Wow, so some of Jesus grandmothers; a prostitute, an adulteress, interacial marriages?
I love that Jesus was so radical more so, God is radical. Or is it that we are radical as in radically off base about the God we follow? The four women mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew chapter one makes reference to four of Jesus' great great great....grandmothers.
Tamar: Canaanite woman widowed two times over disguised as a prostitute to get pregnant by her father-in-law (Genesis 38) who upon finding out she was pregnant by him said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't giver her to my son Shelah." Are you confused? Does that make sense? Its definitely something to chew over. If I'm leaving out details, you know its on purpose to get you to go read it. You won't regret it. The story is awesome on so many levels.
Rahab: a prostitute from Jericho (Joshua 2) who is the mother to Boaz
Ruth: a Moabitess (those people born of a daughter getting her father drunk and getting pregnant as a result) widow of an Israelite who then marries Boaz.(book of Ruth)
Bathsheba: Israelite woman, married to a Hittite man, cheated with King David who then killed her Hittite husband. She married King David and then gave birth to King Solomon. (1Chronicles 3)
Go read the rest of these stories ya'll! You think Desperate Housewives is racy!?
I know that Jesus ate meals with prostitutes (women in general didn't eat with the men let alone prostitutes and tax collectors. How radical and revolutionary to our Christian way of thinking that Jesus not only ate with prostitutes, foreigners and saved an adulteress woman's life, but they are also in his family line, on purpose!
The people of Jesus' genealogy that have dominated my quiet time as of late and worked their way into my thinking through out the day are Rahab, Boaz and Ruth. Understanding the racial tension, the class separation, the culture not to much different from our own in some ways, in some ways worse, helps us put some dimension to the relationship between Boaz and Ruth. Boaz had sympathy on Ruth when he saw her as a young widow Moabitess picking up spare bits of grain in his fields to take back to feed herself and her dead husband's mother with whom she left her own country to follow back to the people of Israel. Who had mercy on her and made sure she was safe and provided for. Who else but the son of a foreign woman could have such compassion and mercy? I wonder what Boaz saw growing up. What was life like for Rahab? Were the other women nice to her knowing her back ground? Did they invite her into their homes, have play dates with Boaz and Rahab? As a son of a prostitute foreigner, what were Boaz' marital prospects. He was an older man. We do know that Boaz felt pleased that Ruth picked him. Maybe the pure, well bread Israelite families withheld their daughter from him. Really we can't know for sure but I've seen enough of people's human nature, examples of similar scenarios played out in real life today to know this line of thinking may be closer to the mark than we think.
We don't talk about race. Most Internet discussions disintegrate fast into anger rather than open, healthy discussions and learning opportunities. Certainly we wouldn't discuss it face to face lest we look foolish or are rejected or reject others.
We don't air our families dirty laundry, but it appears it was the first thing Jesus wants us to see about His because face it people, we are part of Jesus' family and not many of us can claim we are much better than any of Jesus grandmothers. I for one am so thankful God strayed away from keeping the line blue blooded. I know that when I fail, there is no far that is to far away from God to turn back and there is no bad to bad that would keep any of us from being under the saving blood.
That is awesome for those who don't yet know Jesus but what about those of us who do? Can we claim this same compassion, mercy and love for those in God's creation that we could love and openly be enough of a witness to the very lost that we could introduce a prostitute to Jesus or an adulteress or even a murderer?
I'm ruminating on this myself. I'm a sojourner on a path that I have yet to get any where near my destination. I make detours and have to back track and get back on track often. The balance is hard at times to stay focused on Jesus and not get distracted by the world or even at times, fellow Christians and, gasp, be a distraction to other Christians and non Christians alike (I say with my heart hurting in humility, stinging from my own pride that I know of times I have distracted others from Jesus).
A little more like Jesus, a little less of me and everyday nearer to Him, my Savior, my Jesus, my Friend.
Tamar: Canaanite woman widowed two times over disguised as a prostitute to get pregnant by her father-in-law (Genesis 38) who upon finding out she was pregnant by him said, "She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn't giver her to my son Shelah." Are you confused? Does that make sense? Its definitely something to chew over. If I'm leaving out details, you know its on purpose to get you to go read it. You won't regret it. The story is awesome on so many levels.
Rahab: a prostitute from Jericho (Joshua 2) who is the mother to Boaz
Ruth: a Moabitess (those people born of a daughter getting her father drunk and getting pregnant as a result) widow of an Israelite who then marries Boaz.(book of Ruth)
Bathsheba: Israelite woman, married to a Hittite man, cheated with King David who then killed her Hittite husband. She married King David and then gave birth to King Solomon. (1Chronicles 3)
Go read the rest of these stories ya'll! You think Desperate Housewives is racy!?
I know that Jesus ate meals with prostitutes (women in general didn't eat with the men let alone prostitutes and tax collectors. How radical and revolutionary to our Christian way of thinking that Jesus not only ate with prostitutes, foreigners and saved an adulteress woman's life, but they are also in his family line, on purpose!
The people of Jesus' genealogy that have dominated my quiet time as of late and worked their way into my thinking through out the day are Rahab, Boaz and Ruth. Understanding the racial tension, the class separation, the culture not to much different from our own in some ways, in some ways worse, helps us put some dimension to the relationship between Boaz and Ruth. Boaz had sympathy on Ruth when he saw her as a young widow Moabitess picking up spare bits of grain in his fields to take back to feed herself and her dead husband's mother with whom she left her own country to follow back to the people of Israel. Who had mercy on her and made sure she was safe and provided for. Who else but the son of a foreign woman could have such compassion and mercy? I wonder what Boaz saw growing up. What was life like for Rahab? Were the other women nice to her knowing her back ground? Did they invite her into their homes, have play dates with Boaz and Rahab? As a son of a prostitute foreigner, what were Boaz' marital prospects. He was an older man. We do know that Boaz felt pleased that Ruth picked him. Maybe the pure, well bread Israelite families withheld their daughter from him. Really we can't know for sure but I've seen enough of people's human nature, examples of similar scenarios played out in real life today to know this line of thinking may be closer to the mark than we think.
We don't talk about race. Most Internet discussions disintegrate fast into anger rather than open, healthy discussions and learning opportunities. Certainly we wouldn't discuss it face to face lest we look foolish or are rejected or reject others.
We don't air our families dirty laundry, but it appears it was the first thing Jesus wants us to see about His because face it people, we are part of Jesus' family and not many of us can claim we are much better than any of Jesus grandmothers. I for one am so thankful God strayed away from keeping the line blue blooded. I know that when I fail, there is no far that is to far away from God to turn back and there is no bad to bad that would keep any of us from being under the saving blood.
That is awesome for those who don't yet know Jesus but what about those of us who do? Can we claim this same compassion, mercy and love for those in God's creation that we could love and openly be enough of a witness to the very lost that we could introduce a prostitute to Jesus or an adulteress or even a murderer?
I'm ruminating on this myself. I'm a sojourner on a path that I have yet to get any where near my destination. I make detours and have to back track and get back on track often. The balance is hard at times to stay focused on Jesus and not get distracted by the world or even at times, fellow Christians and, gasp, be a distraction to other Christians and non Christians alike (I say with my heart hurting in humility, stinging from my own pride that I know of times I have distracted others from Jesus).
A little more like Jesus, a little less of me and everyday nearer to Him, my Savior, my Jesus, my Friend.
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