We all know about Joseph
and Mary, the Inn of Bethlehem, the shepherds, the star, and the wise men.
They’re all part of the wonderful story we remember and tell this time of year.
There’s more to the story, though. Obscure and often overlooked, buried in
Matthew’s genealogy (Matthew 1:1-17) and leading up to the birth of Christ are four women-Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Uriah's wife (Bathsheba).
Without elaborating with too many details, let me introduce you to these ancestresses of our Lord. Tamar posed as a prostitute and had sexual relations with her father-in-law resulting in the birth of a son. Rahab was the prostitute who hid the Israeli spies in her house before they conquered the city of Jericho. She was the ancestress to eight of Israel's prophets, including Jeremiah. Ruth was a woman from Moab, a despised and outcast people. The Moabites and Ammonites had their origin through the incestual relationship between Lot and his daughters. The daughters plotted together to get their father drunk, so they could sleep with him and produce heirs. The wife of Uriah is Bathsheba, with whom David had an affair. In order to cover his sin, David had Uriah put to death. Bathsheba was the mother of King Solomon.
No only did Christ come to seek and to save the lost, but was also the product of a less than honorable family heritage. In Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley succinctly penned, "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel." Christ identifies with all of the human condition, sinner, saint and those in between.
These four unlikely women in Christ's lineage remind us that it does not matter from where you have com. It does not matter what you have done, or left undone. God sought after you and me. When we were at our worst, God gave his best. The true beauty of Christmas is found in the eternal fact that, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The outsiders have become insiders.
Rejected ones have been accepted.
People who were put down have been lifted up.
Those that were cast out have been brought in.
The forsaken have been embraced.
The fifth unlikely woman of Christ's lineage is Mary, his mother. We no almost nothing about Mary, except that she quite ordinary. She hailed from an ordinary, out-of-the-way place. There seems nothing outstanding about her, other than willingness, obedience and faith. Yet, we know that these qualities are, in fact, extraordinary. In The Magnificat, Mary declared, "for he looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he has done great things for me, and holy is his name."
When God does something on earth, he does so through a person, usually an unlikely person such a you or me. No matter how small you think you are, no matter what terrible things you have done, no matter what horrible things have been done to you, Christ desires to be in your life. He wants you in his family. Christ came for sinners, outcasts, abused and forgotten people.
Merry Christmas,
Stan
Without elaborating with too many details, let me introduce you to these ancestresses of our Lord. Tamar posed as a prostitute and had sexual relations with her father-in-law resulting in the birth of a son. Rahab was the prostitute who hid the Israeli spies in her house before they conquered the city of Jericho. She was the ancestress to eight of Israel's prophets, including Jeremiah. Ruth was a woman from Moab, a despised and outcast people. The Moabites and Ammonites had their origin through the incestual relationship between Lot and his daughters. The daughters plotted together to get their father drunk, so they could sleep with him and produce heirs. The wife of Uriah is Bathsheba, with whom David had an affair. In order to cover his sin, David had Uriah put to death. Bathsheba was the mother of King Solomon.
No only did Christ come to seek and to save the lost, but was also the product of a less than honorable family heritage. In Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Charles Wesley succinctly penned, "Veiled in flesh the Godhead see. Hail the incarnate Deity. Pleased as man with man to dwell. Jesus, our Emmanuel." Christ identifies with all of the human condition, sinner, saint and those in between.
These four unlikely women in Christ's lineage remind us that it does not matter from where you have com. It does not matter what you have done, or left undone. God sought after you and me. When we were at our worst, God gave his best. The true beauty of Christmas is found in the eternal fact that, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
The outsiders have become insiders.
Rejected ones have been accepted.
People who were put down have been lifted up.
Those that were cast out have been brought in.
The forsaken have been embraced.
The fifth unlikely woman of Christ's lineage is Mary, his mother. We no almost nothing about Mary, except that she quite ordinary. She hailed from an ordinary, out-of-the-way place. There seems nothing outstanding about her, other than willingness, obedience and faith. Yet, we know that these qualities are, in fact, extraordinary. In The Magnificat, Mary declared, "for he looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed. For he has done great things for me, and holy is his name."
When God does something on earth, he does so through a person, usually an unlikely person such a you or me. No matter how small you think you are, no matter what terrible things you have done, no matter what horrible things have been done to you, Christ desires to be in your life. He wants you in his family. Christ came for sinners, outcasts, abused and forgotten people.
Merry Christmas,
Stan
