When
He had called the people to Himself,
with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me,
let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. Mark 8:34
NKJV
Last
week I introduced you to the four women we find listed in the genealogy of
Jesus given to us in the first chapter of Matthew. I also suggested that there must be a very
good reason for this to happen as women were never mentioned in a Jewish
genealogy in those days. We also found
that while you might be able to understand mentioning a woman of desirable
character, the four women mentioned all had issues that a Jew would find highly
objectionable. As we know that Matthew
was written specifically to the Jews as a defense of Jesus of Nazareth being
the prophesied Messiah, we have to wonder what exactly God intended when He
told Matthew to include these women.
Thinking
about this question may be one of those times where we find that there are many
different reasons we can come up with which make perfect sense as to what God
was trying to tell us. What I want to do
today is to simply give you a few that I have come up with, and then allow you
to take the time on your own to think and consider the possibility that there
are others which make just as good of sense as mine. That said, as I read these names and wondered
what the reaction by a Jew of that day would be, and what arguments he might
put forth objecting to Jesus as the Messiah, I thought of this verse from Paul’s
letter to the Galatians.
There
is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither
male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 NKJV
Now
the reason this verse came to mind was that when I tried to look at these four
women through the eyes of Jew of that day, the objections I saw were that first
of all they were women, several obviously guilty of gross sin, and lastly not all
were Jews. Yet it seems these three
arguments were exactly the ones Paul chooses to attack in the passage from
Galatians. So let’s look at these three “problems”
which might have concerned the Jews of that day.
Male
and female
So
God created man in His own
image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them. Genesis 1:27 NKJV
I
think most of us understand how women were treated at this particular time in
history, especially in the culture of the Middle East. Women were simply a possession, with no
rights to speak of and no voice to be heard.
Yet if you look closely at this passage from Genesis, it certainly seems
as if God is telling us that we are all made in His image and in His eyes
equally deserving of His love and grace.
Where a Jew would object to giving any sort of status to a woman, by
listing these four women by name in a genealogy God says they are just as important
in His eyes as anyone else.
Jew
and Gentile
For
there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is
rich to all who call upon Him. Romans
10:12 NKJV
The
animosity that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles was as old as the
history of the Jewish nation itself. Yet
as time went by, it seems that although the Jews were in fact the “chosen”
people, they seemed to have forgotten exactly why they were chosen. You see, God chose the nation of Israel as a
means to reveal Himself to the unbelieving world around them, and as time went
by the people of Israel seemed to be forgetting that and instead began to look
for a Messiah who would come to save the nation of Israel. By listing these women who were not Jews, I
think God might have been reminding them that He sent His Son to die for all.
Slave
or free.
“And
you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They
answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to
anyone. How can You say, ‘You
will be made free’?”
Jesus answered them, “Most
assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. John 8:32-34
NKJV
If
you were to live in that day, and understand the class distinctions that were
important to Jews, right after the difference between men and women would come
the difference between servants and free.
Maybe this goes back all the way to being slaves in Egypt as well as the
captivity in Babylon, but it the difference between slave and free was
important to a Jew. When the objection
would be made that these women listed in the genealogy were sinners, it seems
to me the point God was making is that we are all sinners; and not just sinners
but slaves to sin needing to be set free by the price paid by the death and
resurrection of His Son.
As
I said, you might discover other reasons you feel God wanted Mathew to include
these four women in his genealogy, but I think the bottom line is that God
wanted to get the attention of the Jews who would read this, and break down the
bias that existed in their hearts and minds which would interfere with their
acceptance as Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah they were looking for. Jesus died for all, and “whoever” desires to
accept the salvation He offers may do so.
Keep
watching.