Tamar?! in God's Family Tree?

WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
November 27th 2005
First Sunday in Advent
Rev. Mark R. Bradshaw-Miller
“Tamar?! in God’s Family Tree?”
Isaiah 64:1-9; Matthew 1:1-3; Genesis 38

Today marks an important day in the life of the church. There are, by my count, twenty-eight days left to complete our Christmas shopping. But despite the messages telling us this time of year is all about spending money to prove our love the church tells a different story. Advent is the time where we re-enact the time of waiting for Jesus birth. Advent is also the time where we prepare ourselves to once again wrestle with the mystery the God came in the form of a human being.
This year, in order to struggle with this mystery we are going to look at the genealogy of Jesus found in the Gospel of Matthew. If you are anything like I was a few years ago you might be thinking that I have lost my mind. How could a list of names about who was the father of whom carry anything worth preaching? Well, I promise that you will find some really surprising truths tucked within this genealogy. In fact, deceased New Testament scholar Raymond Brown believed that this passage contained all the essential theology of the bible for the whole church. But Brown was not the first. Our fore parent in the Reformation Ulrich Zwingli said the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew contained the essential theology of the reformation: Salvation by grace. So with that in mind let me say a word about genealogies in general.
Genealogies are never disinterested. They are always composed in such a way to make the object of the list look good. We will leave those people we would like to forget and overemphasize those people who make us look better. Not only that, but it would be impossible to include everyone. After only a few generations some decisions will be made about who is left off the family tree. In the ancient world Genealogies were no different. We know that the biographers of kings and emperors always produced genealogies so as to enhance prestige and to draw attention to the noble heritage of the object of the genealogy.
With this knowledge, it would logically follow that the writer of Matthew would compose the genealogy of Jesus with only the most upstanding people. Since this was the family tree of God, one might expect to find kings, warriors and the elite of society. However, in a closer investigation of the genealogy of Jesus we find thieves, liars, murderers and adulterers. And that was just King David. Within the genealogy there is no attempt to cover up the scoundrels and scandals in the family tree of Jesus.
Within the bible there are two genealogies of Jesus; one in both the Gospel of Matthew and one in the Gospel of Luke. While they share many of the same names, they do not agree with one another. Each list starts with a different person; each one includes different people and finally, they point to different parents of Jesus. Luke ties the family tree of Jesus to Joseph where Matthew ties the list to Mary.
While we could spend a great deal of time focusing on all the differences and then speculate as to the reason, what we are going to do for the next four weeks is to focus on four woman who are named in Matthews’ genealogy that are not included in Luke’s. As it turns out, Luke includes no women, not even Mary, the mother of Jesus, in his genealogy. Matthew’s inclusion of these women is a commentary about the nature of God, the nature of Jesus ministry and, the nature of the Christian community. Each week we will meet one of these women and seek to understand what Matthew was trying to tell us about the one on whom we wait.
The first woman named in the family tree of Jesus is Tamar. Her story can be found in the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Genesis. Instead of reading the whole chapter I will tell the story in an abbreviated fashion. Tamar was a Canaanite woman who marries into the family of Judah. Shortly after her marriage to Judah’s oldest son Er, Er dies. During those times, there was a custom known as Levirate marriage. It basically worked to protect the widows and children left behind. If a man died his wife and children would be taken care of by one of his surviving brothers. So, when Er died, Tamar is married to his brother Onan. Shortly after their marriage he also dies. Because both of his previous son’s have died, Judah is worried about marrying Tamar to him. As a result, he does the unthinkable and refuses to provide the support that is legally provided for her.
With her life in jeopardy, Tamar takes matters into her hands. She put on a veil and dresses like a prostitute and waits in a place where she expects Judah to frequent. It just so happens, that Judah does come to see her. Judah does not recognize her daughter-in-law and propositions her for sex. Before Tamar allows Judah to sleep with her, she asks for a pledge of his signet ring, a cord and his staff. He gives Tamar what she asks for and then he has sexual relations with his daughter-in-law.
A short time later Judah hears that Tamar is pregnant. Judah flies into a rage and demands she be brought before him to be burned publicly. She has brought shame upon his household. Instead of going when she is summoned Tamar sends the signet ring, the cord, and staff with a message saying: It was the owner of these who made me pregnant.”
When Judah receives these items he immediately admits his own wrongdoing. He says nothing about the way in which Tamar has seduced him in order to survive because he knows that it was his injustice that led her to do this in order to survive. Judah proclaims in that moment how Tamar is more righteous than he. Justice has been done and the family tree of Jesus continues despite some shocking events.
In the story of Tamar and Judah it is not sexual relations that are taken most seriously. We know this to be true because at the end of the story Tamar is not called unrighteous or unclean for sleeping with her father-in-law. No condemnation is brought upon Tamar. In fact, Judah calls her righteous. If we are not shocked by this we are not listening. The most serious issue in this encounter was the damage that was done to the community. Because Judah denies the economic support of Tamar she is forced to become a prostitute in order to survive. Judah is the perpetrator of evil. The great concern in this passage is not sex but justice.
Matthew could have left out Tamar’s name out of the list, but he does not. Tamar’s inclusion in this genealogy is no accident. It is clear that he is making a statement about the one who we call Messiah. So what is Matthew trying to say about the family of God, Jesus and the community of believers? It is comes at the beginning of the story of Jesus who throughout his life was turning societal and religious sensibilities upside-down. Tamar is included because she is an example of how God stands with those who the powerful in society have sought to kick to the curb. By including Tamar and the other woman into the genealogy of Jesus, we see that God is making a powerful statement about the role and status of woman in the household of God and the community of faith.
It is in unfortunate reality that many churches in the United States have chosen to ignore the radical nature of these stories. There is talk about the Love of God but action which says God hates people who do not fit our cultural norms. Instead of opening wide the doors and telling of God’s love they have become places which simply mirror the culture in which they live: We have churches for the wealthy, churches for the poor, churches for black people and churches for white people. We even have churches for Republicans and churches for Democrats. This is clearly not what God has intended.
Because the one whom we call Lord is willing to include Tamar, and call her righteous, into his family tree, we must be willing to share this truly radical story of God’s love with all people, not just our small circle of friends. The story of God’s radically inclusive love is one that tells us we are all welcome, we are all loved and we are all children of God. This is the story we are called to live. This is a faith story worth sharing with the world. It is news the world is dying to hear. We are being called to share this simple story of God’s radically inclusive love as THE MESSAGE of the advent season. Amen.