Our Family Tree

A Poem and Painting for the Second Week of Advent

For the second week of Advent, I offer this painting and poem which both reflect on Jesus’ ancestry, followed by a brief reflection below.

C. Terry Saul, Tree of Jesse, in Imaging the Word: An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Vol. 2, ed. Susan A. Blain (Cleveland: United Church Press, 1995), 85.

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Our Family Tree

You came to us descended from Tamar,
from Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba—names and scars
on proud display upon your family tree,
showing the kind of Savior you would be:

Emmanuel, you stood with the exploited,
the outcasts, immigrants, abused—avoided
by those who claimed your genealogy,
forgetting who you raised us all to be:

those blessed to be a blessing to the nations,
inviting folks from every generation
to come just as they are and be restored,
finding their true identity in yours—

that, grafted in by grace, not cast aside,
we’d share your Spirit’s fruit as we abide.

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About the Art

C. Terry Saul (1921–1976) was a Chickasaw/Choctaw painter who blended traditional Native American and contemporary Western art styles. In Tree of Jesse, we see Mary and Jesus growing out of their human lineage and fulfilling the scarlet thread of God’s ancient promise, which culminates in the (Christmas star-shaped) cross. The Holy Spirit, the rising doves suggest, has been energetically at work throughout long generations bringing God’s promise (which rises neither in front of nor behind the tree, but through its very branches) to fruition.

While Saul’s depiction of women elders in the family tree is likely unremarkable in his matrilineal Chickasaw and Choctaw cultures, it recalls for me Matthew’s very conspicuous, countercultural inclusion (in his patriarchal Jewish culture) of women in Jesus’ genealogy—and not just any women, but foreign women and women whose stories (my goodness!) speak volumes about men, about power, and about redemption.

I am struck by the curvature of Saul’s tree representing humanity. It is emphatically bent. And aren’t we? We need only consider the United States’ oppression of Native Americans like the Chickasaw and Choctaw—or our own personal failures to care for people who are “exploited… outcasts, immigrants, abused”—to confess how different our comings are from Jesus’ coming, marked by humility, patience, and love.

This Advent, may we invite God to graciously but firmly bend us back toward Jesus, the plumbline of true humanity and the world’s true shalom—that we might represent Emmanuel well and, by God’s grace, welcome others into God’s beloved community.

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Thank You!

Thanks to The Soil and the Seed Project for publishing “Our Family Tree” in their brand new (free!) Matthew: Gospel Collection, which I’ll share more about next week.

And thank you for reading! Please reply or leave a comment with any thoughts. It’s always a gift to hear back from you.

For more, check out the rest of my 2024 and 2025 Advent series of poems and visual art.