God works through flawed, broken people to accomplish his purposes.
(Read Matthew 1:1-17)
The New Testament opens with a genealogy, of all things. Jesus’ family tree. Doesn’t seem all that exciting. And it includes women – which you need to know ancient Jewish genealogies never did. On top of that, these women were Gentiles, meaning not Jewish, meaning Jesus was from a mixed-race family. If you want to put that in context imagine a child born in Bethlehem today who had both Jewish and Palestinian family lines.
Even more, most of these women (not to mention the men!) had checkered pasts. Each woman mentioned defied the conventions of her day. They were whispered about behind their backs. They were tainted in some way. There’s Tamar and Rahab. There’s Ruth. Read their stories some time.
Bathsheba is not named directly. She is referred to as “the wife of Uriah,” which was not a slam on her but was to remind every reader of their greatest king’s greatest failure. Finally there was Mary, pregnant out of wedlock, a condition which has always been a matter of shame among the religious people.
The writer could have included no women, or could have chosen to include the women of every generation. But why these five? Why do you think the New Testament – the story of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and resurrection – opens with a family photo album where these five women are spotlighted? Their names would have popped and grabbed the attention of any early reader.
Do you think the gospel – that’s what this is called remember, the gospel, meaning good news – do you think the gospel writer is trying to tell us, from his opening words, that God works through unlikely, desperate, broken people to accomplish His purposes? That God chooses to work through families filled with the kinds of secrets that most of us would want to bury and hide?
The gospel leads with these stories as its opening words. What does that tell you? God can redeem any story. God can redeem any life. God can redeem any family saga. And not just can. This is where God chooses to do his most important work, so that no one misses the point, so that no one is tempted to think any part of this salvation story is left up to us, so that no one might boast, before God or anyone else.
Kids, you are going to work awfully hard to try to be wise or appear wise, but remember God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. You are going to strive to do everything you can to look strong and capable, to avoid being weak or feeling weak, but remember God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. You may have a fear of being ordinary and may try to prove that you are somebody special in the eyes of the world, but remember, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are.
God doesn’t see things the way we do or value what we value. He tells you that on the opening page of his story, and dares to call it the beginning of the good news. Because if God can take the places of deepest shame and make them avenues of healing and redemption not just for Rahab and Bathsheba, but for the whole world, then what do those who trust in Him ever need to be afraid of?