Mennonite Weekly Review

The next time you feel unimportant, consider how many people it took to get you here. Each of us has two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, 16 great-great-grandparents, 32 great-great-great-grandparents, and so on, exponentially increasing with every generation we go back. Each one of those ancestors, most of whose names or life stories we do not know, is equally important and necessary in our personal history.

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At the same time, if that makes you feel important, consider that 200 years from now, your own life will largely be forgotten, and you will probably be little more than a name with dates on someone’s family tree chart.

Delving into our own past can be fascinating; that’s why genealogy is such a popular hobby. Who knows what facts about obscure ancestors, either laudable or shameful, are waiting to be discovered?

‘Foreigners’ in the family

This week’s lesson explores the history of Jesus’ earthly family, and it also contains some unexpected additions. The passages in Ruth and Matthew mention specifically that outsiders such as Rahab and Ruth have been grafted onto Jesus’ family tree.

Some years ago my husband’s brother and wife decided to adopt an African-American child. They were told by the adoption agency, “Remember, this child’s genes will be part of your family forever.” It’s true, our previously all-white Dueckman family now contains one black member, and his descendants will carry on a family name that is Russian-German. My own maternal grandparents’ only grandsons to carry on the family name both married Japanese-American women, so these great-grandchildren also bear half-Japanese features with a German-sounding surname.

Although in today’s society it is less of an issue, the introduction of “foreigners” into our families has not always been well received. Interracial marriages, even marriages to members of other Christian denominations, were not as common a generation or so ago.

It is a human tendency to want to retain the comfortable and familiar in our own immediate circles. But Boaz stepped outside the box in taking Ruth the Moabitess as his wife. For this foreigner to be introduced into the Israelite family and become the great-grandmother of King David is truly remarkable. And her presence is not covered up, but given prominent mention in the lineage.

Story of the generations

Naomi knows none of this, however, when her grandson Obed is born. And Obed is considered to be her grandson, though he is not her descendant. He is Naomi’s only heir, and she willingly adopts him into her circle of love. She does not know what Obed’s life will bring and certainly cannot see him at that moment as an old man, much less the grandfather of the king of Israel. Like any other grandparent, she just rejoices in the promise of a new generation. She praises and trusts God for the future of the child’s life.

For every generation, life is in the here and now. We cannot see the future of our own life or of the members of our family, nor do we often consider the past existences of those who went before us. But God sees the whole picture and how each one fits in to the story. As we read the list of names in this genealogical recitation, rather than skipping quickly over them, let us remember that each name represents a real person with a real life span who was important in God’s plan.

And, like Naomi, may we treasure each new generation of family members. May those who come into our biological families or faith families from whatever background be welcomed and included.

Amy Dueckman, a former staff writer for Mennonite Weekly Review, works for Canadian Mennonite and Mennonite Central Committee British Columbia and is a member of Emmanuel Mennonite Church in Abbotsford, B.C.