The Seventeenth Day of Advent, 2016

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

  

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew 1:1

   

It seems funny to me that Matthew does not have even the slightest introduction to what he is about to write. It’s as though he wants to get down to the business of telling us who this man Jesus is. And he doesn’t even spare the ugly!

Jesus had some people in his family that we all know as the patriarchs of Israel – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon. But then there was Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite! Jews would never have bragged about a Moabite ancestor! And Zerah, who was, for goodness sake, an Edomite, a descendent of Ishmael, whom everyone knows is the son that Abraham had when he tried to fulfill God’s promise on his own, and whom he later sent away to keep peace in his family! We must not skip Rehoboam, whose mother was an Ammonite and who began as a pretty fair king but later with his people, engaged in idolatry! And these are just a few!

I didn’t look up all the people and their place in Israel’s history, but I looked at enough to know that Jesus – his human side – was much like me! He had some ancestors who surprise me! But He didn’t let that influence what He had come to do! I love having this new realization of just how human the human side of Jesus was!

Father, Thank you for not hiding things in the Bible, for letting me see that the people you used to bring about your plan for my salvation were not perfect, and through them you could bring my Perfect Savior! That helps me to believe that you can do something even with me. Amen

And Then It Was Christmas: A Journey Toward Christmas
prepared for Homosassa United Methodist Church, 2006,
by Patience Nave, Christian Education Coordinator.