Whakapapa: The Genealogy of Jesus
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This page is a reproduction of part of Rev. Dr. Wayne Te Kaawa's PhD thesis (2020):
"Re-visioning Christology through a Māori lens" View full Thesis HERE (University of Otago Archive) This short section explores Māori theology in relation to the genealogies of Jesus recorded in the Gospels. He claims that Jesus' genealogy is the starting point for Christology, and highlights fascinating points of resonance between scripture and Te Ao Māori understandings. Published with permission. ...?? Wayne is a Theology Lecturer at the University of Otago. |
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(page 76)
Genealogy is an enduring organising principle for human life. It is a record of human ancestry that provides the lineage of a person from an ancestor. Genealogy is universal in nature touching the human experience regardless of race or language. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke present two written and distinctively different genealogies of Jesus. Genealogy in Christological discourse gives much space to explaining why the two lineages of Jesus are so different.(111) A whakapapa methodology also examines the differences but does not limit itself to exploring those variances but considers the richness of the whakapapa in theological, cultural, historical, relational and identity categories that are inherent within the whakapapa.
Whakapapa is at the core of the Māori world; it is the anchor that remains planted in the earth while the world around it is characterised by constant change. Whakapapa records, preserves, transmits and maps relationships between people and the world that they live in physically and spiritually. Jesus like every other human being has a human genealogy that is still to be fully understood in relation to his divinity and the messianic claims made in the genealogy. Matthew makes a messianic claim in the genealogy with; Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.(112) Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus to God with the genealogical section of the text in the NRSV version of the bible entitled, ‘The Ancestors of Jesus.’ This, in effect, makes God an ancestor of Jesus and provides God with a genealogy. A whakapapa methodology will be helpful in providing new insights into the human, divine and
(page 77)
messianic claims made in the genealogy of Jesus as in whakapapa methodology, even Atua have a whakapapa.
Sir Apirana Ngata of Nāti Porou defines whakapapa as, the process of laying one thing upon another. He says that if you visualise the foundering ancestors as the first generation, the next and succeeding ancestors are placed on them in layers.(113) This methodology of layering creates a foundation giving the person or collective of people a solid base of meaning to build on in this world. Layering also helps to locate yourself in the world in relation to your ancestors and in relation to each other and to the environment.
Examining the genealogy of Jesus in Matthews Gospel, New Zealand Pākehā theologian Warren Carter uses the same methodology of layering that Ngata articulates. According to Carter, genealogy locates Jesus within the biblical story associating him with some of the prestigious ancestors of biblical history. This defines his relationship to the ancestors where every name evokes a layer of stories.(114) The potential of whakapapa for Christology is that in the layering of generations and narratives an interpretative framework is created clothed in names, stories, place and events that shape the biblical narrative and places the origins of Jesus at the beginning of God’s purposes.
...
(page 78)
As a fundamental core value of Māori belief every living being has a whakapapa. Professor Whatarangi Winiata of Ngāti Raukawa and founder of Te Wānanga o Ngāti Raukawa provides a succinct definition of whakapapa as, “having the ability to ground oneself.”119 He explains that ‘whaka’ means ‘to make’ and ‘papa’ means the ‘earth or ground’. Grounding oneself is fully expressed in the word tūrangawaewae meaning a place to stand which is an important concept within the Māori World. According to David Garland, genealogy sketches the contour of salvation history and highlights the fact that the time of Israel inaugurated by Abraham has reached its fulfilment with the birth of Jesus, the one called Christ in the genealogy.120 The genealogy attributed to Jesus has the similar effect of grounding him in the physical land of Israel, in his ancestors and in history that has salvation at its core.
Whakapapa is the basis for the organisation of knowledge in all aspects of creation and the subsequent development of all things animate and inanimate, from Atua to humans to every aspect of nature including time. Well-known academic Dr Ranginui Walker says:
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua
I walk backwards into the future with my eye fixed on the past.(121)
In this statement Walker is seeing genealogy as travelling backward in time to the future as it unfolds in the present as a continuum into the past. The past, present and future are held in creative tension. Genealogy is constantly evolving, Friis Plum says that the fluidity of genealogies leads to alterations concurrent with changes in points of view and ideology.(122) The
(page 79)
genealogies contained in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke differ considerably, Matthew presents the genealogy in descending order while Luke presents his in ascending order. Matthew’s contains matriarchs while Luke’s is exclusively patriarchal. The differences show that the fluidity of the genealogies warrants careful examination.
