Ok, so the plan was to have a rather simple evening of fellowship, nothing too heavy or deep. There hadn’t been a specific message from Sunday to discuss. Someone even suggested playing some card games after a brief time of prayer. Then Elda asked for a brief synopsis of the service on Sunday. She’d been visiting a friend from the Bay Area whom she hadn’t seen in ages, so she wasn’t at church. The brief synopsis turned into quite the discussion. Let’s just say it was lively. Todd did his best to maintain order. 🙂
I must now say that I’m sorry that I missed the service. I would have really liked to hear Bill’s testimony. From what I was told, it was powerful and a true testament to God’s grace.
So this morning, when I read my email and got to the one from Desiring God, I knew I had to share it. It’s titled “Sordid Lineage, Beautiful Legacy.” It starts with the book of Ruth (one of my favorite bible stories) and leads to Jesus (as all the bible stories do). I love the story of Ruth because it’s a love story about a woman, a foreigner in a foreign land, and the man who becomes her kinsman-redeemer. And that’s where Jesus comes in, because the story points to Christ who is our Kinsman-Redeemer today. How I love this story, as a woman who had been abandoned and then found by One who is her Redeemer.
What prompted me to write about this was the following:
Jesus is unashamed to have women of questionable repute in his family. In fact, he actually goes out of his way to point them out. In Jesus’ genealogy listed in Matthew chapter one, only fathers and sons are recorded, with five notable exceptions where mothers are also named.
Both Ruth and Rahab make the list (Matt 1:5). So does Tamar (Matt. 1:3), who entered the royal bloodline by disguising herself as a harlot and seducing Judah to impregnate her (because of the unjust way he treated her—see Gen. 38). Bathsheba, whom David stole from Uriah, gets mentioned (Matt 1:6). And so does Mary, Jesus’ own mother, who became pregnant with Jesus outside of marriage, and whose claim to miraculous conception was received by most with…um… skepticism (Matt 1:16).
Isn’t that wonderful? People tend to conceal the more disgraceful events and people in their family. But not Jesus. He chooses to highlight possibly the five most scandalous women in his lineage.
God weaves his grace throughout the Bible—even through the genealogies! God loves to redeem sinners. He loves to produce something beautiful out of sordid family backgrounds. He loves to make foreigners his children and reconcile his enemies. He loves to make all things work together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose (Rom. 8:28).
Yes, it is wonderful! It doesn’t matter how disgraceful our stories may be, God redeems, reconciles and restores. Redemption is a most wonderful thing!!
We talked in our group about how to foster an environment where people can share the “disgraceful” stuff, stuff that’s hard to talk about without feeling judged or condemned. Not sure if we came up with any answers, but it was a good beginning.
All Things Elda 