If you were writing your own genealogy, if you were recording your ancestry for posterity sake, who would you include? You can't includer everyone, after all, especially if you are going to go back 2000 years. Certainly, you would give the highlight, the big characters; you'd want to record those who shed light on who you are. Well, this Advent we are looking together at the women who are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus in very beginning of Matthew, the very beginning of the New Testament. And these women show up the depth and breadth of the scandalous mercy of God. We don't have Rebecca or Leah or Rachael, nope, instead we start with Tamar. Tamar and Judah's story is unquestionably one of the more scandalous stories in the Bible, but, after all, we are dealing with a God who comes to bring us his scandalous mercy in Jesus.

Transcript

 God in heaven, thank you for your word. Thank you, Lord, that you even begin with telling us the story of Jesus through this long genealogy in Matthew, Chapter 1. I've got to pray that as we focus our attention on the women there in that genealogy, that you would teach us about our Lord and how He comes among us.  And that we would worship you more joyfully, that we'd be in greater awe of you, that we'd be amazed at your mercy and your grace to us, Lord. I've got to pray that this morning you would open up our hearts to you. I've got to pray that we would be receptive to what you teach us.Seak, Lord, your servants are listening. Amen.

Alright, so probably a lot of you know the name of Jonathan Edwards.  Maybe you are familiar with American, early American church history, but more likely than not, you were given a certain sermon to read during some college lit class, as I was. That's centers in the hands of an angry God, which is what He's most famous for, but John Edwards was an unbelievably remarkable man.  

 Like many of you, he attended Yale when he was 13 years old, except none of you did that. 

 He later went on to do a lot of great things. Actually, it's funny to think he was a missionary to the Indians in the West, which basically meant like Western New York at that time in the early 1700s.  But he also became the president of what was then called the Log College, which was really largely a seminary training ministers, and that would become what we know of as Princeton University today. He was one of the early presidents there of Princeton.  

 And that's all remarkable, but one of the most remarkable things about John Edwards were his descendants.  Listen to this. John Edwards' descendants included a U.S. vice president, three senators, three governors, three mayors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 65 professors, 80 public office holders, 100 lawyers, 62 physicians, 75 army and navy officers, and 100 clergymen, missionaries, and theological professors.  

 That's just like,  it's tiring even to list all of that. Now, Edwards did have 11 children. We'll give him that.  But that's a family to talk about.  

 Can you imagine being from that family and not talking about your family?  Oh, yes. We have 100 clergymen, missionaries, theological professors, only 100 lawyers and 62 physicians. You know, I mean, people have bumper stickers on the back of their car that say like, "My grandchild went to blah, blah, blah elementary."  

 Oh, yeah. 

 Well, OK, one of the ways that in the ancient world that you would solidify your bona fides, your sort of establish your credentials, was to give your family line. You know, what kind of family did you come from? Who are you? What authority do you have? What's partly based on who you came from?  So one of the ways that you'd understand someone, who they are, and what kind of role they have in life was by looking at their family history and their genealogy. And of all things, this is how the New Testament begins, which in some ways makes sense in the ancient world to begin to speak about Jesus by speaking about who came before him.  

 This is how it begins, as David read for us.  

 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 
 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac, the father of Jacob.

 So far, so good.  

 And Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah, the father of Perez and Zara by Tamar. 

 Judah, the father of Perez and Zara by Tamar ? 

 Okay. 

 Now, usually in the time of the Old Testament, really not just the time of the Old Testament, the New Testament, sort of the ancient world generally, it would suffice for genealogies to be just the men listed, okay? 
 And if women's names were mentioned in old genealogies in the ancient world, they were there really to highlight the purity and the dignity of the family line, you know? Wow.

 That woman is in his genealogy?! 

 To give you an example, I like to talk about the fact that Melisa's paternal grandmother, Melisa's dad's mom, graduated with a master's degree in science in the early 1930s from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.  And that she drove herself from Garyville, Louisiana, just outside of Noron's, sort of on the Noron's side between Baton Rouge and Noron's. She drove herself in the early 1930s from Southern Louisiana to Baltimore to do a master's in science. That's pretty cool, right? I looked it up in 1930, 14% of college undergraduates were women.  That's pretty cool. I like to talk about stuff like that, you know? Smart, brave women in our family line.  

