This is the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah the son of David, the son of Abraham:

¹⁷ Thus there were fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the exile to Babylon, and fourteen from the exile to the Messiah.

¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[g] (which means “God with us”).

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Merry Christmas!  Look, look, we’re (kinda) talking about the birth of Jesus!  Actually, I have to apologize, this post isn’t very Christmas-y, but let’s say it’s how the Spirit moved me, so I’ll follow that lead.

My thoughts today actually come more from the introduction to Matthew than the passage itself.  In addition to reading the Bible I also love reading about the Bible, and that’s why I love my NIV study Bible, with it’s extensive notes, so much.  As you can probably guess from the thorough genealogy, Matthew is very interested in documenting persuasive proof that Jesus is the Messiah.  Really, Matthew can be seen as a legal statement in Jesus’ behalf.

The mixture of religion and law is an idea that bothers most Americans, but in truth religion and law have been influencing each other for most of human history, and the idea of a division is historically young.  Much of the Old Testament is concerned with laying down laws that were both spiritual and practical in nature.  Also, many OT prophetic accounts are written to mimic the way treaties were written contemporaneously. So the fact that Matthew arranges his gospel as a legal argument makes sense for his original readership-mainly, Jews of the 1st century AD.  According to my NIV study notes, Matthew is arranged into five main sections, some think to mirror the five books of the Pentateuch, with this genealogy as an appropriate introduction.  Additionally, Matthew makes the most references to OT scripture, citing it nine more times than the other gospels.  Mirroring the Pentateuch, a “who’s who” genealogy, and Old Testament references would all be persuasive arguments for a Jewish audience.

The nice thing about laws is that they can be interpreted.  Joseph, upon hearing Mary was pregnant out of wedlock with not his child, had the right to divorce her and have her publicly stoned.  Again, according to my NIV text notes, engagements at the time were much more binding than they are today, so yes, you could technically be divorced before you were even married.  But even before he found out exactly whose child it was, Joseph decided to interpret the law in a more humane manner. He was “faithful to the law” (1:19, and another appeal to original Jewish readership) but “did not want to expose her to public disgrace.”  That’s pretty big of Joseph.  I think a lot of people, finding evidence that their Betrothed cheated on them – because again, this is before the angel’s big revelation, so that has to be what Joseph is thinking – would make a bit more of stink.

Interpretation of the law can lead to change. Let’s pivot back to secular law for a bit.  Often times changes in law are contentious – sometimes it even leads to outright war – but they do change over time.  Pulling from America’s own history: slavery (except as punishment for a crime, I know, I know) is outlawed, women can vote, and we have free speech (the Bill of Rights are amendments to our Constitution, remember!).  At the time these were hot-button issues, but I think now just about everyone would agree that these are good ideas.  And we’ve tried some not so good ideas and gotten rid of them. Well, at least I think so.  Remember Prohibition? I, for one, am glad I can have my evening cocktail.

This country has a lot of work to do.  Sometimes I wish I could jump forward 300 years to see what the new issues of the day are.  I’m hoping that queer acceptance will just be a given.  Can you imagine if someone from 1692 Salem came to the present and ask us how we solved our witch problems?  That’s not (and never truly was) a problem, and I have hope that one day that will be true of gay marriage and the associated rights.  I also don’t know how gun control is going to play out, and it might get ugly, but I think in the end we’ll settle on the right decision.  Like I said, this country has made a lot of bad mistakes, but with good people fighting for what is right we keep moving forward, even if it’s slowly.

Let me step down off my political soap box and get back up on my religious one.  All this talk about laws and laws changing really does have to do with Bible study and finding love in the Bible, and here’s how: Interpretation changes. Laws, both secular and religious, change.  Jesus himself came to change the law.  He over-rode a whole covenant, which is some serious law upheaval.  All of the changes I’ve listed, both secular and religious, have lead to greater inclusion, greater acceptance.  Well, except for ending Prohibition, but I still think it’s a good one.

Maybe you’re not ready to have your laws changed.  That’s understandable – Joseph literally needed an angel from God to tell him to do so.  But we can all start by interpreting laws – secular and religious – a little more humanely. That was a conclusion Joseph came to all on his own.  And perhaps that first step of kindness is what will help us find God in ways we could never have imagined.  Joseph was the adopted father of Jesus, of God made man.  Our revelations probably won’t be of that magnitude, but they will still happen.  All we need to do is take that first step.