And so as the week comes to a close we come to the end of our exploration of the stories of the four women in the genealogy of Jesus. Four unlikely women but four women whose played vital roles in the God’s plan for the world He so loves
I think there are a few things to keep hold of from their stories:
Firstly: God keeps his promises – his promises to Abraham and to David. There may have been twists and turns in the path, and unexpected genealogical plot twists, but the Messiah comes through the lines of Abraham and David.
Secondly, we need to remember that God’s plan isn’t contingent on our own righteousness. Ruth worshipped other gods in Moab, Tamar had to seduce her father in law and Rahab was a prostitute, but these things don’t derail God. He can work through these situation, God’s spirit is working in the mess and the chaos of life. (and this is true for the men in the genealogies too, in case you’re worried it’s just the women at fault!)
Each of us will have our own personal story, our own family story… how often do we use these stories as an excuse to prevent us from following God, or to think that it wouldn’t be possible for God to use us in his plans… and yet we have heard the stories of four unlikely grandmothers this week.. how easy it would have been for any of these women to make different choices, to use their story as a reason for pity, or as an excuse for things not to happen.
So as our Advent journey continues, I ask you to think about your own stories… is there anything that you are using as a block, as an excuse, to prevent you drawing closer to God, or to think that God cannot come close to you, or use your own vulnerabilities?
The genealogy in Matthew shows us that right from the beginning, Jesus is identified with us, with the frailty of humanity. We see in his genealogy that he was born at the end of a long line of people, of real, vulnerable, human people.
This is our introduction to Jesus… our King, and his is not ashamed to be counted as one of us.
So thank you God for the amazing stories of these unlikely grandmothers that we find in Jesus family tree.