Jesus Surprising Relatives
Matthew 1:1-17
December 8, 2013
Last Sunday we began a study of the Gospel of Matthew.
We looked at the family of Tree of Jesus. Verse 1 says that Jesus is the son of
Abraham and the son of David. He is the fulfillment of all the promises God made to
Abraham and to David. He is to be the way God will bless all the nations of the earth.
He is to be the great king who brings war to an end. This is the glory of Jesus family
tree.
This week I want to look at the other side of the story. Jesus family tree includes
5 women. These women do not represent the best parts of Israel’s history; instead they
remind us that history is messy. The world is a messy place. They remind us that when
Jesus came to this world, he did not come to what was beautiful, but what is broken.
The surprising relatives of Jesus remind us that Jesus is the friend of sinners.
I. Tamar.
The story of Tamar is found in Genesis 38. It is one of those stores that make
you shake your head. Why do people live like this, you wonder.
Here is the story. Judah is one of the sons of Jacob and the head of the tribe of
Judah that produces the line of Kings. Judah arranges a marriage for his oldest son,
whose name was Er. Er married a Canaanite woman named Tamar. Unlike his father
and grandfather, who did not want to have Isaac and Jacob marry Canaanite women,
Judah did not care.
Judah’s son was a bad man and so the Lord “put him to death”. This left Tamar
a widow. In ancient Israel no woman could inherit the family land. So Judah had his
other son marry Tamar so she would have a son to inherit Er’s property. But the other
son refused to have a child by Tamar. So the Lord put this second son, Onan, to death.
Judah was happy to leave Tamar as a widow without a future or an estate.
This is when Tamar took matters into her own hand. She made herself appear to
be a prostitute and had relations with Judah. And by this trick, she produced two boys,
named Perez and Zerah.
This trick by Tamar was her way of getting justice for herself. It shows how
worldly and self-indulgent even the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could be.
Perez then is in the family tree that is fulfilled in Jesus.
Now would you include this story in your family history? Why would Matthew
include Tamar in the family history of Jesus?
II. Rahab
After Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt, they travelled in the desert for
a generation before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land. Then the
leadership of the people was transferred to Joshua. Joshua sent out two men to spy
out the land before they would try to enter. These two men went to explore Jericho, a
powerful walled city that was the first place they would try to conquer.
The King of Jericho somehow heard that these spies were in the land. This is
where Rahab comes in. She gives shelter to the spies. Rahab is identified as a
prostitute. So it was common for men to come to her house. She knew who they were
and she chose to hide them from the soldiers who were looking for them.
Rahab was a smart woman. He is what she said to the spies. This is Judges
2:9-11.
“I know that the LORD has given you this land and that a great fear of
you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear
because of you. 10 We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the
Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and
Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely
destroyed. 11 When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s
courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above
and on the earth below.”
She knew that the one true God was with the Israelites. She knew
that destruction was coming to her city. So she asked them to save her and
her family in exchange for the protection she gave.
This was done. When the walls of Jericho fell down, the solders went
and found Rahab and her family and saved them.
Rahab enters the family line of David. She is the mother of Boaz, who
we meet in the book of Ruth. And Boaz is the grandfather of King David.
Why did Matthew go out of his way to mention this woman?
III. Ruth
The next woman mentioned is Ruth. We just took a look at the life of
Boaz. You remember how he took special care of Ruth, who was a widow
and a Moabitess. But Ruth had left her own country and her own people and
had gone with Naomi to Israel.
Naomi told her to return to her people and her gods. But Ruth
refused. These famous words of Ruth show that she not only returned to
Israel to support Naomi, but she accepted the Lord as her Lord and God.
Ruth 1:16-17
“Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I
will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and
your God my God.17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May
the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you
and me.”
In the course of time, Boaz and Ruth get married and they have a child. This
child is in the line of David. This is how the book of Ruth ends, with a short family tree:
18 This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
19 Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
21 Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
22 Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
In the family tree before we get to David, we have three gentile women. Two of
the three are women who had bad morals. Why then would the king of Israel have all
these gentile women in his family tree?
More importantly, why would Jesus have Tamar, Rahab and Ruth in his family
tree?
IV. Bathsheba
There is one more woman who is part of Jesus family tree.
David was chosen to be king of Israel by God. He was the youngest and smallest
of the sons of Jesse. The priest Samuel thought any of the older sons of Jesse would
make a nice king, but God said, over and over, “no, not that one.” Finally they called
David in from the fields.
David showed great courage when he defeated Goliath. He showed great
patience when he could have killed Saul but chose to leave him alone. He showed
great love for God when he composed Psalms that we have in our own bible.
Psalm 23, everyone’s favorite psalm is attributed to David who had been a
shepherd.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.
David won battle after battle. All was going well. Until one day he stayed home
from the wars. He was at leisure when his men were in battle. He saw a beautiful
woman bathing. She was married to one of his officers – Uriah who was Hittite. That
did not matter to David. He was king and he could have any woman he wanted. So he
had relations with this woman and she conceived a child. Now David had to cover up
his sin. He added murder to adultery, for he instructed the generals to put Uriah in the
middle of a battle where he would get killed. Then he took Bathsheba she because his
wife.
David thought he got away with this. Power has a way of corrupting even good
people. But the prophet Nathan confronted him. David repented before the Lord – his
repentance is preserved in Psalm 51. These are the opening verses .
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
1
God did forgive David, but this sin had serous consequences on David’s family
and nation. The decline in the kings of Israel can be traced back to this unfaithfulness
of David.
Why would Matthew include Bathsheba in the family tree of Jesus?
There are two reasons that Mathew includes these women in his gospel.
V. Lesson #1- Jesus came for all nations.
Matthew includes these Gentiles in his story of Jesus for the simple reason that
Jesus came to be the savior for the whole world.
Almost every chapter in Matthew includes something about the Nations who
were not Israel.
In chapter 2, we find the Magi who come and worship Christ.
In the last chapter we find the great commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to
19
me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Some people think that the gospel with to the Gentiles sort of by
accident. But this genealogy of Jesus shows that God was always interested
in all the nations. From the promise to Abraham to be a blessing to the
Nations to the Great commission to take the gospel to all nations, the Gospel
was intended for all the people of the earth.
VI. Lesson #2 – Jesus came to save sinners
Mathew could have included other gentiles, but why did ne include
Tamar, Rahab and Bathsheba. These are not people we want to be role
models. The Bible contains many stories that are not nice. It tells the real
story of human beings. We are in fact sinners. No one is innocent.
One time some religious people asked Jesus why he spent time with
tax collectors and sinners. He said this:
A physician does not go to those who are healthy; he goes to those
who are sick.
Now it is our mission. We are sent by God into the world, like Jesus,
to be a friend of sinners. Do not hide from this world of sin. Invade it!