The Jesus we never know

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

Abraham was the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar,
Perez the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab,
Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon the father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa the father of Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram,
Jehoram the father of Uzziah,
Uzziah the father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of Hezekiah,
Hezekiah the father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father of Amon,
Amon the father of Josiah,
and Josiah the father of Jeconiah[c] and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon.

After the exile to Babylon:
Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the father of Abihud,
Abihud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of Azor,
Azor the father of Zadok,
Zadok the father of Akim,
Akim the father of Elihud,
Elihud the father of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of Matthan,
Matthan the father of Jacob,
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called the Messiah. - Matthew 1:1-16

We often thought that we know who Jesus is and we can conjure up an image of Jesus that we think it's correct, thus affecting how we see ourselves as Christians and how we should live our lives as Christians. But when we go back to the bible, we may be surprised at what we find out about Jesus that we never know about. In particular, one thing that I find interesting the most about Jesus (that people seldom notice) is his genealogy. Perhaps let me highlight the four women in Jesus' line that somehow may indicate the Jesus that we never know.

Firstly, let's talk about Tamar. Already in Genesis, mixing with Canaanite women was a forbidden act within the family of Abraham. This is obvious when Abraham refused to find a wife for Issac in Canaan, and Issac and Rachel being unhappy over Esau's marriage with the Canaanite women. And as one would notice, there is nothing apparently honorable in the conception of Perez, as a result of Judah and Tamar's intercourse in Genesis 38.

Secondly, it is Rahab. Rahab was a woman honored in the Scripture. As mentioned in Hebrews, by faith, she was not killed in the conquest of Jericho because she welcomed the spies. This is a woman who is honored for her faith. But yet, we know that Rahab was a harlot too.

Thirdly, we look at Ruth, the Moabite woman. Her story is recorded in the book of Ruth. The most remarkable thing is that Moab was a cursed nation. If one reads Deuteronomy 23:3, the Moabites were excluded from the assembly of God, not even after the tenth generation. This was starkly different from the treatment given to other alien tribes who were living with the nation of Israel. Essentially, what we are looking here is that within the line of David, there was a woman who by right could never have belonged to the Israelite community due to the curse. The fact that she was to produce the line of kings for Israel and subsequently Judah can only be attributed to the grace of God. I shall not labour the exposition here, cos I think other people have done similar jobs.

Fourthly, we see the mistake made by David and thus resulted in his adultery with Bathsheba. Solomon, the eventual successor of David, was thus a product of a relationship that started off from a bad beginning (or rather sinful inception). We know the story quite well, so I shall skip that part.

But putting all these together, what does this mean? We see that first of all, Jesus' Jewish bloodline is not entirely a pure one. To understand the implication of this, one has to bear in mind that after the Jews returned from exile, they were determined to maintain the purity of the bloodline and genealogy. If one reads Erza, one would have noticed that those who were unable to prove that they were descended from the 12 tribes of Israel were not given their inheritance. Nehemiah, in the book named after him, had to personally become the RSM and instil discipline to those who intermarried. The purity of the bloodline was a big thing. Disdain towards Gentiles was to be under-current in the biblical narratives, especially in the NT. Paul, in his address to the crowd in Jerusalem after he was accused of bringing Gentile into the temple, was immediately cut off from his speech when he mentioned the word 'Gentile' in his speech. We know that the Jews and the Samaritans were not of good terms, and this tension was clearly shown in John 4. And yet, the Messiah that the Jews awaited was not a pureblood, to adopt a term from Harry Potter.

Secondly, we see that Jesus' family background was not entirely clean. Looking at the case of the four women in his genealogy, two were involved in deceptions in the case of Tamar and Bathsheba. Ruth was a Moabite - her background was cursed and Rahab was a harlot. I would imagine that a king's family history would be an honorable one if he wants to present himself as a legitimate ruler. No one would really want a blotched family history. But this is where Jesus differs, in His position as a King, as He allows His family record to speak for itself.

Looking at the two observations, I can only reach one conclusion. Jesus' background says a lot about his mission on Earth. While salvation will come from the Jews, but salvation is not exclusive to anyone from any race and tribe. The fact that Jesus is not technically a pureblood means that the link with the Gentile was there (though by the time He was 'born', there was nothing in the immediate family tree that suggests intermarriage which was forbidden). The fact that his background was not clean is an implicit sign of his identification with the sinners that He was to mix with.

If I may sum up all these in one word, it can only be grace. It can only be the grace from God. I highly speculate that God allows such a genealogy to take place so that in the case when people dispute that the Messiah will only come for the nation of Israel, one can easily point back that Jesus, in his own humanly descent, traces part of his heritage back to the Gentile. There's Gentile blood in Him, no doubt about it. And the fact that sinners like Rahab and Bathsheba can eventually play a role in bloodline of our Saviour. Not as dramatic as what Mary would have gone through but can you imagine if you know your descendent is going to be someone great? Think about the scene in Lady in the Water, when Story told Vick that his book was going to inspire a future President. Somewhere along that line, but Rahab and Bathsheba never knew at that point in time. And to think that Ruth can eventually find her way into the Israelite community despite her roots.

This is interesting, and I think we ought to further meditate upon the Jesus we never know, to explore what can be further dug. It's not just about knowing about Jesus, but it's in knowing Jesus that we know the God whom we worship.