Reading 2
So Many Names—Matthew 1
A couple of things right off the bat. To start with, the first 17 verses of Matthew’s gospel give me a headache! Nothing but genealogy. Name after name after name. It’s like Ancestry.com gone crazy! The names go on and on and make my eyes cross. Names that I can’t even begin to wrap my tongue around.
Seriously! If the author insists on listing so many names, wouldn’t it be a good idea for someone to come up with a translation where the names have at least been changed into something more easily pronounceable? Why not change Aminadab and Jechoniah into Allen and Jack?
And second, I don’t even recognize half these names…and I’m a pastor, for goodness’ sake! I know a fair amount of Bible stuff! Who are Perez and Salmon anyhow?
Prior to the pandemic and the practice of social distancing, the staff and any visitors in the synod office, gathered each Tuesday morning at 10:00 a.m. for devotions in the chapel. (Now, we do it via Zoom.) During our time together, included in our prayers this year (2019-2020), we have been naming the rostered women of color across the ELCA—about ten each week (2019 is the 40th anniversary of the first ordination of a woman of color in the Lutheran church, the Rev. Earlean Miller). Some of their names are hard for me to pronounce. African. Latina. European. Middle Eastern. Asian. The first time I was naming them aloud in prayer, I chose to call them only by their first names. That made me more comfortable. That was not faithful. The challenge of pronunciation helps me remember that God uses people of every language, place, and name to incarnate the love of Jesus.
God places all of us in the long line of those who take part in bringing Jesus to birth in the world. God uses people whose names I recognize and can easily pronounce (the Abrahams and Ruths) and those I do not know (the Perezes and Salmons). And God uses saints and scoundrels and murderers and women and men and you and me to incarnate the Christ. Whatever your name, you matter. You are part of the genealogy.
To Consider:
- Whose name(s) have you been surprised to see/experience as part of Jesus’ family tree?
- When have you seen yourself as part of Jesus’ genealogy?
Loving God, you knit each one of us into your family tree—that Jesus, your Son, may show forth in all we do and say. Open our eyes to see Christ incarnate in all of your children everywhere. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
The Rev. Sara Ilderton serves as Assistant to the Bishop for Candidacy and Boundaries. She and her husband, Cliff, are the parents of two teenagers (so far, there have been minimal injuries).