 So you would think maybe if there are some women that are mentioned in Jesus' family line, these are going to be like the matriarchs of Jewish history.  Names you would recognize. Sarah, Rebecca, Leah, Rachel.  And instead, what we have for us are these women that we're going to look at together in the Advent season. We have Tamar. We have Rahab. We have Ruth. You know, you're like, "Oh, good."  

 We have actually just the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba.  

 And let me just say this. We all know just by the fact that, well, you know people because we have people in our own church that are named Rebecca or Sarah.  
 Or Leah or, well, we do have Ruth. Do any of you know anyone named Tamar?

 No, you do not. I guarantee it. Anyone Bathsheba? No? Okay. Rahab? No, you do not know anyone named those. Okay? But these are the women who Matthew highlights for us. 

 Matthew is drawing our attention to these stories, these women. And so we're going to sit in these stories during this Advent season. And what we are also going to do is we're going to say, "How does this story prepare us to understand Jesus better? 
 What's going on here that helps us see Jesus more clearly?" Okay? And the first of these is Tamar. The story of Tamar and Judah is found in Genesis chapter 38. 

 And so right now, we didn't print this for you because it's really long. But if you have a Bible in front of you or you have a phone with you, which I guarantee pretty much all of you do, then turn on your Bible app to that, okay? Because we're going to walk through this chapter together.  

 And we're using the ESV. That's what we have in our bulletin. That's what I use in my sermon preparation. We're going to look at this story. And so I'm going to read part of it and then talk about part of it, you know, kind of work our way through. And then we're going to reflect a little bit about Jesus at the end.  

 Genesis chapter 38, starting in verse one, we're going to read verse five this time. It happened at that time. And that time, by the way, was right when Joseph, you know, the son who had the many colored coat and the dreams, was sold to the slave traders that were going down to Egypt, right? Okay?  And by the way, that suggestion to sell Joseph was made by Judah in the last chapter, like 10 verses before. So it happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite whose name was Hera.  There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went into her and she conceived and bore a son and he called her his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son and she called his name Onan. Yet again, she bore a son and she called his name Shelah.  Judah was in Chezeb when she was born.  

 Okay, so I told you already, right, that the last thing we knew about Judah is he mentioned, hey, we can make some money off of this guy. Don't let him die. Let's get out of this deal with getting rid of Joseph and making money. Okay? So that's the context. But here's what's going on. The beginning of this chapter is setting us all up to understand Judah is not following the Lord. Not happening. He's not trusting in the faith of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his forefathers. God had told Abraham, right, that he would make him into a great nation.   And Judah actually leaves that nation. He leaves that nation for a little while.  And says specifically that he goes and he marries a Canaanite.

 Okay, now that might not hit you too hard, but think about this. The Canaanites were neighbors of Israel at that time, but they were widely regarded in the ancient world. And this is still regarded as the case as the Canaanites live some of the most evil practices that we know of in the ancient world. And so it's not just not following in the footsteps of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and their faithfulness to the Lord, but he's specifically turning away from God and to joining himself with a rebellious nation that is not following the Lord.  

 Think about this with me. Okay, Abraham and Isaac had actually gone out of their way to marry somebody that was to not marry a Canaanite. Okay, so here's the thing also beyond marrying a Canaanite. What we actually read is Judah saw and took her.  And you're supposed to hear that, right? He's not just not marrying inside of the family of faith, but he is seeing something and he is taking.  And if you know your Bible a little bit, maybe you're thinking back as you should on Genesis chapter three. And they saw and they took that which was not to be given to them. So they have three boys together. And what's clear again is Judah is clearly living a life of rebellion, marrying outside to faith, which in the Bible is never a good idea. There's never good that comes from that.  

 But here's the fact is that Judah might have thought, you know what, maybe it's too risky.  Maybe it's too risky to weigh and to marry within this family of faith. I mean, maybe there won't be somebody for me to marry, right? Maybe I can't trust God to actually bring, you know, bring about what I desire. And so I'm going to go outside, go outside of the community that loves the Lord. Let's pick back up verse six.  

