Message by Larry Thacker Jr. from December 22: Family Matters
As we approach the day when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, let’s take a look at where He came from. Of course we all know that He is the son of God, but what about His earthly family? You’d think that the most important person ever born would come from a spotless family line, but not so much. Jesus’s family history is yet another illustration of God’s redemptive purpose.
Matthew points that out as he begins his account by listing the genealogy of Jesus with a little commentary on the circumstances of some of the people in the line. There’s Rahab, the prostitute from Jericho. There’s Ruth of the Moabites, one of the people groups God specifically excluded. There’s David, whose son Solomon was the product of his marriage to Bathsheba after he murdered her husband by proxy. The fact is, we’ve all got stuff like that in our backgrounds whether wee know it or not. We are members of a fallen and corrupted race. That is why Jesus had to come in the first place, and why He had to die.
The message here is that none of that puts us beyond God’s reach. When we read the Old Testament accounts, we see how He wove even our brokenness into His plan, drawing us toward the ultimate event that would change everything. It is a message we can take to heart in our own lives. Wherever we came from and whatever we’ve done, God is able to redeem us. He took our shame away, and gave us a new family that will never be broken up.
