When you read the Christmas story where do you start reading? Some people start at Matthew 1:18 and read through 2:12. A lot of people start in Luke 2 and read the first 20 verses. I would doubt that very many begin reading the genealogies of Jesus Christ. I mean, what does the lineage of Christ have to do with Christmas? Well, let’s explore this today. The two genealogies of Jesus are found in Matthew 1: 1-17 and Luke 3:23-38. Some see these two as contradictory but a closer look reveals that they are not.

Matthew starts with Abraham and follows the line through David to Jesus via Joseph’s family. Make a note of something interesting in Matthew 1:16. Matthew refers to Joseph as Mary’s husband not Jesus’ father. Why? God was Jesus’ Father. Because Jesus had no human father He could not be a descendant of David except through His mother Mary. Still, the legal right to rule always came through the father’s side and this was true even in Jesus’ case because He was Joseph’s eldest son. So we have two necessary genealogies: Luke shows that through Mary, Jesus was literally a blood descendant of David. Matthew proves that through His adopted father Joseph, Jesus was legally in the royal line. In every way possible, Jesus had the right to rule.

When you examine the family tree of Jesus in Matthew there are knots all over it! What a family. Specifically, there are 4 outcasts in Matthew 1:3-6. What is striking about this is all of these outcasts are women. Most Hebrew genealogies excluded women but we find 4 women mentioned in these four verses. These women may not be the kind one would want to bring home to Mom. They certainly don’t epitomize someone who would be found in a royal lineage. The first one mentioned is Tamar (verse 3). Her story is found in Genesis 38 (caution: it’s a weird chapter). Basically, Tamar’s life could be characterized by incest, prostitution and deception. The second woman found is Rahab (verse 5). Rahab’s name means pride, she too was a harlot. She was a Canaanite who hid the spies of Israel in her home in Jericho (Joshua 6:17). Rahab abandoned the gods of Canaan for Jehovah God. She was the great-great grandmother of David. The third woman is Ruth (verse 5). Along with Rahab we find another Gentile woman in the line of Jesus. Ruth was a Moabite who found grace in the eyes of God. Her great grandson was David. And finally, we see Bathsheba (verse 6). She isn’t mentioned by name but is described as Solomon’s mother who had been Uriah’s wife. Her adulteress affair with David is chronicled for us in 2 Samuel 11.

What a family tree! Two harlots, a cursed Moabite and an adulteress (all we need now is a partridge, right?). It seems like the family tree of Jesus is full of sinners. That’s the point. Really, it’s not the people who are on display in this tree, its God’s grace. If God’s grace can reach these people it can reach anyone! You may skip the genealogies of Jesus during Christmas but don’t skip the point: Jesus came to save sinners and His tree is full of them. Praise God that, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14