 And Judah took a wife for her, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.  

 But Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord and the Lord put him to death. 

 Now that might seem pretty remarkable.  But OK, what you're supposed to understand just right there is again like the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree, right? I mean, the wickedness has grown. Judah's wickedness was compounded by his son's wickedness. OK, verse eight. Then Judah said to Onan, go into your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her and raise up offspring for your brother.  

 But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his.  So whenever he went into his brother's wife, he would waste the semen on the ground so as not to give offspring to his brother. And what he did was wicked in the sight of the Lord and he put him to death also.  Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, remain a widow in your father's house till shalom. My son grows up. He feared that he would die like his brothers.  So Tamar went and remained in his father's house.  

 All right, so Judah's oldest son, Er, is old enough to marry and he marries Tamar, the woman who is mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, right?  But because of his wickedness, which keep in mind is following after his dad, because of his wickedness, he dies. Now, what happens next, and this is something that you have to understand. In the ancient world, a widow was largely protected by her children, by her sons primarily.  But she was protected by the inheritance that they would have received, right? And in the ancient world, if there wasn't, if a child or if a son was, if a firstborn, like what happens here, dies without having children, well, then his inheritance would go to his other brothers, his other siblings. And so his brothers were to care for the widow. That's what's called levirate law. It's not something that was unique to Israel, even though it is in the Old Testament also.  

 But that was kind of an ancient practice of how people, how widows were cared for.  

 So widows had no children, and they were to actually hopefully receive a child, and therefore actually his inheritance, by having a child with their, with the next brother in that line.   Okay. And think about this, okay, if you can picture with me the woman who's at the well in Samaria,   who Jesus sits with, right, who says she's had five husbands and the man who she's with is not her husband. That woman is there at the middle of part of the day, the hottest part of the day, nobody else is out there, and she's entirely vulnerable, and she's been taken advantage of. Okay. And so in some ways you have to think that like this practice here is seeking to actually care for women, even though it's so distant from what we practice now, and it sounds absolutely crazy.  

 Anyway, you can imagine that Onan, the second in line, was a little bit skeptical of Tamar after Ur dies. You know, he's like, I don't know if this is a good idea. And actually it specifically says that he, you know, he was sort of wicked because he was in it for himself. Verse nine says, "But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his."   He's saying, I'm going to lose out. This woman's too risky here. If I actually produce a child by her, that child's going to get some of my inheritance, and I want it. And what happens with this woman? Well, my brother died, maybe I'm going to die. This is just way too risky of a situation.  

 He doesn't provide for her a son.  

 But it's actually more than this. He uses her.  Do you notice that? Onan's sin in some ways is the worst here. He sees Tamar as risky.  You know, Judah thought life within the family of faith was a little too risky for him, so he went outside of it to find a wife.   

 But Onan here sees Judah as risky, or says Tamar is risky and he still uses her. He has sex with his sister-in-law, but if this was not a leveright kind of action, meaning caring for her in that ancient practice, then what it was was incest. And Onan abuses this situation for the satisfaction of his own lust. That is what's happening here.  He's using this woman. And what happens is that Onan dies, okay?  And Judah catches on to this pattern, right? Judah the father is like, "Er died, Onan died, I got one more son, Shalah."  But if Tamar and Shalah are together, my guess is that Shelah is going to die and I don't really want that to happen. I mean, right, that's what it says there. 

 See, near the end of verse 11, "For he feared that he would die." So please go away. Tamar, please go away. Maybe your parents can care for you until Shalah is old enough.  

 Tamar is too risky for Judah to risk his third son on. Let's keep reading, verse 12.  

 "In the course of time, the wife of Judah, Shua's daughter, died.  When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah, to his sheep shearers. He and his friend, Hera, the Edulamite. And when Tamar was told, "Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep," she took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up."  

 Let me stop there for a moment, okay? So she's getting covered up in a veil, and I'm going to explain that in a second. But I just want to draw your attention to our cover artwork.  This was done by Eden Cope, and I love it. You can see the veil, but you can see the desire in her eye. This is an image of Tamar veiling herself, and I think he captured it very well. Eden, thank you for doing that.  

