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December 17

Title: The Unlikely Inclusion of Two Women 

Text: Matthew 1:5-6

Everyone has a bad apple in the family tree. This person is usually either a criminal or a casanova or a carouser. For some reason, this person is usually your crazy Uncle. I have one of those. He is the criminal version. 

Matthew and Luke included genealogies in their gospel accounts. Genealogies are important, especially to substantiate your place in a family or a fulfillment of a prophecy. Also, being the lineage of someone important gives you status, legitimacy or infamy. Whether you deserve it or not. In Matthew’s genealogy, he included two women, Rahab and Bathsheba.

And Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah. (Matthew 1:5-6)

Rahab was a prostitute and Bathsheba an adulteress. Both were called upon to do heroic things. One protected two spies. The other raised one of the greatest kings in Israelite history. Both had a past. Both were redeemed. Both found their way into the lineage of Jesus. 

Again, this is not a small inclusion. Women were treated terribly in Biblical times. Barely higher than animals, most of the time. Yet these two women represent the plan of God, the importance of grace, the exaltation of the broken, the redemption of the immoral. The inclusion should give the reader great hope. As the apostle Paul says—such were some of us. So true. If you are broken and immoral, go to God. His mercy is wide. His forgiveness is vast. No one is beyond the healing of the Christ child, the eternal gift of Christmas.