “bastard”. Even if it wasn’t that insulting, it does seem to suggest Jesus’ parentage on his father’s side was in doubt.
Matthew seems to be aware of people believing Jesus parentage was a problem, so he responds in force. Now, he could have written, “You’ve heard Jesus was a bastard, but this is what really happened.” But he didn’t. Instead, he decides to honor and celebrate these sexually deviant women and point out how God honored them by name dropping them in Jesus’ lineage. Then he goes on to tell this fantastic story of Jesus being born of God by a virgin.
Whether the virgin birth literally happened isn’t the point. You believe it? Fine. You don’t believe it? Fine.
The point is that the book of Matthew shows respect to, lifts up, honors, even celebrates these women. For the many women of today, Christmas is a time for us to remember to do the same.
For more story takes and story tools to fight authoritarian religion, join the team and SUBSCRIBE!