 Sorry, let me pick back up at 14. "She took off her widow's garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enneam.  Enneam, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shillah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage. When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she'd covered her face. He turned to her at the roadside and said, "Come, let me come into you." For he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come into me?" He answered, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "If you give me a pledge, until you send it." He said, "What pledge shall I give you?" She replied, "Your signet, your court, and your staff that's in your hand."  So he gave them to her and went into her, and she conceived by him.  Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil, she put on the garments of her widowhood.  

 This is a story, isn't it? 
 I sort of want to ask, how many of you knew this was in the Bible?  Some of you certainly are scratching your head, thinking, "What is going on?" Are we allowed to even talk about the story in the Bible or in church?  I feel like I'm getting a little red even up here in front of you.  But beyond that thought, this is the story that is mentioned in the very genealogy of Jesus.  Right when the New Testament begins, he wants you to know this story.  

 Okay, again, here's what's going on, right? Judah had three sons. The first two, Er and Onan, are dead.  And fearing that he would risk the life of his third-born son, he sent Tamar away to be taken care of by her parents. 

 And he says to her, "Oh, when Shelah grows up." Well, Shelah grows up.  Verse 14 tells us that, and he'd not been given, or she'd not been given to him to be cared for.  And the risk was just too great for Judah, right? He's like, "I don't want to risk this."  So Tamar puts on a veil, and it's important that we understand that a veil could actually have a couple different meanings, okay? Because it had two different functions. A veil could be used by an engaged woman. Think about the story of Rachel and Leah, okay? They're engaged, they're veiled in the context of being betrothed and about to be married.  

 But a veil was also used by a prostitute.  So Tamar is sitting there, and her father-in-law comes by, and she could have actually been like, "Oh, this person is engaged."  No, he sees her, and his lust, again in this story, takes over, and he desires her, and he takes her.  Judah's going to the place where he's shearing his sheep, and this is also important that you know this sheep shearing, and the season for sheep shearing was also a season for partying.  And that's actually why he waits till the end of the time of mourning for his wife. There's a set time of mourning one's spouse to go sheep shearing.  

 Anyway, Tamar is sitting on the roadside. She's either playing the role of the prostitute or her father-in-law, but there's actually nothing in this story that should make us think that.   So she's more likely, probably, rightfully saying, "Hey, I'm engaged. Can you look upon me in that way and care for me?"  

 Anyway, Judah sees her as a prostitute, and he takes her. So Tamar risks. She risks being thought of as a prostitute. She risks being abused.  

 She risks, and Judah takes. And again, Judah's sin is compounded. Again.  

 And as we saw with all the sins of his sons, and you know, this happens also in our own lives, right? Sin compounds. And the sins of the son, it seems like, actually come from the fathers, which is again, is true, right, in our own lives. Your sins oftentimes are actually passed down to your children.  They probably learned this kind of taking and abusing from him.  

 Anyway, she asks for a pledge, a token, that he would make good on this promise to give her this young goat. And so he gives her his signet, his cord, and his staff. And what you need to understand with regards to this story is each one of those things are things that would have been entirely unique to him. You know, you've maybe seen a signet ring that has got a sign on it that, you know, if you put down into some wax, it makes a specific mark. And that mark is only for that person. And the cord that he would have had around his robe would have been unique to him alone. And his staff would have been specific to him alone. All these things are a way of saying, "This is yours."  

 Okay. Now, in the course of events, this is wild. It's not by one of Judah's sons that Tamar has cared for, but by Judah himself.  Having had those relationships with his own daughter-in-law that she's cared for. Okay, let me finish the story.  

 When Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Edulamite to take back the pledge from the woman's hand, he did not find her. And he asked the man of the place, "Where's the cult prostitute who was at Enaeim at the roadside?" And they said, "No cult prostitute's been here." So he returned to Judah and said, "I have not found her." Also, the man of the place said, "No cult prostitute's been here."  And Judah replied, "Let her keep the things as her own, or we shall be laughed at." You see, I sent this young goat, and you didn't find her.  About three months later, Judah was told, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she's pregnant by immorality."  

 And Judah said, "Bring her out. Let her be burned."  

