Women--an instrument of God's Grace

Thursday, December 17, 2009
The Luminous Mysteries
Genesis 49:2, 8-10
Psalm 72:1-2, 3-4ab, 7-8, 17
Luke 7:18b-23

This gospel might seem almost odd at first glance. It's a long list of genealogy, tracing the family tree of Jesus. It recounts the ancestry from Abraham, through David and finally to Jesus. The remarkable part is that it contains something not usually found in a genealogy of those times - mention of women.

Tucked away in the rhythmic cadences of the gospel:
"Abraham became the father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of Jacob,
Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers..."
are the names of five women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary, the mother of Jesus. What makes this extraordinary is that in the days in which Jesus lived and Matthew wrote this gospel, women were not full citizens and were considered irrelevant in public affairs. As in many cultures until recent times, inheritance came only through the father. And yet very deliberately, Matthew mentions these women. Why? Perhaps because as many scripture scholars today note, all five women had "irregular" relationships with the men with whom they bore their children. Whether a prostitute, a foreigner, a married woman whose child was conceived in adultery, or like Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus before her marriage to Joseph, all of the women had something extraordinary about their unions. And each one of them had something to do with carrying on the family line from Abraham to the Messiah.

How wondrous that God used these women to bring about the Messiah. Each one of them was a symbol of how God uses the unexpected to carry out God's plan - the coming of the Messiah. Our savior comes to us out of a lineage that is not "regular," but is certainly human, and in all of it, God is working. It challenges us to look at the ways God is inviting us to be instruments of Gods' plan today, in the midst of our own less-than-perfect unions.

Advent is a wonderful time to ask these questions. Can the Lord use me? I'm not perfect, I'm not holy. My circumstances are complex, even messy. I'm too busy, too un-focused, lazy or fast-paced for God to use me. I'm not ready. As soon as I get myself together a little more, then I'll be ready to answer God's call.

Whatever each of our individual human situations are, the temptation is always, perhaps especially for women, to think that God isn't interested in using me. Perhaps this Advent is a time for us to discover what initiatives we can take to be one of the instruments in God's marvelous plan of salvation. Perhaps this is a time to notice one of the women in our lives who, though not perfect, may be an instrument of God's grace for me.

For me personally, I can think of several--Mom, Marilyn, my daughters, Rose (who does a really great job of helping Mom when I am unable to), my mother-in-law, any one of my sisters-in-law, even Lily (who turns 1 year old tomorrow!)--the list is endless of the women who help me find the Grace of God just by my knowing and loving them.