One generation begetting brokenness of another generation
December 25, 2024 2:23 PM   Subscribe

But as the pastor pointed out, Jesus came down to us through broken families: “one generation begetting brokenness of another generation begetting brokenness of another generation begetting brokenness of another generation.” There were murderers, adulterers, prostitutes and people who committed incest, liars, schemers and idolaters. Jesus may have been sinless, but those in his lineage were not. Just as remarkable is that the Gospel of Matthew didn’t hide this troubled family history. from Why It Matters That Jesus Came From a Dysfunctional Family [New York Times; ungated]
posted by chavenet (6 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity:

(again, sorry)
There is even, when you come to think it over, a reason why nasty people might be expected to turn to Christ in greater numbers than nice ones. That was what people objected to about Christ during His life on earth: He seemed to attract "such awful people." That is what people still object to, and always will. Do you not see why? Christ said '"Blessed are the poor" and "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom," and no doubt He primarily meant the economically rich and economically poor. But do not His words also apply to another kind of riches and poverty? …

Often people who have… natural kinds of goodness cannot be brought to recognise their need for Christ at all until, one day, the natural goodness lets them down and their self-satisfaction is shattered. In other words, it is hard for those who are "rich" in this sense to enter the Kingdom.

It is very different for the nasty people—the little, low, timid, warped, thin-blooded, lonely people, or the passionate, sensual, unbalanced people. If they make any attempt at goodness at all, they learn, in double quick time, that they need help. It is Christ or nothing for them. It is taking up the cross and following—or else despair. They are the lost sheep; He came specially to find them.

They are (in one very real and terrible sense) the "poor": He blessed them.
posted by Lemkin at 2:44 PM on December 25 [2 favorites]


(Ungated not working for me, and the Internet Archive only has the start of the article.)
posted by paduasoy at 3:03 PM on December 25 [1 favorite]


Alternative ungated version
posted by chavenet at 3:20 PM on December 25


I'm deeply confused by the point of view of the article. Am I to assume that the author's bible only has a New Testament, because that's a very odd way to characterise the Old Testament prophets, who are indeed shown warts and all*, but also, surely the reason for having the genealogy of Christ in the gospels is about showing that he fulfils the prophecies of the Old Testament. And indeed a big part of the Old Testament is showing man's imperfection and redeemability.

*as a famous ultraprotestant Christmas banning autarch once said.
posted by ambrosen at 4:00 PM on December 25 [3 favorites]


Sigh. Cromwell did not ban Christmas. That was Parliament well before he was Lord Protector. This is your Christmas fact for the year.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:25 PM on December 25 [2 favorites]


Huh, if it really mattered to the NYT how or why or what jesus was, they might every once in a while pont out the outrageous hypocrisy of xtians in this country, and more importantly the politicians who wrap themselves in the cults based on him. I guess once a year on a holiday they can bother to reflect, or whatever, but after the past few decades of basically ignoring the bad faith of the religious right in this country in the service of their both-sides-ism it warrants a resounding 'so what'.
posted by OHenryPacey at 4:25 PM on December 25 [4 favorites]


« Older Sometimes things are okay


You are not currently logged in. Log in or create a new account to post comments.



Tags

Share