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Jesus’s bloodline was anything but holy and majestic; it was downright dysfunctional and scandalous!

Jesus always was and always will be God. He is of the very nature of God, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. After the creation, God gave Adam and Eve a choice to be obedient to the instructions that God gave them as they lived in the Garden of Eden. They disobeyed, breaking their relationship with God and all those created after them. God promised in Genesis 3:15 that he would send the seed (Jesus the Savior) of a woman (Mary) to forever restore the relationship with God through the sacrifice of His Son.

His family tree flows through 28 generations and around 1700 years. The preservation of the family line of Jesus is a miracle of its own. God protected it throughout time to fulfill His promise of a redeemer. Yes, King David was in his lineage, but he was also a scoundrel because he committed adultery and murder. There were many additional skeletons in Jesus’s family closet.

Abraham…Abraham said that his wife was his sister, twice, so that he wouldn’t have to fight for her; Abraham was a coward and liar.

Isaac…Isaac did the same thing as did his father. He said that Rebekah, his wife, was his sister, as he is worried that the Philistines will otherwise kill him to marry Rebekah.

Jacob…Jacob lied to his father, cheated his brother, and ripped off his father-in-law.

Judah…slept with the woman engaged to his son while she disguised herself as a prostitute. Their son is in Jesus’ genealogy

Rahab…Rahab was a woman (unusual in OT genealogies) and a prostitute.

Ruth…Ruth was a gentile from a despised country.

Solomon…Solomon allowed his many wives to worship false gods.

Rehoboam…Rehoboam split the nation of Israel in two.

God knew what He was doing. He was well aware of the gross sins that we being committed by those who were in the family line of Jesus. God has never glossed over the flaws of human beings. God came to pay the price for the sins found in His own line. He embraced the nitty-gritty, the fallen, ugly, fickle, two-faced people like you and me. He saw everyone as redeemable.

We are all broken. God came to make us whole and righteous. Jesus’ genealogy is filled with those who were going to be saved by Jesus’ blood that He shed on the cross. What seems like such an impossible task to make right such messed up people, Jesus does just that. He is bigger than our sin, our failures, and our dysfunction. He not only tolerates our propensity to sin, but he pursues us in the midst.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Why? God knows that sin destroys our soul and keeps us from eternal fellowship with Him. He created us to be in relationship with God and He was willing to do what no human can do and that was to pay the penalty of our sin so that we could have eternal life with God.

God embraced the dysfunctional and the sinful who were in the family line leading to Jesus. If God did that for us, should we not be obedient to do the same. Love is a choice. We are called by God to choose to be kind to, extend grace to, and to forgive those who have hurt us. Whether in our own family, co-workers, or neighbors, we are all called to be patient, prayerful, and honoring to all the people God puts on our journey.

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4: 30-34).

“Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Corinthians 13:11).