Along with Mary: the other ladies listed in the lineage of Christ were Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Tamar whose name in Hebrew means, "palm tree," was a destitute widow who, out of extreme desperation, became a fake prostitute. Her first husband was wicked and God took him out. The man's brother, married her, but was wicked and God took him out. The father-in-law Judah then promised (deceitfully) to give Tamar his other son as a husband when he was old enough. When Tamar realized that Judah had no intention of fulfilling his promise, she devised a deceitful plan of her own. She disguised herself as a prostitute. Her father-in-law not recognizing her, fell for the immoral bait and she became pregnant.Tamar became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Perez. His name will resurface a little bit later in our story of the messy lineage of Christ. So, after our fake prostitute we meet a real prostitute. Rahab was a harlot who hid the spies of Israel when their mission of espionage was uncovered. She helped the spies escape, but not before securing a promise to deliver her and her family from God's impending judgement. Rahab wanted to be gone when the walls came tumbling down. Rahab became the mother of a guy named Boaz. So now we've heard about a fake prostitute and a real prostitute who became deceivers because they were so destitute. Moving onto our next equally or perhaps even more lurid story, we have sweet little Ruthie! Everything we read about Ruth in the four chapters that bear her name are positive and pleasant for the most part. We do see Ruth experiencing the death of her husband and then leaves the only home she's ever known to follow her mother-in-law into an unknown future marked with poverty. There must be some skeletons in her closet! We could ask the question, "What is the ancestry of Ruth? Or, we could ask the question, "What is the Incestry of Ruth?" You may remember the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. A land immorality to the max. God's judgement rained down upon the devious people who refused to to turn from their wicked ways. Remember Father Abraham who had many sons? He had a nephew who lived among the depraved degenerates. His name was Lot. He had a wife and two daughters. On the day of God's judgement, they were told to run for their lives and not turn back. Some people just don't listen! Lot's wife turned around to put her eyes on evil being eradicated. In the blink of an eye she became the salt of a tear drop without moisture. Lots wife became the first salt shaker! Jesus told us to remember this episode in Luke 17:32, He said, "Remember Lot's wife." Lot and his daughters escaped and lived in a cave. Hebrew tradition says that the daughters believed the whole world had perished. Not seeing Adam and Eve to start the whole human race all over again, they decided to take the matter of creation into their own hands. They got their father drunk and had had sex with him. Yep folks, there's incest in the ancestry which makes for incestry! Two boys were born, Moab and Ammon. They became the founders of the Moabites and the Ammonites - pagan people who might of just as well have been mosquito bites! Now we go back to sweet little Ruthie - she was a Moabite! You just had to know there was a skeleton in her closet! Ruthie followed her mother-in-law and the two widows walked through the pain of loss and persevered through poverty as they journeyed into the lineage of Christ. They made choices along the way. We still have time to check out one more lady in the lineage of Christ, Bathsheba. Methinks she was in a semi-private place where King David just happened to see her and then temptation took over. I believe this was the wrongful abuse of a woman by a man. I will leave it at that. In 2 Samuel 11:4 we read, "So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her." The key words I see that make me feel kind of grimy in my gut are, "took her." That's not a romantic invitation. David commits adultery, has her husband murdered and his child dies. The lineage of Christ has an unbelievable mess bigger than all the steamy soap operas in the history of the world. Bigger than any mess we could possibly conceive or imagine. We are called to be messengers of the Messiah who never met a mess He couldn't anoint with a fresh start. Imagine the mess of a crucified Savior who died to cover the mess of our sins? Jesus is the greatest mess mediator of all time. The word Messiah means, "anointed or anointed one." By carrying the message of the Messiah you are carrying the anointing of Christ - to have and to hold, to give and to share.