 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, "By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant." And she said, "Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff."  Then Judah identified them and said, "She is more righteous than I."  

 "Since I did not give her to my son, Shelah, and he did not know her again."  

 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb, and when she was in labor, one put out his hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying this one came out first. But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out, and she said, "What a breach you have made for yourself." Therefore, his name was called Perez.  Afterward, his brother came out with a scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zera. 

 Consider the irony in this story that we've just heard.  

 Tamar, your daughter-in-law, she's been immoral. And moreover, you know, I've mentioned this before. When you mention something twice, it's a way of underlining it. Moreover, she's pregnant by immorality. 
 But here the tables turn.
 And as the tables turn, we do see that it's not Tamar's immorality that's highlighted here, but again Judah's.  But here's the thing that we actually learn the most intently, and this is where I want you to say it.  Especially by Tamar here, that Judah is brought to repentance.  Tamar is used by the Lord here to bring Judah to repentance.  

 Tamar, who risked playing the harlot, was used to bring this great man Judah to repentance.  

 And think about this. Judah, who didn't want to just leave his brother in the pit but thought, "Hey, we can make money off of this kid and get rid of him."  He was brought to repentance.  Judah, who didn't want to risk the idea of remaining faithful to the family, to God who said, "Through this family, I'm going to bless all nations."  

 So he goes to the people who have no desire to follow God and marries there. 
 He didn't want to risk. 
 Judah has brought to repentance. Judah, whose second son didn't want to risk possibly getting some of his inheritance taken away. It's his second son, right? And Judah, who didn't want to risk his third son, Shelah, possibly dying like his two older brothers, Er and Onan. Judah, who after mourning his wife, met a woman dressed on the side of the road and could have actually taken her as somebody who was engaged in betrothed and said, read her as a prostitute and took her.
 Tamar was used to bring Judah to repentance. 

 Here's what I want you to hear in this.

 Tamar risks it all in a way.

  And Judah takes and doesn't want to risk anything.  But in doing that, Judah repents. Now, we're not going to keep going on in the book of Genesis, but it's this is the turning point in Judah's life.  You don't find this kind of action ever again.  

 Okay, there's this great Portlandia skit. Some of you have watched Portlandia and probably all of you should. Though it would have hit harder when it came out, you know, whatever, 12 years ago, especially if you're from the northwest like I am. But there's two main characters in this show. There's the characters played by Fred Armisen, Doug, and then Carrie Brownstein. And her name is Claire. And they find themselves, you know, they're in their house in North Portland, in Portland, Oregon. And they're actually preparing to go out and to celebrate with a friend, one of Claire's friends.  

 But Doug gets out season one of Battlestar Galactica, and he's like, I would love to start this show. Let's just watch one episode. You know, and Claire is like, well, we have to go to this friend's place. He's like, just one episode. We can go after this episode. Right. And they put it on and they just start getting hooked, you know, and then they'll start getting hooked.  And then what happens is they watch the first episode and they say, that is so good. Do you think we have time to watch one more? And of course, they watch one more and then they don't get to go to Claire's friend's celebration.  And after the second one, Claire says, I have to get up really early for work. So let's get our PJs on and then we'll just watch one more.  And then the next scene is it's the next morning and they're wondering what time it is. And Doug says, hey, do you want to watch one more? And Claire goes, vacation day starts right now. 
 And then after season two, they say, I don't remember the last time I used the bathroom.  

 And as they go through season after season, it's there's just all these takeout containers that pile up all around them. And you know,  eventually she loses her job and then they get a notice from the utility company that their power is going to get shut off. And you kind of know this dynamic because probably you've watched, oh, the Mandalorian or Stranger Things or The Office or Breaking Bad or Downton Abbey. Hopefully I covered most of you.  

 And of course, there's this question, right? Like, what are you going to risk? What are you going to risk watching one more episode? A little sleep attentiveness at work, your ability to parent well, what are you willing to risk, right? What are you willing to risk to watch another show? 
 And of course, this is actually a question. The question of risk is something we ask actually all the time.  Well, OK, what are you willing to risk to get that promotion?  You know, are you going to risk maybe some of your ethics?  What are you willing to risk to get that new job? Are you going to are you willing to risk actually maybe losing your friends to move to a different location? Maybe losing your church community?  Or just what are you willing to risk to get to know a neighbor?  

