Our 5x5x5 Reading Plan takes us to the Gospel of Matthew after James, and with Matthew’s opening, we have a most unusual genealogy: one that includes women! I briefly referred to this the other day when talking about Skip Gray’s one-liners, but it’s worth another look. Here are the first two-thirds of it, as shown in the ESV on my iPad with my highlights:

Artist C. Farrell Johnson, of whom I know nothing, captured the question well:

The opening verses of the Gospel of Matthew trace the ancestry of Jesus back to the patriarch Abraham. Not surprisingly, Jesus’ genealogy is an illustrious one, including Jacob, Judah, David, Solomon and Hezekiah. Somewhat unusually, however, the list includes four women from the Hebrew Bible. 

In Matthew’s Jewish world, genealogies typically mentioned only men.  Even more surprisingly, the four women—Tamar [Genesis 38], Rahab [Joshua 2 and 6.22-25], Ruth [read the whole book with her name on it!] and “the wife of Uriah” (that is, Bathsheba)—have somewhat spotty reputations. What prompted Matthew to include a prostitute (Rahab), a woman who pretended to be a prostitute (Tamar), a sexually forward widow (Ruth), and a woman taken in adultery (Bathsheba) in his “account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham”? – C. Farrell Johnson, scripture references added

Why, indeed? Moreover, most, if not all, of these women were Gentiles!

The late Skip Gray said, “God cares about the weak, the abused, the marginalized, and the sinful.” Amen. And in addition, Matthew is showing us that God uses all kinds of people. Anyone can be part of God’s plan, “regardless of who you are or what you have done.” That’s good news – a worthy start for a book of that name: “The Good News, as told by Matthew, the tax collector,” another person of questionable reputation.

Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. (Romans 3.22, Living Bible)

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2.10, NIV