Advent – Redemption

It’s the time of the year when holiday decorations come out, and the nativity scene appears on mantles, yards, puzzles, ornaments, and children’s books. You can hardly get away without seeing the small family cuddled in a manger somewhere (usually with Santa somewhere nearby!) We’ve heard the stories of Joseph’s righteousness, Mary as the very mother of God, the wise men, the shepherds, and the angel’s singing glory. We have even imagined the perspective of the animals present in songs and plays (and likely a few sermons!) But what about great, great, great, great (you get the point) grandmother, Tamar? Or Rahab? Ruth or Bathsheba? That’s right, all great grandmas of the little baby in the manger. An incestual relationship, a prostitute, an impoverished widow and a union no one wants to talk about at dinner. This changes things.

Have you ever learned something about your history that deeply changed the perspective of your present? For better or worse, we all have things in our families that we just don’t talk about. Sometimes we can look at our lives, past and present, and wonder if God can actually redeem ALL of it: The painful relationships, the massive mistakes, the blatant rebellion against God himself. The hurt and trauma that has been done to us or the egregious sins of others that we have taken the brunt of. The things that make our chests tighten with emotion and our throats choke back tears. What can God really do with all this mess? If He can redeem it, He truly is a miracle worker.

But that is who God is. Redemption is the overarching cry of all of scripture leading to it’s culmination in Jesus Christ’s death on the cross, redeeeming all of creation. Through him God reconciled everything to himself.

This Sunday we will begin our advent series on the women in the genealogy of Jesus and that is just what we’ll see in each: the redemptive work of God. In response to Judah’s unrighteous actions, Tamar has to resort to drastic efforts to protect her future. While the story is not one we usually hear in Sunday school, it shows that God can redeem any part of any story, including ours.