Hopefully you’re seeing. They’re there for a reason.
Names anchor His story in history. Telling us something.
Perez. Son of Tamar’s evil deception with her father-in-law, Judah.
Solomon. Son of David and Bathsheba. Remember her? Wife of Uriah, seduced by David, who then
had her husband killed.
And what about Ruth? Wonderful Ruth. Who stuck by her mother-in-law Naomi.
Ruth was a Moabite woman. Do you know where the Moabites came from? An incestuous
relationship. From one of Lot’s daughters sleeping with her father.
I tell you, you couldn’t make this stuff up. It’s all there. In Jesus’ family tree.
They’re there for a reason.
At Christmas we often talk of God descending to our sinful humanity, stooping, coming to us in all
our sin and ugliness.
But think about it. He was stooping long before. Working out his story in and through the lives of
sinful, messed up people.
Mercy. Grace.
Jesus Christ come to deal with sin. Identifying with sinful people, not just by bearing their sin at the
cross, but having a human family tree full of sinful people.
They’re there for a reason.