Sermon Tone Analysis

Video

Introduction

Our series this advent season is tracing the story of Jesus through unlikely people.

Those who were unlikely, unexpected, unworthy, and undeserving relatives of Jesus in his family history.

One of Jesus’ best friends, Matthew, is writing to a congregation much like this and he is explaining to them that the Jesus they believed in really is the Messiah.

He really is the One they had been expecting through the Promises of the Old Testament.

Here’s how he starts his story of Jesus’ birth:

An account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham fathered Isaac,Isaac fathered Jacob,Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers, Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar… (Matthew 1:1-3)

When Matthew includes these somewhat shady characters he is reminding us that they aren’t just a part of the story they are the point of the story of Jesus.

The promised Messiah, the Christ, comes not for the worthy but the unworthy.

He comes to seek and save the lost.

He comes for the sick.

He comes for sinners.

Sinners like Tamar, the first woman to show up in Matthew’s family history of Jesus.

Tamar’s story is also the story of Judah.

Matthew tells us that Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar.

This relationship Judah had with Tamar isn’t exactly what we would include in our family story.

But Matthew does.

Judah was one of the 12 sons of Jacob.

Judah wasn’t the oldest son, but he ended up being one of the most important.

One of Jacob’s favorite sons is Joseph.

The other 11 brothers of Joseph, including Judah are jealous of all the affection Jacob has for this son.

They also don’t really buy into all the promises that had been given to Jacob regarding his future and the coming descendent.

Joseph does.

And that becomes a point of contention.

The brothers want to kill Joseph, but Judah convinces the other brothers to sell Joseph into slavery.

And that’s what they do.

Judah comes off as a bit of an opportunist.

Yes, he saved Joseph’s life, because he was his brother, but still… sold him as a slave.

All the brothers lie about what happened to Joseph, telling their father that a wild animal got him.

And Judah is a big part of that coverup as well.

What we tend to do when we get to this part of the story is skip the next chapter and go right to the story of Joseph.

When I say we skip… we skip.

We ignore.

We might as well take Genesis 38 and rip it out of our Bibles.

This is not one of those stories we tell in Sunday school.

This isn’t one that we highlight at Christmas.

One of the big reasons is that this story is R-rated.

We have a tough time explaining this to our kids.

But even as we soften what actually happens here between Judah and Tamar, I think we skip this chapter because of how it ends.

We don’t like how it is resolved.

We’d rather not talk about it.

It’s not just the sex stuff.

We don’t like explaining the main point of the story.

but that’s what we will do this morning.

Here’s how this all goes down.

Judah’s story in chapter 38 of Genesis begins with the news that he has three sons and as the custom was for that day right around the time Joseph is sold, got a wife for his firstborn son whose name was Er.

Which I don’t know how they came up with that name, right what do you want to name our son dear, er.

Sounds good.

And the wife he found for her was named Tamar.

Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

Now Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the LORD’s sight, and the LORD put him to death.

Then Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife.

Perform your duty as her brother-in-law and produce offspring for your brother.”

But Onan doesn’t.

What he did was evil in the LORD’s sight, so he put him to death also.

(Genesis 38:6-10)

You’ll have to read Genesis 38 to see exactly what Onan does there that is so obnoxious to God.

But let me say something about this.

The problem with Onan isn’t the act of what he did.

The problem was why he did it.

Onan has no desire to marry Tamar and continue the family line.

He not only dishonors Tamar, but he gives God the old stiff arm.

He has no desire to play a role in the line of the Promised One.

He’s telling God off.

And that invites God’s judgment.

We’re down to brother number 3, but he’s too young:

Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.”

For he thought, “He might die too, like his brothers.”

So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.

(Genesis 38:11)

If we left everything right there, it’d all be good with us.

Certainly Judah felt this way.

Seems like a pretty boring story to this point, other than two brothers who were evil are killed by God himself, which also isn’t an everyday occurrence.

Still… Tamar is back home with dad.

End of story.

Which is what Judah wants.

But that’s not where it ends.

Somewhere along the way Tamar has begun to believe that there’s something special going on with this son she’s supposed to have.

Tamar somehow, someway has begun to think that this God of Jacob’s Judah’s father has something special going on.

She may have heard the stories about granddad-in-law’s seeing a stairway to heaven in the middle of the night.

Grandpa’s wrestling with an angel.

The promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Maybe she’s heard the story of Rebekah.

Maybe she begins to suspect that two of her husbands are dead because of a son that is coming through her.

So we get to this:

After a long time Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died.

When Judah had finished mourning, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers.

Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”

So she took off her widow’s clothes, veiled her face, covered herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah.

For she saw that, though Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.

Ohhh… that’s an interesting tidbit.

Tamar waits a long time.

So long, in fact, that the son of Judah’s that was promised to her and was in fact, by their customs and arrangements, supposed to be her husband, is now all grown up and hasn’t made the first move toward her.

Verse 12 tells us in the course of time, in others words a lot of time had passed and Judah who promised Shelah to Tamar had forgotten all about her either intentionally or accidently who knows.

Doesn’t matter.

Judah has mistreated Tamar at no fault to herself but because of his own evil sons.

A lot of time passes and how horrible it must have been for Tamar to be stuck in a state of obligation to this family but of have her father in law ignore her and not even take care of her like the law required even though Shelah was grown up.

And this is creepy, but culture.

Tamar finds out Judah is headed to a party near her.