Matthew 1

The New Testament begins with a genealogy, which is not how most books try to hold a reader. Matthew knows exactly what he is doing. His first word echoes the title of Genesis, and his list moves from Abraham, to whom the promise was made, through David, to whom the kingdom was promised, down to the exile, where both promises seemed to die, and on to a carpenter in Nazareth. Three sets of fourteen generations, each an act of memory. Along the way he does something no ordinary genealogy would do: he names women, and not the matriarchs. Tamar, who tricked her father-in-law; Rahab of Jericho; Ruth of Moab; and Bathsheba, named only as the wife of the man David had killed. By the time the reader meets Mary, "found to be with child" before her wedding, Matthew has prepared the ground: God has been working through irregular stories all along. The birth itself is told from Joseph's side, and Joseph's righteousness shows in his instinct to protect rather than to expose. An angel gives the child two names. Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Immanuel, because God is with us. Matthew will end his Gospel with Jesus saying "I am with you always." The first chapter and the last are the same promise.