Abraham is the Patriarch of the Jews. He was the first of his people to profess the belief in One God, Yahweh. While others worshiped many, he and his family worshiped only One. As the story goes, one day he got a visit from an Angel of the Lord telling him that he was going to be the father of a great people. His wife, said the angel, would bear a son. Abraham was incredulous. He fell down laughing at the thought. How could it be, he asked, since I am an old man beyond my prime? Besides which Sarah is well beyond childbearing. The Angel replied, “Nothing is impossible with God.” Abraham acceded and accepted the will of Yahweh. In an effort to fast track the Lord, Sarah offered Abraham her handmaiden Hagar. The son that was born to Hagar and Abraham was named Ishmael. The Angel of the Lord banished Hagar and Ishmael into the desert because Abraham had forced God’s hand. Moslems adopted Ishmael as their link to Allah through Abraham. So it was that Isaac, the promised one, was born to Abraham and Sarah. Thus the Lord set in motion the story of a great nation fathered by Abraham culminating in the birth of the Messiah to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem.

According to the Gospels, there are 14 generations from Abraham to David and 14 generations from David to Jesus. Like many others of my generation, after I retired I went searching for my Italian ancestors. My father’s family came from Palermo, Sicily. My mother’s family came from Campania and Basilicata on the Italian peninsula. Spencer Wells, on PBS, traced the Journey of Man out of Africa into central Europe and then to all points East and West using the Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is a male DNA trait that is passed down father to son. I got mitochondrial DNA from my mother. I got my Y chromosome from my father in a direct line from my fourth great grandfather Francesco. I passed it on to my son who passed it on to his sons. When I told my Sicilian cousin Giuseppe that I was Mezzo Neapolitan, he said, “No, no!!! Tu sei Siciliano tutto.” He was speaking from my Y chromosome. The same should be true for Jesus. He should have gotten his Y chromosome from Joseph in an unbroken chain going back to Abraham.

According to Biblical legend, Mary was 14 years old when she was betrothed to Joseph. Joseph was 18. They were both of the same tribe so the prophesy that the Messiah would come from the house of King David would be fulfilled. Mary and Joseph’s lineage diverged when the DNA of the sons of David, Solomon and Nathan, went their separate ways. Joseph and Mary were first cousins somewhat removed. When Mary, a virgin, got the news that she would give birth to the Messiah, she tells the Angel Gabriel, “I do not know man!” Gabriel tells Mary that it’s no never mind to Holy Spirit. “Nothing is impossible with God.” When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant before their wedding, he was outraged. He had every right to cancel the wedding and leave her child fatherless. He confounded her. Forgive the irreverence, but Joseph, trying to understand the mystery that engulfed him, says to Mary, “Let me see if I’ve got this right, you’re telling me that the father of your baby is the Holy Who???” As he considered his options, the Angel Gabriel tells Joseph to accept the “hand” of the Holy Spirit. Joseph adopts Jesus as his son. But, here is the problem. The prophesy says that the Messiah would be of the House of David. One would assume that David’s Y chromosome would make its way to Jesus from Abraham through David to Solomon and Joseph.

As happens in the Bible, we usually have more questions than we get answers. In the first chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, the writer details the passing of the Y chromosome in a series of 28 begats from Abraham to David through Solomon to Joseph. And, then he says, “Mary begat Jesus.” Wait a minute, time out! Mary can’t begat because that’s a man’s function. What happened to the Y chromosome? If Matthew is to be believed, Jesus is one step removed from David via Mary’s 22^nd great grandparents Nathan and Bathsheba. While it’s true that in a Jewish home it’s the mother and not the father who determines that their children are Jewish, that is matrilineal not mitochondrial. The New Testament says that since Mary was of the “House of David” the prophesy was fulfilled. Jewish custom, however, states that being of the “House of David” flows from the father, not the mother. Jewish he may be, but Jesus is not of the “House of David,” not without David’s Y chromosome, he isn’t. It got short-circuited somewhere between Nathan, Bathsheba, Joachim, and Mary. Jesus’ DNA was mitochondrial on his mother’s side. Yes Gabriel, nothing is impossible with God. But, it would only be by some miracle that Mary could give what she doesn’t have. What elements of Jesus’ DNA he got from the Holy Who? That’s for Louis Gates, Jr and 23andMe to find out.

This may not be important to some, and probably not to most. And, it won’t change the rest of the story. But, as amateur genealogists, this is the stuff that keeps us up at night! I guess it’s all in the genes!

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FCM member Rev. Anthony Di Bartolo is a retired high school teacher, interfaith minister, wedding officiant, Reiki Master, and a Fifth Dan Black Belt in Aikido.