(page 80)
The two natures of the Person of Christ are significant to Christology. A crucial aspect of the Person of Christ is the subject of ‘incarnation’ which has been drawn from the Gospel of John and the word becoming flesh.(125) The true nature of Jesus Christ refers to the prosopic and hypostatic union of the human and divine natures as they coexist within the one person, the one hypostasis of Jesus Christ. In the incarnation, the pre-existent divine being permanently incorporates human nature into the Godhead through the birth of Jesus.
Knowledge of personhood and the two natures is not restricted to Western philosophy and theology. Other societies around the world also have their own knowledge on these subjects and should be given the opportunity to speak into the broad range of areas within Christology. Whakapapa can contribute to the discussions of the two natures of Christ through the concepts known as te ira Atua and te ira tangata. These two terms have been translated by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) to mean genes.(126) Each person possesses a pair of ira tangata or human genes inherited biologically from their parents. These genes are transmitted at conception and at birth, a new life is created and the new life is human. According to Professor Hirini Moko Mead the genes are more than biological elements. There is a godlike and spiritual quality to all of them because human beings, ira tangata descend from ira Atua therefore individuals are a beneficiary of ira tangata and ira Atua.(127) An ira Atua, ira tangata reading of the genealogies of Jesus can shine new light on exegeting the two natures of Jesus well beyond the confines of rigid western theological academic thought.
A final point on using a whakapapa methodology to exegete the genealogies of Jesus is in the area of human connections. According to Dr Te Ahukaramu Royal of Ngāti Raukawa, whakapapa is regarded as an analytical tool that has been employed as a means to understand the world and relationships.(128) A feature of the genealogy of Jesus, is the inclusion of four women in Matthew’s version. Scholars such as Raymond E Brown and Elaine Wainwright survey varying theories on why they have been included. Theories range from the women
(page 81)
having been included as notable sinners or as departing from the purity of the Jewish race. The women are reputed, so the theory goes to have backgrounds as seductresses, prostitutes or adulteresses or as Gentile foreign women. This last category which fits with the Gentile friendly theology of the Gospel. The area of relationships still offers plenty of scope for further investigation and a whakapapa analysis holds potential for new discoveries as a basic component of whakapapa is being in a network of relationships.
To conclude, the application of a whakapapa methodology to Christological reflection points to the humanness of Jesus. The plot of a good novel is usually sketched in the opening chapter which provides the framework for the remainder of the novel. The location of the genealogy as the opening chapter in Matthew and as chapter three in the prologue to the Gospel of Luke, and their respective identification of Jesus as son of God and Jesus the Christ reveal the plot for the remainder of the Gospels. The genealogies establish the structure and intent of the remaining sections of each Gospel to reveal how Jesus a human person who had a human birth is the son of God, the heir apparent to Abraham and the throne of David and also claim the title of, the Christ. Christological reflection must include the significance of the genealogy as it is so prominent in the opening of both Gospels.
Footnotes:
111: For examples see: Raymond E Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, A commentary on the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. (New York: Doubleday, 1993); Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins, A Socio-Political and Religious Reading. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 2000); W D Davis and Dale C Allison, Matthew, The International Critical Commentary on Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997); David E Garland, Reading Matthew, A Literacy and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel, (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993).
112: Matt 1:1
117: Te Rangihīroa, The Coming of the Māori. (Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1949), 408.
118: Esther Marie Menn, Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) in Ancient Jewish Exegesis, Studies in Literary and Hermeneutics. (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997), 15.
119: S Edwards, Nā te Mātauranga Māori ka Ora Tonu te Ao Māori: Through Māori Knowledge Te Ao Māori will Resonate, in Haemata Ltd, T Black, D Bean, W Collings, W Nuku (eds), Conversation in Mātauranga Māori (Wellington: New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 2012), 37-58.
120: Garland, Reading Matthew, 13.
121: Ranginui Walker, Ngā Pepa a Ranginui, The Walker Papers, (Auckland: Penguin Books, 1996), 14.
122: Karin Friis Plum, Genealogy as Theology. Scandinavian Journal of Theology, vol 3, issue 1 1989, 66-92.
125: John 1: 1-14
126: Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Te Matariki, Rev. ed. (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1996), 164.
127: Hirini Moko Mead, Tikanga Māori, Living by Māori Values, (Wellington: Huia Publishers, 20169, 46-47.
128: Ahukaramu Royal, Te Ao Mārama: A Research Paradigm in Te Pūmanawa Hauora. Proceedings of Te Oru Rangahau: Māori Research and Development Conference. Palmerston North, NZ: School of Māori Studies, Massey University, 1998, 78-86.
