Episode 420 The Genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17)

This week BibleWorm reads Matthew 1:1-17, seventeen juicy verses of genealogy to get us started in this gospel. This origin story seems to be framed a little bit like a new Genesis, giving us all the raw materials, all the ancestors, that went into the creation of this new baby, Jesus. His lineage does offer “legitimacy” insofar as he is in the line of David. But it has both heroes and folks who are not remembered so favorably. And it goes out of its way to name at least a couple of women, all of whom had to abandon social expectations at some point in order to wield the singular power of their life in the way that only they knew was right.  It makes us wonder - how do we tell our own stories, our community’s story? Who do we highlight, and who do we leave out? All of it makes us who we are.