Melanie pointed out that genealogies were now a huge cottage industry with all kinds of people excavating the roots of their family trees. But she agreed with Al that it was a rather intimidating beginning and recalled a day when she was snowed in and decided to have another attempt to read the New Testament. Unfortunately she chose the King James version with “the begats”: “Abraham begat Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren…and on and on.” She wondered how many people had been patient enough to go through all that and confessed that she had not.
She also commented that in the margin of Matty’s copy of this text was a notation in French but that she would wait until they came back the next week to reveal it. “Otherwise, there won’t be any drama in your lives.” But the group was not so easily put off. “Come on, Melanie,” they pleaded. “Matty didn’t tease us like this!” So she relented and revealed that the words were, “cherchez les femmes”. She urged them to read the genealogy with that injunction in mind. “Maybe your last message from Matty!”
This seemed to be a good place to end this first session, even though it was rather early. “You won’t get off so lightly in future,” she warned them. “When we get started on the text, we will be struggling to finish on time.”
As she was walking across the parking lot, Al fell in step with her and she sensed that he had something to say. “I am a bit sorry that I used the word ‘survivor’ when I spoke at the beginning,” he said. “Actually the experience was very positive. We even got a good meal together.” Melanie remarked that they couldn’t compete in the food direction. But Al had more to say. “Last year’s group was extremely friendly. But there was a noticeable cooling when I told them I was gay.” The conversation continued as she remarked that the church was still getting used to gay people, singles or couples. As he unlocked his bicycle from the rack, Al said, “I’m a single but looking out for Mr. Right.” Melanie wondered why Al found it necessary to tell her all of this but she ended their conversation by saying, “I know the feeling. Let’s hope that your Mr. Right isn’t the same as mine!” And with that, they went their separate ways.
Chapter 1
Melanie was impressed that at 7.30 the next Tuesday evening, all were in their accustomed places, evidently ready for business. They seemed keen and eager to begin. “Here you are, all on time and ready. Aunt Matty trained you well!” She recalled to them a day when she had made a retreat in a monastery and had complimented a young monk about the punctuality of their services. “Well,” he replied, “we are all creatures of habit.”
She found it somehow pleasing that they stared at her for several seconds before letting loose with groaning. She had heard, long before, that this was their way of dealing with bad jokes.
She asked Webster for the opening prayer and he took the opportunity after the “Amen” to make a plug for his favorite aid to the study of the Gospels. He held up a well-worn volume. “Over the years, I have found it a great help to use this. It puts the three Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke, in parallel columns, arranged so that differences and similarities can be seen.” Al asked, “What about John’s Gospel?” and the answer seemed to satisfy him: that John’s Gospel was so different from the other three that you could scarcely find any parallels with the others. Al said, “You might say that John’s is an unparalleled Gospel!”
Pause, then the groans. Melanie remembered how Matty sometimes tried out her corny jokes on her before she left on Tuesday evenings. Another nostalgic moment.
But now, at last, they got down to the evening’s work: the first chapter of Matthew. During the week, Melanie had asked Martha Henson, one of the group, to comment on Aunt Matty’s direction: “Cherchez les femmes” She was a natural choice since she taught Women’s Studies at the College.
She came well prepared and Melanie put up the genealogy on the screen again.
Martha cut to the chase: “This is a standard genealogy,” she said, “except for the four women named: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Without too much detail, here are thumbnail sketches:
Tamar was the resourceful widow who ensured the continuation of her husband’s lineage by tricking her father-in-law, Judah, into having sex with her;
Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho who aided the invading Hebrews at the time of the conquest;
Ruth was a foreigner who married a wealthy kinsman of her deceased husband (and the text hints that she seduced him);
Bathsheba, wife of the honorable mercenary, Uriah, was taken adulterously by King David (after he arranged for Uriah’s death)”
They all needed time to absorb this although, for most of them, this information was not unfamiliar as Matty had taken a previous study on “Women of the Bible.” Al looked baffled, however. “I can see that I will have to do my homework. But from what Martha has said, I think that from now on I keep Bibles away from children!”
Webster had a more substantive comment. “I am surprised about your reference to Ruth. She has always been held up as a model of good behavior!” Martha agreed that the text of the book of Ruth in English translation was not so clear. “But the storyline has Ruth following her mother-in-law’s instructions. ‘She washed and perfumed herself and waited until Boaz was asleep. Then she approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down.’ The Hebrew idiom for ‘uncovering the feet’ carries with it serious sexual overtones. And in Chapter 4, the elders of the village bless the happy couple with the words, ‘May your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.’”
Melanie was concerned that the discussion, such as it was, had become too specialized. “Wow, we certainly dived in deep. And it’s only Chapter 1,” she said, partly to lighten the mood. She took the initiative to remind them all that background reading would be essential to get the most from these discussions and she put up the Bible references needed for Martha’s list:
For Tamar, Genesis, Chapter 38
For Rahab, Joshua, Chapter 2
For Ruth, look between Judges and First Samuel
For Bathsheba, 2 Samuel, Chapter 11
She was impressed that most of them wrote it all down.
Martha then addressed their unspoken question: “Why make reference to these women and ignore all the others; Sarah, Rebecca and Rachel, wives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, for starters? It almost looks as if someone was trying to cast a cloud on the royal line, and in so doing, maligning David as well.” There was some confused discussion. Someone thought that a later editor, with some malicious intent, might have inserted the names of the four women. Another wondered if it was because they were all probably non-Jewish, so that a hint was being given that the story to be told was the beginning of a new openness to Gentile people. Several thought that it was a preparation for the one who would be notorious for “eating and drinking with outcasts and sinners.” But Martha had more to say. “What if we are looking at the four women in the wrong way? Whatever else we can say of them, it is clear that they were resourceful and determined ladies. One possibility: ‘Matthew’ was a woman!” Big silence. No one had thought of that and there was a resistance to the unfamiliar.
Melanie was pleased with all of this. It was opening lots of new ideas. “Let’s keep Martha’s suggestion in the back of our minds as we proceed. Maybe we’ll find some other clues.” Martha nodded. “I can make quite a case for female authorship,” she insisted. “Wait for it!”
Melanie guided the conversation to the next big problem: why give a genealogy for Joseph when the text would immediately claim that Mary’s pregnancy was of divine origin, so that Joseph wasn’t the father at all? It was time to display the text of the second part of Chapter 1 and to wonder about the Virgin Birth.
The circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ were these. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they were united in marriage, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. But Joseph her husband,