Glorious humble absurdity

...whose mother was Tamar... whose mother was Rahab... whose mother was Ruth... whose mother had been Uriah’s wife... –Matthew 1:3,5,6 (NIV)

The women named in Jesus' family tree each had a story. And a past. Scripture does not gloss over their stories in the Old Testament, nor hide their role in the lineage of the Messiah. By their heritage, their nationality, their status in society, or their own choices, they could have been left out of the family portrait. Thank God they were not.

Tamar disguised herself to conceive a child with her father-in-law (Genesis 38). Rahab was the madam of a brothel in Jericho (Joshua 2). Ruth’s nation was a sworn enemy of Israel, whose king once hired a diviner to put a curse on the people of God (Numbers 22). Bathsheba was an exhibitionist, her relationship with David scandalous (2 Samuel 11).

Not that there weren’t some colorful characters in the list of men mentioned in Matthew’s record of the genealogy of Jesus. But the ladies stand out because there were four of them amongst a list that included forty-two men. Why these four non-pedigreed women, given mention in a time and culture that generally downplayed the role of women?

I think their inclusion, as outsiders with a past, speaks to the redemptive heart of God. None of us are beyond His grace, His mercy, His ability to take a sorry situation and work it for our good and His glory. Practically everything about the story of Jesus’ arrival was counter-intuitive, even though it checked all the boxes of fulfilled prophecy.

I don’t know about you, but if I was writing the script for God becoming man to enter the world of His creation, there would be a display of pomp, pageantry, and power befitting the celebration of a king. That was not the chosen path of the Lamb of God. Born in a stable in the village of Bethlehem, parents too poor to bring a lamb for the sacrifice at His dedication, questions around His legitimacy, running for His life from a tin-pot king, raised in the humble town of Nazereth. I mean, yeah, it all sounded very romantic flowing from the pens of the Old Testament writers, but the practicalities of it all happening were another matter.

Then again, that’s kinda how God does things…

Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” –1 Corinthians 1:26-31 (NIV)

This season, let’s re-discover the wonder, the joy, and the glorious, humble absurdity of how God made us His own.