This post is in congruence with the Seasons: Advent Devotional series. To learn more, click here.
I know that when you opened this week’s reading, you probably skimmed and hoped that next week would be more exciting. If that was you, I want you to stop and go back and reread the passage from Matthew and here’s why.
To prepare for this week's post, read Matthew 1:1-17, Joshua 21:45, and Hebrews 6:13-20.
I know that when you opened this week’s reading, you probably skimmed and hoped that next week would be more exciting. If that was you, I want you to stop and go back and reread the passage from Matthew and here’s why. I’m currently taking classes to become certified in teaching high school math. Fun, right? The first few classes, we were assigned to do simple math problems. By simple, I mean addition like 4 + 3 and subtraction like 11-5. It was fine at first, until every week we were assigned problems like this even alongside getting complex algebraic assignments. It felt like it was a waste of my time to be doing these simple problems. I was clearly able to do simple addition if I was doing calculus three times a week! That was until one day, I got two problems wrong on my homework assignment. You know which ones they were? 9 + 7 and 26 - 17. Yikes. I know. I was so obsessed with being meticulous and in depth that I forgot to go back to my roots and look at the basics. Texts like Matthew 1:1-17 are a window into the roots of scripture. They offer us a chance to go back through scripture and put the pieces of the complex and dynamic puzzle that is the mystery of faith together. In each generation, we see the inclusion of important biblical precedents that lead up to Jesus. There are a few pieces of this puzzle that I want to highlight for you if you missed it. First is that Matthew includes some otherwise controversial people in this list of genealogy. They are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba. These women call to question the otherwise worthiness of the line of Jesus that the Jewish audience was probably curious about. Not only did some of these women have kind of raunchy lives (Tamar and Rahab being prostitutes), but they were ethnically and ethically questionable for the line of someone who would be deemed the Savior. Regardless, each woman tells a story of God’s willingness to choose the least of these to reveal His character to us. Tamar in Genesis famously scammed her father in law Judah but was called righteous due to her faithfulness to their family. Rahab was a prostitute and a foreigner but her faith in God helped deliver Jericho to the Israelites. Ruth not only took care of her mother in law Naomi but was a member of the enemy tribe of Israel, Moab and yet she was praised for being better than seven sons. Of course, you’re familiar with Bathsheba because of the story of King David committing adultery with her, but she ended up giving birth to King Solomon who was the wisest king of Israel. This genealogy reveals not only the perfect and poised but the truth of God’s character and who He calls into His kingdom: the likely and unlikely. No matter what. Each ‘season of life’ that Jesus’ lineage reveals goes to show how life isn’t bound to be as simple and as perfect as we plan it to be. Though this list shows us great authors of faith and great leaders, it also reveals those who might not be seen as first pick. No matter what, each ancestor of Jesus goes to show us how God will use whatever time and season we are in to reveal how He is Good and Faithful to His promise. That’s why our verse from Joshua is such a vital reminder to us that even through the seasons we dread facing, God’s promises will remain true. I find such hope in the text from Hebrews. We have this hope, that though we will walk through seasons of despair and trial that so has our forerunner, Jesus, and that He has become victorious over all.
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