 What are you willing to risk to get in shape, right? Maybe going to bed earlier and what that will look like. Maybe going to bed earlier and what that will cause you to lose. What are you willing to risk to get a degree? I mean, this is like the life, right? We're always asking ourselves these questions whether we know it or not.
What are we willing to risk to bring the kingdom of God to bear in Harrisburg as it is in heaven? 

 And here's what Judah does is basically he says, I'm not willing to risk anything to get what I want. 

 No.

  If I want it, I'm just going to go for it.  I'm not giving up.  And it's basically the same thing that happens to his kids. The story of Judah and Tamar is the dudes here are in it for themselves.  They are there for them.
 They're in it for their own sensuality.
 They're in it for their protection. 
 They're in it for the money.  

But it's Tamar here. Who goes beyond what we would expect.  
Well, we would remotely think is good behavior for sure. 

 And really risks her life. But it's when she does that actually that she brings Judah to repentance.  

 This is a scandalous story. Some of you probably know that. It's a scandalous story. Some of you parents are going to have to talk to your kids about it later.  It is certainly one of the more scandalous stories of the Bible.   I mean, we're talking about the family line being preserved by a father-in-law daughter-in-law relationship. And it's mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus.  But this is Holy Scripture.  

 This is the Word of God for the people of God.
 You know, this is where we need to say thanks be to God when we go, oh, I want to say that right there.
 But we understand the gift of God in Christ more fully because of this. We do.

 We know Jesus in a greater light because of this story. God's blessing would be brought into the world through Tamar and Judah.  What grace?! 

 Who's a God who allows the people who are just in it for themselves, who don't want to risk anything, who actually just want to see and take? For their own possessions, for their own lusts, for their own money. 
 What kind of God would allow somebody like that to repent? 

 That's scandalous mercy.
 God restores and gives grace to a man who refuses to care for his daughter-in-law and then propositions her as a prostitute.  
 And God uses the ones we least expect.  

 And of course, I mean, in some ways, I hope you all are putting pieces together when I say, OK, how is this actually setting us up for Jesus and to understand Jesus? 
 Why in the world would Matthew include this detail?Well, there's all kinds of reasons.  
I mean, Jesus is the one who not only risks his life but actually gives up his life for us. And he does it for people that see and they take.  Right? That allow our desires for possessions and lust and all of this to rule our lives in the long sort of line, right, of seeing and saying, oh, I want that even though that's not my, I'm going to take it.  

 Jesus risks his life. He gives up his life for us, for Jews and for endless mercy. It shouldn't be.  
You know, just like we read this story and we go, no, Judah should not get grace here.  " What an ugly man! Don't give him grace."

 He comes to repentance. A life changed. And this is the good news of the gospel for you. This is what Jesus does. He does. 

 A world that is totally in darkness. 
 He brings light. 

 World that's self obsessed. Brings grace. 

 This is the story of our Lord - it is. 

 It's both beautiful, but it's also like scandalous, meaning off putting in a way.  Shocking. But this is God's kindness to us. Let me read this again. 

 This is what we come to when we come to Jesus. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.  

 Abraham was the father of Isaac and Isaac, the father of Jacob.
 Jacob, the father of Judah and his brothers and Judah, the father of Perez and Zara. By Tamar.

 This is the word of Lord. Thanks be to God. 

Thank you for your scandalous mercy for us. 
Thank you for grace that doesn't sit well.
Thank you for shocking mercy. 

 Thank you for Tamar. Thank you for recording her in your holy scripture.  Thank you for teaching us that Jesus comes in this lineage. 

 God, I pray that we would be in awe of you.  Shocked by your mercy to us.  You who risked it all that we might have life in you.  God, I pray in this season of Advent that as we sit in these stories that we would desire you more, that we would desire to live like you. That we would desire even to risk like you. Most of all, Lord, that we would desire to know your mercy and your grace. That we would see your kindness and your beauty.  

 Hear our prayers, Lord.  And shape us by these women, we ask. Amen.