This is typically the second Sunday of John the Baptist readings for the season of Advent, so a few images of John the Baptist first and then I’m going to  break from the Revised Common Lectionary this Sunday in Year A (Matthew) and use the genealogy in Matthew’s gospel as a way to introduce the story. So John the Baptist first, as I mentioned last week John the Baptist is a favorite of artists so there are lots more out there, but a few include:

Joan de Joanes, Saint John the Baptist, 1560

John the Baptist, Icon from Macedonia 14th Century

Pierre Puvis de Chavannes, The Beheading of St John the Baptist 1869

Now for the Geneology of Matthew which is punctuated (unusual for a geneology) by a number of women including

Tamar:

Horace Vernet, Judah and Tamar 1840

Rahab:

James Tissot, The Harlot of Jericho and the Two Spies

Ruth

William Blake, Naomi Entreating Ruth and Orpah

Bathsheeba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite

Artemisia Gentileschi, Bathshedba, first half of the 17th Century

The good kings of Israel and later Judah and the bad:

King Josiah by Julius Schnoor von Carolseld

The Exile in Babylon

James Tissot, The Flight of the Prisoners

And the return

Nehemiah View the Ruins of jerusalem’s Walls, Gustav Dore 1866

And finally Joseph

Guido Reni, Saint Joseph with the Infant Jesus, 1635