A Brutally Honest God

Typically when we read the Christmas story through Matthew's eyes, we begin with these words:
"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: ..."

But that's verse 18 in Matthew 1. There are seventeen verse that most of us tend to skip to get to the birth. They are verses filled with "so-and-so begat so-and-so" and so on and so forth. Many of the names are difficult to pronounce. It's the geneology of Christ.

In these verse you'll find the names of some of the real stalwards of the Scriptures. Men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Boaz, and Jesse. But there are other names, too. Names that most wouldn't want associated with their own. Here are a few:

• "Judah begat Perez and Zerah by Tamar" - Tamar was Judah's daughter-in-law. You see, old Judah was a pretty despicable fellow who slept with what he thought was a prostitute while on a business trip. It turned out to be his daughter-in-law who had conspired to deceive him because he had lied to her.
• "Salmon begat Boaz by Rahab" - You remember Rahab, don't you? She wasn't even an Israelite; she was a descendent of the people of Canaan. And she was a prostitute.
• "David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urriah" - Ouch! The biggest mistake in David's life. A scandalous affair in the king's house. Adultery. Murder. And here it is, a glaring reminder of David's treachery.

What's my point? Simply this: The story of Jesus Christ is our story. The family tree is filled with less than reputable folks who'd lived life in the fast lane. Not the kind you'd expect to find at a church social. Yet God included them in the story of His Son. They weren't banished to the obscurity of the Old Testament with the hope that they'd be overlooked or forgotten. They're there in the Savior's story for all to see.

And they look like us.