Genealogy is an enduring organising principle for human life. It is a record of human ancestry that provides the lineage of a person from an ancestor. Genealogy is universal in nature touching the human experience regardless of race or language. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke present two written and distinctively different genealogies of Jesus. Genealogy in Christological discourse gives much space to explaining why the two lineages of Jesus are so different.(111) A whakapapa methodology also examines the differences but does not limit itself to exploring those variances but considers the richness of the whakapapa in theological, cultural, historical, relational and identity categories that are inherent within the whakapapa.
Whakapapa is at the core of the Māori world; it is the anchor that remains planted in the earth while the world around it is characterised by constant change. Whakapapa records, preserves, transmits and maps relationships between people and the world that they live in physically and spiritually. Jesus like every other human being has a human genealogy that is still to be fully understood in relation to his divinity and the messianic claims made in the genealogy. Matthew makes a messianic claim in the genealogy with; Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.(112) Luke traces the genealogy of Jesus to God with the genealogical section of the text in the NRSV version of the bible entitled, ‘The Ancestors of Jesus.’ This, in effect, makes God an ancestor of Jesus and provides God with a genealogy. A whakapapa methodology will be helpful in providing new insights into the human, divine and
(page 77)
messianic claims made in the genealogy of Jesus as in whakapapa methodology, even Atua have a whakapapa.
Sir Apirana Ngata of Nāti Porou defines whakapapa as, the process of laying one thing upon another. He says that if you visualise the foundering ancestors as the first generation, the next and succeeding ancestors are placed on them in layers.(113) This methodology of layering creates a foundation giving the person or collective of people a solid base of meaning to build on in this world. Layering also helps to locate yourself in the world in relation to your ancestors and in relation to each other and to the environment.
Examining the genealogy of Jesus in Matthews Gospel, New Zealand Pākehā theologian Warren Carter uses the same methodology of layering that Ngata articulates. According to Carter, genealogy locates Jesus within the biblical story associating him with some of the prestigious ancestors of biblical history. This defines his relationship to the ancestors where every name evokes a layer of stories.(114) The potential of whakapapa for Christology is that in the layering of generations and narratives an interpretative framework is created clothed in names, stories, place and events that shape the biblical narrative and places the origins of Jesus at the beginning of God’s purposes.
...
(page 78)
As a fundamental core value of Māori belief every living being has a whakapapa. Professor Whatarangi Winiata of Ngāti Raukawa and founder of Te Wānanga o Ngāti Raukawa provides a succinct definition of whakapapa as, “having the ability to ground oneself.”119 He explains that ‘whaka’ means ‘to make’ and ‘papa’ means the ‘earth or ground’. Grounding oneself is fully expressed in the word tūrangawaewae meaning a place to stand which is an important concept within the Māori World. According to David Garland, genealogy sketches the contour of salvation history and highlights the fact that the time of Israel inaugurated by Abraham has reached its fulfilment with the birth of Jesus, the one called Christ in the genealogy.120 The genealogy attributed to Jesus has the similar effect of grounding him in the physical land of Israel, in his ancestors and in history that has salvation at its core.
Whakapapa is the basis for the organisation of knowledge in all aspects of creation and the subsequent development of all things animate and inanimate, from Atua to humans to every aspect of nature including time. Well-known academic Dr Ranginui Walker says:
Kia whakatōmuri te haere whakamua
I walk backwards into the future with my eye fixed on the past.(121)
In this statement Walker is seeing genealogy as travelling backward in time to the future as it unfolds in the present as a continuum into the past. The past, present and future are held in creative tension. Genealogy is constantly evolving, Friis Plum says that the fluidity of genealogies leads to alterations concurrent with changes in points of view and ideology.(122) The
(page 79)
genealogies contained in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke differ considerably, Matthew presents the genealogy in descending order while Luke presents his in ascending order. Matthew’s contains matriarchs while Luke’s is exclusively patriarchal. The differences show that the fluidity of the genealogies warrants careful examination.
(page 80)
The two natures of the Person of Christ are significant to Christology. A crucial aspect of the Person of Christ is the subject of ‘incarnation’ which has been drawn from the Gospel of John and the word becoming flesh.(125) The true nature of Jesus Christ refers to the prosopic and hypostatic union of the human and divine natures as they coexist within the one person, the one hypostasis of Jesus Christ. In the incarnation, the pre-existent divine being permanently incorporates human nature into the Godhead through the birth of Jesus.
