Esther Powell: Advent Meditations (Week Three)

 Matthew 1:1-6
“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, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nashon, and Nashon, the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king. And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah...”

+ Introduction: Four Women in Christ's Lineage

Our Advent meditations take us on a journey of faith through the stories of four women whose names we do not expect to find in the lineage of Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 1.

At Christmas we easily see the beauty and significance of Mary’s faith in her obedient submission to the announcement that she would bear the child who would take away the sins of the world. She too is named in Matthew, but contrary to the other women, Mary lived to see the results of her faith. She lived the pain of the crucifixion and the joy of the resurrection. Probably no woman has ever had such an eternal awareness of the meaning of her life.

Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and the wife of Uriah, could not be more distinct from Mary. While we cannot identify easily with Mary and the miracle that happened in her, we are not sure that we want to identify with the others. Two were prostitutes, one of whom seduced her father-in-law. All were Gentiles, one of whom came from a tribe despised by the Israelites. One was forced by the King of Israel, who then murdered her husband. Obviously their names are listed because they had birthed sons in the line of Judah, through whom Messiah was to come. But, since all sons in his lineage were born of women, why are only these four women named?

They are named because of their faith lived out, like ours, in the common circumstances of life. We learn through their stories how God’s sovereign hand was drawing them into a life of faith before they knew Him. We see how He redeemed, and used, even their less than honorable efforts, to do what was right. What they knew of the prophecies that a Messiah was to be born of the tribe of Judah, we have no indication. We can be sure that not one did what she did so that her name would be included in the genealogy of Jesus. Not one qualified by any human standard to play a significant role in God’s story – that is in History.

How then, are they women of faith? Faith cannot be measured by human standards. It is simply said of Rehab – the only one of the four whose name appears in Hebrews 11:31 – that she “did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” That’s it? Nothing more? Yes, because that is what faith looks like. Faith in God is not a matter of great and grand works. It is welcoming the daily circumstances of our life and obeying what He tells us to do with them, just because He tells us. When we mess up, faith means believing that He will take our feeble steps, redeem them and turn them to His glory and our good. The dailiness of our faith pleases God. By faith we are assured that our names are also written in His-story, the end results yet to come.

Hebrews 11 says that faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” As was true then, so it is true now, that this kind of faith invites mocking and scorn. These women of the ancient world are here to remind us that a life of faith in God is a life lived with, yet unseen, eternal blessed consequences.

-Esther Powell

Ruth Gleaning in the Fields, The Bible Panorama, 1891.

Ruth Gleaning in the Fields, The Bible Panorama, 1891.

WEEK THREE: RUTH
by Esther Powell

Book of Ruth

The story of Ruth is one of the most beautiful short stories ever written. She is certainly the best known of the four women in Matthew 1.  Her words“... For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people...” have been romanticized in a song sung at weddings. But, there is an irony in that Ruth’s words are more appropriate for the funeral from which she had recently come. She was in mourning at the death of her husband of ten years, a marriage which left her childless. She was forsaking home, family, culture and traditions to go with her bitter mother-in-law, to a country where she would be misunderstood, gossiped about, and vulnerable to assault. She knew she would live and work among the poorest of the poor, with no hope of ever marrying again. To confirm her commitment she swore an oath that involves punishment if she does not fulfill her vows.

This is the context of her faith, and her complete surrender to the God whom she had come to know through Naomi and her family.  And yet, nothing in Ruth's life was by chance. Her faith did not set God's plan in action for her, but it was, instead, her response to what God was already doing. We see His hand everywhere – before she was known by Naomi, during her life of obedient service, and afterwards – in the recording of her name in the lineage of Jesus. 

Before: Ruth’s father-in-law was not just any man of Israel. He was an Ephrathrite, of the tribe of Judah, the tribe through whom Messiah would come; who came from the city of Bethlehem, the town in which Messiah would be born. It is natural that she and Naomi should return to Bethlehem to the tribe of Judah. It is through natural circumstances that God most often works.

 During: It just “happened” that she came to the field of Boaz -- a kinsman, unknown to her, and maybe forgotten by Naomi. God gives her a protector in Boaz who says to her, “Have I not charged the young men not to touch you?” He instructs her to stay in his field, and to follow the women working for him. Naomi affirms the protection of Boaz, when she adds, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.” In Boaz, God generously provides for her: “When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink...” and, “Come here and eat some bread and dip your morsel in the wine.” He passes her the roasted grain, as she sits among the reapers, and she eats to satisfaction with some left over. To his own reapers he says, "Let her glean among the sheaves...pull out some from the bundles for her and leave it for her to glean..." God redeems her reputation: “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me...” And, “...You have made this last kindness greater than the first in that you have not gone after young men, whether rich or poor.” Nor did all this happen in a short four days, as we tend to think of her life in four chapters of story. We are told that she worked to the end of both the barley (May/June) and the wheat harvests (mid-to late summer). Her faith was born out over time through work, and through waiting.

After: Ruth could not have known that her name would be written in the lineage of Christ. God is at work even before we come to faith in the Christ of Bethlehem, and he calls us to grow into full mature faith. Ruth reminds us that maturing faith is a daily faith, lived out in all the mundane areas of life where God, Himself, is our provider, protector, and our Redeemer. 


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