Below is my annual poem for Jesus, a gift to him for his birthday. I hope it lifts your eyes to the Treasure we have in Jesus Christ, the King. He has come. He will surely come again.
The Genealogy of Jesus Includes Five Women of Questionable Pedigree or Repute
“A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham: Abraham was the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron ...
Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of King David. David was the father of Solomon, whose mother was Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba) ...
and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.” – (Matthew 1:1-17)
The Family Tree of Jesus
¹Have you traced the men and women
Who make up your Family Tree,
Finding several of its branches,
Bent and broken, they may be?
²While you browse Ancestry-dot-com,
DNA swab mailed in;
To discover saints and sinners,
Who predate you, as your kin?
³Our forebears tell a story,
That we long to understand;
That we think somehow defines us,
Whether ho-hum or quite grand.
⁴The same holds true of Jesus,
Matthew’s Gospel tries to show;
Generations stretch back cent’ries,
Few were famous here below.
⁵So Matthew maps His fam’ly –
Forty forefathers of Christ;
But hidden in the record
Are foremothers -- even five.
⁶Their names mostly forgotten,
When remembered, they meet scorn;
For their actions seem indecent
To all hearts not yet reborn.
⁷The first in line was Tamar
Who was widowed, then disgraced;
For ol’ Judah left her hanging,
And her progeny debased.
⁸Then came a sordid woman,
Whose profession was obscene,
Rahab hid the spies of Moses,
Under roof – remained unseen.
⁹The third was Ruth the widow,
A spurned Moabite, to boot;
Both a foreigner and barren,
Gave Naomi a reboot.
¹⁰And who can e’er forget
The grievous sin of David, king?
Bathsheba – wronged, exploited,
As he crushed her wedding ring?
¹¹And last of all, a virgin’s rep
Was shattered by the news;
Mary now with child, unmarried,
Of a scandal was accused.
¹²Yet each of these five women,
Spotted in the rearview mirror,
Hist’ry dubs a godly forebear –
Could I make this any clearer?
¹³Examine close the Family Tree
Of the promised Prince of Peace,
Where five mothers each were questioned
By the self-righteous police.
¹⁴Yet in hindsight we see greatness,
For our sisters risked it all;
As they made the Bible’s pages,
Lived courageous to God’s call.
¹⁵While in their day the Hall of Fame
Was clearly out of reach;
But looking back, they won the prize,
By Faith, their lives still preach.
¹⁶Though each was humbly broken,
By their err’ or by their world;
Through them God brought us Jesus,
From their shell was birthed the Pearl.
¹⁷So I ask you, gentle reader,
What’s more stunning than this thought?
That these women made His bloodline,
Or that you did, but not ought?
¹⁸For here’s the truth of Christmas,
That not one of us deserves,
To be in the tree of Jesus,
By whose blood our spot reserves.
¹⁹He is perfect, our Redeemer,
Came for misfits just like me;
And is unashamed to call us,
"Brothers" in His Family Tree.
²⁰This Tree points to Another,
Called the cross on Calvary;
Where He died in place of sinners,
Just like you and just like me.
²¹Two trees define our Savior,
One for Family, one to Save;
While five mothers proved heroic,
Trusting in the One who Gave.
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. - John 3:16
Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday to the King!
A Moment to Ponder
Take a moment to ponder what it means that Jesus offers you the opportunity to be in His family. What does it mean to you that He would call you brother or sister (Hebrews 2:11), that you can be in His household (Ephesians 2:19)?