Knowledge of personhood and the two natures is not restricted to Western philosophy and theology. Other societies around the world also have their own knowledge on these subjects and should be given the opportunity to speak into the broad range of areas within Christology. Whakapapa can contribute to the discussions of the two natures of Christ through the concepts known as te ira Atua and te ira tangata. These two terms have been translated by Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) to mean genes.(126) Each person possesses a pair of ira tangata or human genes inherited biologically from their parents. These genes are transmitted at conception and at birth, a new life is created and the new life is human. According to Professor Hirini Moko Mead the genes are more than biological elements. There is a godlike and spiritual quality to all of them because human beings, ira tangata descend from ira Atua therefore individuals are a beneficiary of ira tangata and ira Atua.(127) An ira Atua, ira tangata reading of the genealogies of Jesus can shine new light on exegeting the two natures of Jesus well beyond the confines of rigid western theological academic thought.
A final point on using a whakapapa methodology to exegete the genealogies of Jesus is in the area of human connections. According to Dr Te Ahukaramu Royal of Ngāti Raukawa, whakapapa is regarded as an analytical tool that has been employed as a means to understand the world and relationships.(128) A feature of the genealogy of Jesus, is the inclusion of four women in Matthew’s version. Scholars such as Raymond E Brown and Elaine Wainwright survey varying theories on why they have been included. Theories range from the women
(page 81)
having been included as notable sinners or as departing from the purity of the Jewish race. The women are reputed, so the theory goes to have backgrounds as seductresses, prostitutes or adulteresses or as Gentile foreign women. This last category which fits with the Gentile friendly theology of the Gospel. The area of relationships still offers plenty of scope for further investigation and a whakapapa analysis holds potential for new discoveries as a basic component of whakapapa is being in a network of relationships.
To conclude, the application of a whakapapa methodology to Christological reflection points to the humanness of Jesus. The plot of a good novel is usually sketched in the opening chapter which provides the framework for the remainder of the novel. The location of the genealogy as the opening chapter in Matthew and as chapter three in the prologue to the Gospel of Luke, and their respective identification of Jesus as son of God and Jesus the Christ reveal the plot for the remainder of the Gospels. The genealogies establish the structure and intent of the remaining sections of each Gospel to reveal how Jesus a human person who had a human birth is the son of God, the heir apparent to Abraham and the throne of David and also claim the title of, the Christ. Christological reflection must include the significance of the genealogy as it is so prominent in the opening of both Gospels.
Footnotes:
111: For examples see: Raymond E Brown, The Birth of the Messiah, A commentary on the infancy narratives in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. (New York: Doubleday, 1993); Warren Carter, Matthew and the Margins, A Socio-Political and Religious Reading. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press Ltd, 2000); W D Davis and Dale C Allison, Matthew, The International Critical Commentary on Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1997); David E Garland, Reading Matthew, A Literacy and Theological Commentary on the First Gospel, (New York: Crossroad Publishing Company, 1993).
112: Matt 1:1
117: Te Rangihīroa, The Coming of the Māori. (Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs, 1949), 408.
118: Esther Marie Menn, Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) in Ancient Jewish Exegesis, Studies in Literary and Hermeneutics. (Leiden: Brill Publishers, 1997), 15.
119: S Edwards, Nā te Mātauranga Māori ka Ora Tonu te Ao Māori: Through Māori Knowledge Te Ao Māori will Resonate, in Haemata Ltd, T Black, D Bean, W Collings, W Nuku (eds), Conversation in Mātauranga Māori (Wellington: New Zealand Qualifications Authority, 2012), 37-58.
120: Garland, Reading Matthew, 13.
121: Ranginui Walker, Ngā Pepa a Ranginui, The Walker Papers, (Auckland: Penguin Books, 1996), 14.
122: Karin Friis Plum, Genealogy as Theology. Scandinavian Journal of Theology, vol 3, issue 1 1989, 66-92.
125: John 1: 1-14
126: Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori, Te Matariki, Rev. ed. (Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1996), 164.
127: Hirini Moko Mead, Tikanga Māori, Living by Māori Values, (Wellington: Huia Publishers, 20169, 46-47.
128: Ahukaramu Royal, Te Ao Mārama: A Research Paradigm in Te Pūmanawa Hauora. Proceedings of Te Oru Rangahau: Māori Research and Development Conference. Palmerston North, NZ: School of Māori Studies, Massey University, 1998, 78-86.