The Unusual Suspects

When Jesus took on human form, humanity received a glimpse of heaven on Earth. The sinless Son of God had descended to dwell among the sinful. Through His human mother, Mary, and adoptive father, Joseph, Jesus’ genealogy inevitably consisted of imperfect men and women. But Scripture’s details of His ancestors reveal the surprising depth of their depravity.

Jesus the Messiah’s lineage consisted of flawed individuals of every type—deceivers, prostitutes, adulterers, polygamists, slave traders, idolaters, and murderers. They were impatient, violent, greedy, arrogant, stubborn, weak, and foolish people. Their professions ran the gamut from royal kings—both righteous and wicked—to lowly shepherds.

Though Scripture says “The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son” (Ezek. 18:20), it also notes that the consequences of iniquity extend for generations (Ex. 20:5; 34:7). Such effects of immorality spring up throughout the Messiah’s line.

For example, to secure his own safety, Abraham deceived Egypt’s pharaoh and then King Abimelech of Gerar, claiming his wife, Sarah, was only his sister. Deception passed down the line to his grandson Jacob, who deceived his father, Isaac, into blessing him instead of his brother, Esau. Licentious behavior appeared in Jesus’ lineage with Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar; then Rahab, a former harlot, joined the family. Judah’s licentiousness resurfaced with King David, who had an affair with Bathsheba and married her after killing her husband. The Messianic family was polluted by scandal and sin.

Yet, God made no mistake choosing each of Jesus’ ancestors, even if they seem unfit to us to be part of His earthly family. Despite their failures, God loved them and worked through their imperfections to preserve His promise to bless the entire world through Abraham’s seed (Gen. 22:18). Rather than bypassing or even destroying this line so full of iniquities, He preserved it because our faithful God never fails to keep His promises.

Do you ever feel that your sin and weaknesses are too great to overcome? Do you feel far from our holy heavenly Father, unworthy to serve Him? Perhaps these men and women did too. The Lord used the sordid cast of characters that made up Jesus’ genealogy to teach an important lesson: His strength “is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9).

Instead of abandoning us because of our sinful hearts, God meets us in our brokenness and fixes us. His mercy and grace do not depend on our conduct. If they did, we would be utterly helpless and unable to stand before Him, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Instead, Jesus the Messiah willingly gave His own life as a sacrifice to expunge our sins, purify our hearts, and restore us to a right relationship with the Father.

God used each member of the Messianic line (undeserving though he or she may have been) for His purposes, bringing forth “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29). When we give our lives to the Savior, we have the treasure of “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” within our “earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:6–7).

May all our praise go to the Lord, who displays His glory through our weakness.