By: Rev. Stephanie York Arnold
December 1, 2025
This Advent season, as you prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, you are likely to hear or read the genealogy of Jesus whether you are studying Matthew or Luke’s gospel. If so, hopefully it will be obvious to you that there are persons missing. While some scholars believe Luke’s recounting of Jesus’ lineage is from Mary’s family line, Luke never mentions a single woman’s name. Matthew, whom scholars believe is recounting Joseph’s family lineage, mentions only a total of five women…Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary. Giants in our faith to be sure, but nowhere near representative of the number of women who are a part of the heritage that ultimately births our Savior.
Why is it so easy to simply write people, particularly women, out of history? Whether it is:
- Queen Hatshepsut an Egyptian Pharoh
- Elizabeth O’Farrell, an Irish nurse and midwife who delivered a message of surrender during the Easter Rising
- Marsha B Johnson, a trans woman who advocated for gay rights and co-founded STAR House for transgender youth
- Regina Gelana Twala a prolific South African writer whose radical voice exposed prejudices around race, gender, and class
- 1000 Filipino women who were forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation during World War II, or
- 25,000 immigrants from Yugoslavia to Slovenia erased from the public register of official citizenship in 1992, which included men and women
Intentionally erasing or ignoring women in history is something that has happened since before Jesus’ time and, to our detriment, continues today.
Our Divine Creator is not simply named or illustrated as being synonymous with maleness, having masculine characteristics, or male authority (Isaiah 66:13). From Old Testament (Genesis 1:2, Deuteronomy 32:18, Job 38:8), non-canonical ancient books (Sirach 14:25, Book of Wisdom 7:22), to New Testament authors (Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34, John 1:14, 16–18), God is declared to move beyond any singular or binary understanding of gender. God chooses to show up in ALL of us and seems to treasure coming to life in the places and people that often make us uncomfortable or where we least expect to find the Imago Dei. No matter our expectation or discomfort, we do not control where God chooses to dwell and how God chooses to be revealed.
This Advent, as you savor the narrative of the trek to the manger in Bethlehem and the knocking on the door to hear there wasn’t enough room, may your heart wonder whom else we have not made room for in the retelling of our favorite Biblical stories, our understanding of God, or our leadership within the Church and society. May your mind wonder about the tenacity of the women in particular who endured generations of silencing, who were deemed property to men and found useful only for their fertility. May you consider their lives and love, despite the oppression they faced. May you learn their names and give thanks for the ways they bore burdens they didn’t deserve with strength and, though often unnamed, still left their mark on history.
You are encouraged to light a candle and read the matrilineal heritage of Jesus as you consider all the women who have gone unnamed and yet have in some way borne Christ to our world.
An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, descendant of Abraham, and son of Mary 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.
Maacha 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.
Jocoliah 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 Jehoiachin,
Hamutal was the mother of Zedekiah.
Then the deportation to Babylon took place…
After the deportation to Babylon
The names of the mothers go unrecorded.
These are their sons:
Jechoniah, Shealtiel, Zuerubbabel,
Abiud, Elliakim, Azor and Zadok,
Achim, Eliud, Eleazar,
Matthan, Jacob and Joseph, the husband of Mary
Of her was born Jesus who is called Christ.
York Arnold is the general secretary of the General Commission on the Status and Role of Women.