First Wednesday in Advent - Vespers - Sermon

 

    Vespers First Sunday in Advent 

Advent 1 Wednesday – Genesis 38:1-26 – Matthew 1:1-6

O Lord, your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, my rock and my redeemer. Amen. 

We have two genealogies of Jesus. Luke 3 and Matthew 1. They are not exact replicas of one another. For example, Luke lists only the fathers, starts with Jesus and then goes backwards to Adam. Matthew starts with Abraham ends with Jesus. What I want to focus on tonight and the next two Wednesday Vesper services is the five women that Matthew includes in his genealogy. 

The Gospels are written so that people may hear the Good News of Jesus. The Gospel writers not only present the content of Jesus’ life, but they present it in a way in which people will hear what is being said. For example, when reading through the genealogies, a predictable pattern is given by which names are read. For example, from Luke 3 we hear this, “²³ Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi,” etc.

Matthew does the same thing. But just about the time in which we settle into the formulaic rhythm of having the names of Jesus ancestors listed, a woman’s name is listed. The rhythm is broken. It is jarring. We cannot help but wonder if there is a story here because the rhythm is disrupted. We would be correct, because each time a woman’s name is mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy, there is indeed a story that is told. These stories reveal sin, impurity, and scandal. Jesus, we discover has quite a few skeletons in his ancestral closet. 

Why would Matthew make a point of lifting these up for all the world to hear and know? Matthew’s point is that Jesus is born for everyone: Jew and gentile, righteous and unrighteous, those who have public, even shameful, sin and those with private sin. Jesus is born for all and he is born to die on the cross as a sacrifice to atone for the sins of all people. 

The five women listed are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary, the mother of our Lord. Tonight, we focus on Judah and Tamar. I don’t know what your reaction to the reading of Genesis 38 is, but mine is that this is an embarrassing, scandalous story where Judah does not look so good because desperate, angry, Tamar believes that she must resort to debasement and trickery to get Judah to fulfill his familial obligations. 

Judah partially fulfilled his responsibility for providing a husband for Tamar after the eldest son died. After Er died, Onan was required to marry Tamar. But then when Onan died, Judah promised that when the third son, Shelah became a man, he would give him to Tamar. But he did not fulfill his promise. Tamar was left as a widow in her father’s house. 

Judah not only breaks his promise to Tamar, but engages in fornication with Tamar when she dresses as a prostitute and avails himself of her services. She then becomes pregnant by him and shrewdly proceeds to hold him publicly accountable for his sins of failure. Judah was brought to public shame for his failure as head of the household and for fathering a child outside of wedlock. It was trickery, but the point is made and Judah is man enough to admit his failure, his sin, “She (Tamar) is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” 

The point of the genealogy of Jesus is to tell all of us that while Jesus himself has no sin, he comes from scandal, the ancestral baggage that he bears in his own humanity, is at time simply devastating and awful. 

The good news is that Jesus, the God-Man, takes up the cross for those ancestral sins and all other sins. Everyone who receives the good news of Jesus Christ through faith can know the fullness of God’s forgiveness. Jesus comes among us to take up the cross to atone for our sins. Thanks be to God!

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.