Grace Is Enough
Twenty-third day of Advent, December 23, 2025
The Ancestors of Jesus the Messiah
This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah (whose mother was Tamar). Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram.
Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon.
Salmon was the father of Boaz (whose mother was Rahab). Boaz was the father of Obed (whose mother was Ruth). Obed was the father of Jesse.
Jesse was the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon (whose mother was Bathsheba, the widow of Uriah). Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Matthew 1:1-7
Dear friends,
As we approach the end of Advent, let’s think about an often overlooked Scripture passage—the genealogy of Jesus from Matthew. I would bet you haven’t heard a sermon, or at least a memorable one, on it. We’re not really fans of genealogies, especially in the Western church. They often seem boring and mechanical without telling a story, so why bother? The 16th-century reformer Ulrich Zwingli believed otherwise. For him, it contained the core of Reformation theology — salvation by grace.
According to Matthew, who is being faithful to the Old Testament’s way of thinking, God does not necessarily select the noblest or most deserving person to carry out his purpose. God selects the Judahs who sell their brothers into slavery (Genesis 37), the Jacobs who cheat their way into first place (Genesis 25-27), the Davids who steal wives and murder rivals (2 Samuel 11), yet compose beautifully written and sung psalms of praise.
Not to mention the five women Matthew includes: Tamar, from the pagan land of Canaan, who disguised herself as a prostitute and seduced her father-in-law Judah to have a son by him. Rahab, another Canaanite in Jericho, who was a prostitute. Ruth, the Moabite, an outsider. Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, who is only mentioned as the wife of Uriah—whom King David killed so he could marry her himself. And, of course, Mary, the mother of Jesus, who appears in the gospels with a rather unconventional pregnancy. All women used by God, yet each has some rather tawdry scandal attached to her.
And what about the final fourteen generations found in Matthew’s opening chapter? You won’t find their names in the Who’s Who of biblical characters.
Which brings us to us! Whether you are a bit worn around the edges from your sinful past or consider yourself the forgotten and undistinguished, isn’t it likely that God can use you? Even if it may be in strange and unexpected ways, the gospel continues through you.
There is something quite scandalous about the gospel—its profound grace and love, which are so divine and unlike any other. But that’s the point: the gospel is all that and more because we, the scandalous, are used by God to fulfill His purpose for a kingdom to come.
How will God use you today?
Watching and waiting,
Credits: John writes, and Trudy edits everything (we mean EVERYTHING)!