Remembering The Women

~ A GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST ~

A genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of Miriam, the daughter of Anna:

Sarah was the mother of Isaac,

And Rebekah was the mother of Jacob,

Leah was the mother of Judah,

Tamar was the mother of Perez.

The names of the mothers of Hezron, Ram, Amminadab, 
     Nahshon and Salmon have been lost.

Rahab was the mother of Boaz,

     and Ruth was the mother of Obed.

Obed’s wife, whose name is unknown, bore Jesse.

The wife of Jesse was the mother of David.

Bathsheba was the mother of Solomon,

Naamah, the Ammonite, was the mother of Rehoboam.

Maacah was the mother of Abijam and the grandmother of Asa.

Azubah was the mother of Jehoshaphat.

The name of Jehoram’s mother is unknown.

Athaliah was the mother of Ahaziah,

Zibiah of Beersheba, the mother of Joash.

Jecoliah of Jerusalem bore Uzziah,

Jerusha bore Jotham; Ahaz’s mother is unknown.

Abi was the mother of Hezekiah,

Hephzibah was the mother of Manasseh,

Meshullemeth was the mother of Amon,

Jedidah was the mother of Josiah.

Zebidah was the mother of Jehoiakim,

     Nehushta was the mother of Jehoiachin,

Hamutal was the mother of Zedekiah.

The the deportation to Babylon took place.

After the deportation to Babylon

the names of the mothers go unrecorded.

These are their sons:

Jechoniah, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel,

Abiud, Eliakim, Azor and Zadok,

Achim, Eliud, Eleazar,

Matthew, Jacob and Joseph, the husband of Miriam.

Of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.

The sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Sarah to David’s mother;

     fourteen from Bathshebba to the Babylonian deportation;

     and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation 

          to Miriam, the mother of Christ.

-Genealogy compiled by Ann Patrick Ware

This genealogy tracing Jesus’ great grandmothers was taken from Remembering the Women, a book of scripture readings that include women, compiled by J. Frank Henderson. ““A Genealogy  of Jesus Christ” was compiled by Ann Patrick Ware of the Women’s Liturgy Group of New York, who has graciously put this text in the public domain for all to use.” 

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During Advent, when many preach and reflect on the few women named in Matthew’s lineage, let’s also remember the many other mothers, both named and unnamed, both Hebrew and not, who were great grandmothers of Jesus. There are precious lessons to ponder here as well. Remembered here, of course, are mothers in Christ's paternal line. Mothers of the mothers are not recorded. -JoMae