Jesus the Son of Scandal
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1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, 3 and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, 5 and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, 6 and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
Seems like many families have skeletons in their closet. Family secrets that are so shameful that to mention them at a family gathering is a sure way to get yourself written out of the will and be uninvited to any future family events.
Oftentimes, these skeletons involve children born out of wedlock or born to morally sketchy individuals under murky circumstances.
Imagine my surprise after I had my DNA analysized by Ancestry.com and then learning that I have an aunt that is almost the same age as I am. She was conceived by my maternal grandfather with a woman who wasn’t his wife.
The awkward feelings that produced in me and the bizarre questions that ensued were loads of fun hammer out.
Does my mother and my aunts know she has a half sister?
Would anyone in the family feel betrayed if I called her and spoke with her?
Is she going to be invited to any family gatherings like Thanksgiving or Christmas?
What would I say to her if she was invited and showed up?
Are there any legal implications that we need to consider?
The questions of legitamacy vs. illegetimacy surface like monsters from the deep.
These types of scandals can not only deeply impact families, it is a scandal of this exact kind that is impacting our nation.
Over the past decade its been proven that one of the founding father’s of our nation, Thomas Jefferson, father 4 children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings.
People in the Black Lives Matter movement have zeroed in on this scandal in order to claim that the United States of America itself and its constitution are illegitimate because of this.
So, what are we to make of these women listed it Jesus’ genealogy? The details in their cases are scandalous.
Consider the account of Judah and Tamar.
1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah. 2 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, 3 and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. 4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. 5 Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him. 6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar. 7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put him to death. 8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” 9 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother. 10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. 11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house. 12 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. 13 And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” 14 she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. 15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” 17 He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—” 18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.” So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. 19 Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood. 20 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to take back the pledge from the woman’s hand, he did not find her. 21 And he asked the men of the place, “Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim at the roadside?” And they said, “No cult prostitute has been here.” 22 So he returned to Judah and said, “I have not found her. Also, the men of the place said, ‘No cult prostitute has been here.’ ” 23 And Judah replied, “Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you did not find her.” 24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” 25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again. 27 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. 28 And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” 29 But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. 30 Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
Consider Rahab:
This woman was not a respectable and pious Israelite woman.
1 And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.
Salmon, a direct descendant of Jesus who lived at the time of Israelite conquest of Canaan under the command of Joshua the Son of Nun, after the fall of Jericho cast his eye of Rahab.
Can you imagine how awkward it would have been for Salmon to introduce the woman he’d fallen in love with to his parents.
“Mom and Dad” i’d like to to meet Rahab.”
“So, tell us Rahab, what do you do for a living.”
Then there’s Ruth. She was a Moabite. These are the decendants of Lot and the entire Moabite came about when Lot’s daughters got him drunk and then slept with him. The word Moab is one of the ickiest words in all of scripture. It means “from father”.
And I do not need to remind you of the sordid details of David’s illicit relationship with Bathsheba and the subsequent murdering of her husband so that he could marry her and clandestinely cover up her pregnancy.
Did you notice that Jesus’ geneology doesn’t cover up the fact that she was the wife of Uriah?
It is not a standard feature of Jewish geneologies to include women. Since, Matthew thought he’d include some women in Jesus’s geneology Why didn’t he pick more respectable women like Sarah, Rebecca or Leah?
Doesn’t Matthew understand that scandalous skeletons in Jesus closet could call the Jesus’ legitimacy into question.
All those women were clearly sinners.
But have you ever noticed that sneaky thing about the people who act all scandalized by stories like theirs and who act repulsed by stories like theirs. Those who do this are ACTING like they’re morally superior to them. We should be scandalized by the deceit-fullness of their pretenses.
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.