The Geneology of Jesus

I have recently begun reading through the Gospel of Matthew again after quite some time. I have been looking forward to reading through it again with somewhat fresh eyes. It didn't take very long before I was struck by something, in fact, it was the first section of the first chapter. Matthew begins with the genealogy of Jesus, His family line. It has the big ones, tracing His line through the exile, then back to David and finally to Abraham showing Jesus has the proper lineage and is the fulfillment of promises and covenants. There are a few interesting additions to the genealogy, most notably perhaps is the inclusion of four women. Much has been written about how unique this is and what it means to have included women. Much has also been written about the fact that three of the women are Gentiles while the fourth was married to one. It hints towards, and helps to reveal the universality of God's love and His gospel, that His intention was that Jesus would be the means by which people from all tribes and tongues and nations might find access to the kingdom. What stood out to me this time, however, was the particular stories of these women, and what it might reveal about God's heart for the disenfranchised.
The women in Jesus' genealogy are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Uriah's wife who is Bathsheeba. When one looks closer at these women, who they were and what they did one notices that in each case, with perhaps the exception of Ruth, there are some very questionable things about them. Bathsheba committed adultery with David, Rahab was a prostitute, and Tamar seduced her father in law in order to become pregnant - not necessarily top choices to intentionally include in your genealogy if you didn't have to. What I have been struck by is the fact that they were included, that there stories were not glossed over or ignored and that by inclusion in Jesus' genealogy we get amazing stories of God's redemption. The best example is perhaps Tamar.
Tamar is found in Genesis 38, and is the daughter in law of Judah. Basically, the story goes like this, Tamar gets married and her husband dies without any children. Because this would leave a widow in a very vulnerable position with little or no means to provide for herself and her future, there were family obligations to be performed by her husband's family to take care of a widow. When her husband's family would not honour their obligations, it left her in a desperate situation. Desperate times call for desperate measures and thus she enacts a plan to pose as a prostitute, seduce her father in law, and get pregnant which would then ensure a future for herself. Now, to be clear, scripture never excuses sin. It does not shy away from calling it what it is, and despite the situation, Tamar's actions cannot be ignored or excused. But having said that, toward the end of the story we see that Judah recognizes that there is blame to go around. It was his sin, and the sin of his family that created the desperate situation in which Tamar found herself. I find myself wondering about the situations about the other women. In what situation did Rahab find herself, for which prostitution was an answer? What would it have been like for Bathsheeba to have the most powerful man in the known world to trying to seduce you? Again, it does not excuse the choices made by the women, but it does have me stopping to consider the reasons. It is here that I think about the numerous people in my life who are engaged in prison ministry who are often confronted with such stories. They work with individuals who are paying the consequences for their poor choices, and in most cases, rightly so for they have in fact broken the law. But how often do we consider the situations that put them into those positions of having to make such choices in the first place? The cycles of abuse, poverty and the list goes on. I am wondering if the story of these biblical women speaks to this at all? Does it speak to God's heart for the disenfranchised? Does it give hope to such desperate situations? Does including the story of Tamar in Jesus' lineage tell us about God's heart to bring redemption to even the most desperate of situations? If the offspring from such a sordid union as that of Tamar and Judah could go on to eventually produce the Saviour of the world, what does that say about God's grace and redemption?
Those are just some thoughts from the first chapter.