No one wants a horse thief or bank robber for an ancestor. Most of us would prefer to have a senator or bank president or business tycoon in our lineage. Most of us have some relatives in our background that we never talk about around the dinner table. They went into the closet decades ago, and they will never be mentioned publicly again.
That is why I am always somewhat amazed at the various genealogies found in the Bible, and in particular, the ancestry or lineage of Jesus of Nazareth, who took upon himself the form and substance of man. As the Creator, and the Boss of all things - he could have chosen nothing but the best in terms of human ancestry. He could have structured his entry into this world to come from only "blue blood" stock to be found in the world's best social register from year one!
Incredibly, God took a motley line of ancestors that would match any that you have hidden in your closet, and he became "us" - in the fullest sense of that union. He was completely and truly God, and he became completely and truly human. Awesome, truly awesome!
For instance, Phares was born the product of an incestuous encounter between Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. You remember Judah's father, that pillar of personal integrity named Jacob.
Generations later, a descendant from that encounter between Judah and Tamar named Boaz was preserved by God. Boaz owned real estate near Bethlehem. Ten or fifteen years earlier, a lady named Naomi left Bethlehem with her husband to go to a foreign nation (Moab) to seek their fortune. They lived among strange people who ate the wrong food and worshiped a different God. While Naomi lived in Moab her sons found wives there too. Then her husband and her two sons died. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem - no husband, no sons, no money - nothing but a foreign born daughter-in-law named Ruth. Naomi was a broken woman who said, "Call me 'Mara' for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty . . . ." She was at the end of her rope and had no hope for the future. Life must have seemed very cruel, disappointing and bleak to Naomi at that moment.
Well, as you know, Ruth the foreigner from Moab became the wife of Boaz and the great grandmother of David, who became King of Israel, and ultimately, an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout the scriptures the ancestry and lineage of Jesus of Nazareth is laid out for the world to see. The good, the bad and the ugly; with all their warts, wrinkles and dirt. Jesus became one of us and Jesus is not ashamed of us. He embraced us in his birth; he embraced us in his life; he embraced us in his death; he will embrace us upon his return; and he embraces us now, right now, as we live and breathe and struggle through each and every day.
He is not ashamed to call us family. He welcomes us into his house as brothers and sisters. He invites us to trade in the rags and poverty of Moab and he invites us to participate in the fullness of his life.
It is great to belong to His family, isn't it?
That is why I am always somewhat amazed at the various genealogies found in the Bible, and in particular, the ancestry or lineage of Jesus of Nazareth, who took upon himself the form and substance of man. As the Creator, and the Boss of all things - he could have chosen nothing but the best in terms of human ancestry. He could have structured his entry into this world to come from only "blue blood" stock to be found in the world's best social register from year one!
Incredibly, God took a motley line of ancestors that would match any that you have hidden in your closet, and he became "us" - in the fullest sense of that union. He was completely and truly God, and he became completely and truly human. Awesome, truly awesome!
For instance, Phares was born the product of an incestuous encounter between Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. You remember Judah's father, that pillar of personal integrity named Jacob.
Generations later, a descendant from that encounter between Judah and Tamar named Boaz was preserved by God. Boaz owned real estate near Bethlehem. Ten or fifteen years earlier, a lady named Naomi left Bethlehem with her husband to go to a foreign nation (Moab) to seek their fortune. They lived among strange people who ate the wrong food and worshiped a different God. While Naomi lived in Moab her sons found wives there too. Then her husband and her two sons died. Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem - no husband, no sons, no money - nothing but a foreign born daughter-in-law named Ruth. Naomi was a broken woman who said, "Call me 'Mara' for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty . . . ." She was at the end of her rope and had no hope for the future. Life must have seemed very cruel, disappointing and bleak to Naomi at that moment.
Well, as you know, Ruth the foreigner from Moab became the wife of Boaz and the great grandmother of David, who became King of Israel, and ultimately, an ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth. Throughout the scriptures the ancestry and lineage of Jesus of Nazareth is laid out for the world to see. The good, the bad and the ugly; with all their warts, wrinkles and dirt. Jesus became one of us and Jesus is not ashamed of us. He embraced us in his birth; he embraced us in his life; he embraced us in his death; he will embrace us upon his return; and he embraces us now, right now, as we live and breathe and struggle through each and every day.
He is not ashamed to call us family. He welcomes us into his house as brothers and sisters. He invites us to trade in the rags and poverty of Moab and he invites us to participate in the fullness of his life.
It is great to belong to His family, isn't it?
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