Christmas is when we come together with our family to be reminded just how weird our family really is. There’s always the uncle who makes offensive comments. The auntie who kisses you a little too long. The distant cousin whose style changes radically every time the family sees him.
As weird as our families are, God calls us to love and serve them just like he loved and served his family. When Matthew wrote Jesus’ family tree, he went out of his way to show us how weird and offensive his family was. Imagine a Christmas dinner with these people:
Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, (Matthew 1:2-3)
If you know your Old Testament history, it gives you chicken skin to see the name Tamar. She was Judah’s daughter-in-law, and she put on the veil of a prostitute to seduce her father-in-law because his family was unfaithful to produce an heir. It’s one of the most disgusting stories in Israel’s history, and that’s how the family line of Jesus was begun.
Why would you put Tamar’s name in your genealogy? Why bring that whole mess up? In the patriarchal society of the first century, you shouldn’t even have a woman in your genealogy anyway. Only men. So why would you do that? To show how God loves to take weird families and make them wonderful. Or, as Isaiah says it, how he loves to turn a pile of ashes into a crown of beauty (Isaiah 61). Want to see him do that? Look who else came to Christmas dinner:
Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, (Matthew 1:5)
Remember Rahab? Another prostitute, and also a hated Canaanite. She hid the Israelite spies in her house in Jericho, and then lied about it. That was her major contribution to the history of Israel. More ashes on the pile.
Jesse fathered King David. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife, (Matthew 1:6)
Remember Uriah’s wife? Her name was Bathsheba. David coerced her into committing adultery with him. More ashes.
Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asa, (Matthew 1:7)
All kings who who did evil in the sight of God. Rehoboam was such a monster, he caused the ten northern tribes of Israel to revolt and start a civil war. A dump truck full of ashes to add to the pile.
Asa fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amon, Amon fathered Josiah, and Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the exile to Babylon. (Matthew 1:8-11)
And now we’ve sunk to the lowest point in the history of God’s people. The northern kingdom of Israel has been destroyed by the Assyrians. The southern kingdom of Judah has been exiled to Babylon. God’s judgment is on his people, but so is his sovereign grace. He’s going to bring them back from Babylon.
Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary, who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah. (Matthew 1:16)
And what did the Messiah come to do? It says a few verses later, “He will save his people from their sins.” God took that whole ash pile of a family tree, and turned it into something beautiful, and that was his plan all along. That’s just what God does. He takes weird, offensive, fallen families, and redeems them through Jesus Christ. He turns ashes into a crown of beauty.
And that’s what he wants to do in your weird, offensive family. So this Christmas, look at your weird family through God’s eyes, and love them with his redeeming love. Look for ways to serve them, bless them, and encourage them. Look for ways to point them toward Jesus, the one who intentionally came to serve his own offensive family, and us all.