If you will it

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090825.cfm

I have wondered many times how much effort it took Matthew (and also later, Luke) to construct the lineages of Jesus. Forty-two generations traced back without the help of Ancestry.com. We also have to remember that this particular lineage might have been claimed by many. The descendants of David would have been numerous over the course of the 28 generations from him to Jesus. But it does seem likely that since David was the most revered king of Israel, that anyone who might have this lineage would have passed down to their children the story of the line of David that connects them to the great king.

More surprising in this lengthy lineage is the presence of four particular women whose circumstances were unusual at best. These women went to great lengths to be in this great lineage (although that may or may not have been their motivation at the time). Sprinkled among the many ‘father of’ statements are the mothers: Tamar, Rahab, the wife of Uriah (Bathsheba), and Ruth. Each of these holds a unique and in some cases ignoble place in the lineage of Jesus.

Tamar was the wife of Er, the eldest son of Judah (one of the patriarchs of the twelve tribes). Er died before they had a child, so according to the law, his brother Onan took her into his home. Onan also died childless. Er’s youngest brother was not yet old enough to marry, so Tamar was told to wait. But when Shelah was old enough, Judah did not fulfill his promise to Tamar. So she tricked Judah and posed as a prostitute in order to sleep with Judah. She bore twin sons out of this contrived union: Perez and Zerah. Through Perez, the line of Abraham to Jesus was continued through her. If Judah had honored his promise, and obeyed the law, the line could have continued through Tamar and Shelah, but it did continue.

Rahab was a Canaanite woman who either ran an Inn or a brothel. Whether she was a prostitute is unclear, but what is clear is that she was instrumental in facilitating Joshua’s possession of the promised land AND the continuation of the line of Abraham and Jacob toward the eventual line of Jesus Himself. She betrayed her own country to let these foreigners in.

Ruth not only married into the Israelite clan from Moab (descendent’s of Abraham’s nephew Lot), but she remained there with her mother-in-law Naomi after the men in their lives all died. Through her dedication to Naomi, she eventually married Boaz who was the son of Rahab, and would give birth to Obed and would be King David’s great grandmother.

David rose to great power in a beautiful and holy way, but his desire for the lovely Bathsheba, married to his captain Uriah the Hittite, would lead him down a dark path of lust, adultery and murder. Even in this, Bathsheba would bear him the son Solomon who would become famous in his own right and carry the line forward another generation toward the Messiah.

These women all did unexpected things. Some of which seem very foreign to us but were much more culturally accepted at the time. The one thing that all of these actions had in common was this: they allowed God’s plan of salvation through the lineage of Abraham, Jacob and David to come to pass despite epic failings on the part of the men in this lineage. God would not allow His plan to be thwarted by short-sighted men, or men who refused to follow the heart of the law that God had given them.

Enter Mary. God even intervened to keep Joseph from doing what the letter of the law prescribed, so that the heart of the law, Jesus, could be brought into the world by his soon to be bride. God’s important plans for us will not be denied. This is important for us to think and pray and meditate on. How has God made a way in your life? How has God used the lowly or the unlikely to bring about His glory? If He wills it, it will happen. If we are open to His will, it will happen faster.