Matthew was inspired by the Holy Spirit to honour five women when he started to write the story of Jesus Christ. Ironically all these women had a dirty or a difficult past. The good news of the genealogy of Jesus is that Jesus was born in a family line which included all these five women (Matthew 1). A brief glance of the five from the Old Testament would help all today who aspire a bright future wanting to erase a bleak past.
Tamar
Tamar was the widow of the first son of Judah, Er. Judah's next son Onan cheated Tamar and he also died. The deaths were the judgement of God on these two men. The third son, Shelah did not want to marry Tamar. Judah also became a widower by that time. Tamar though upset somehow wanted to get a child for the family line of Judah to go on. In some tricky incident which followed, Judah unknowingly found himself in an adulterous relationship with Tamar, his own daughter-in-law. But Tamar knew who she was into relationship. In an interesting turn of events, Judah came to know that Tamar got to become pregnant because of him. He also realized that Tamar was more righteous than him because he failed to give his third son to her. The story gives a clear message that one cannot try to achieve a seemingly worthy goal by disobeying God like Tamar. She used unethical short-cuts. But the story also ends with a good note that Judah never did that mistake once again. Tamar on her part continued to remain a widow (Genesis 38).
A bleak past gets erased when we do not repeat the past mistake again however dirty it may be. Jesus forgave the sins of a woman caught in adultery. He said to her, “Sin no more” (John 8:11). Tamar who did not sin any more got her entry into the historic genealogical list of Jesus.
Rahab
Rahab was a prostitute living in the city of Jericho. But she was also a wise woman who knew what was happening in the world of her time. Rahab was update with information about the mighty deliverance of the bonded Israelite slaves from the then super power Egypt and the subsequent miracles and victories this wandering group enjoyed from the super powerful Yahweh God all along their journey. She knew kings subdued by the Israelites by names. She could also predict how the rulers of Jericho would melt in fear in front of these feeble yet powerful Israelites. No wonder, Rahab welcomed the Israelite spies with peace (Hebrews 11:31). The spies told her a way by which she and her family would not perish during the attack. As a woman who already knew the power of the Yahweh God, she obeyed the spies. Faith comes through hearing. She and her family were the only survivors of the attack in the city of Jericho. Rahab married Salmon, a Yahweh worshipper in the Israelite community thereafter. (Joshua 2 & 6)
A bleak past gets erased when we obey to the counsel which gives a solution or an “exit” for the trouble we are caught up with. It is then the old dirty episode reverses to a glorious history. Rahab found her place in the genealogy of Jesus. Jesus said that He is the Way who can take us out from perishing. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son Jesus that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Ruth
It is easy for anyone to interpret three widows living under the same roof as a result of evil done in their past. With no men in the family there was utter hopelessness in this household. Now one of those widows was Ruth who came from a non-Yahweh background. Her difficult choice to stick to her seemingly hopeless old widowed mother-in-law, Naomi and her Yahweh God, unlike the other widow brought all the change! A rich man named Boaz, who was a relative of her deceased husband married Ruth. Hopelessness turned to hope.
A bleak past is erased when a difficult choice is made with regard to a faith commitment with a God who would in turn show new beginnings to overcome a difficult past. Ruth became the great grandmother of King David in whose family line was Jesus born.
Bathsheba
Bathsheba was an innocent victim of the lust of the powerful king David. In this lustful pursuit of the king, she lost her husband and also became a joint sinner in this episode. She also lost the son born out of adultery. The counsel of God came to David that he was a sinner. A good thing about this king however was that he accepted that he was a sinner (2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12). It may not be wrong on our part to imagine Bathsheba with joint hands with David hearing him cry out the psalm of confession (Psalm 51). Just as she was a joint sinner, no wonder, she jointly made her confession to the Lord.
A sinful past is cleared with a genuine confession to God. Proverbs 28:13says that, people who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.
Mary
Mary was about to be divorced from her husband Joseph for he found her to be a unwed mother (Matthew 1:19). Mary had to carry the tag of an unwed mother just because she obeyed the word of God given to her through an angel. As a virgin she became pregnant with Jesus in her womb, through the work of the Holy Spirit. Since she had surrendered herself as a servant to this holy task, she became the honourable mother of Jesus incarnate. Joseph too on his part obeyed the word of God later. He accepted pregnant Mary and took care of her.
Obedience to the word of God gives an immediate relief from a sinful tag. It brings honour and fame and eliminates undesired tags in our lives. God provides the needed help from people close to us to clear us away from the dirt tag.
To ALTER a bleak past, I need to offer myself at the ALTAR of a God who is capable of clearing it. Jesus has the power to forgive a sinner because he has paid the penalty of a sinner by offering himself as a sinless sacrifice on the cross. The power of his resurrection gives people with a dirty past, clearance from that and a hope for this world and the world to come. Who will not want to come out of a dirty and difficult past and look forward to a glorious, guiltless future?
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