Five Messes to the Messiah

Messes. They happen all the time in our lives: home, kids, work. The list is limitless. Sometimes in life we think of ourselves as one big hot mess.

Maybe you don’t have it all together. Maybe you have made a huge mistake in your past. Maybe you always feel like you are one step behind. Most of the time when we think about messes, a negative emotion comes to mind.

As I was listening to a podcast, the speaker mentioned the genealogy of Christ in Matthew Chapter 1 and it spurred my interest. While most of the time I would simply look over a genealogy, this time it really intrigued me to dig deeper. I was amazed by what I found! Putting it nicely, I found a big old mess!

If you look at Matthew’s listing of the genealogy of Christ, you will find a lot of names.  In digging deeper though, you will find the names of five women:  Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Mary.  What is so special and unique about these five women that God would see fit to use them in the genealogy of the Chosen One?  Surely they were the epitome of success, living the strongest Christian lives, and leading others to Christ!  What I found about these ladies was something totally different, but something that encouraged me in my life.  God chose some unlikely candidates to lead to the Messiah.  These ladies each had their own mess, but God found a way to redeem their mess into His message!  

We find Tamar in Genesis 38.  Tamar is quite an interesting story and not one you usually remember being taught much about!  Tamar was married to Judah’s son, Er, and became a widow as Er passed away. In their culture, it was required that the father-in-law (Judah) give this widow to another one of the sons to produce an heir. Judah does follow through, but this son also passes away. Skeptical of the situation, Judah now tells Tamar to leave and wait for his youngest son to become of age. Tamar leaves and ultimately hears that Judah has not followed through on his promise. She schemes and devises a plan to present herself as a prostitute, sleeps with her father-in-law, and becomes pregnant with twins.  I am sure this lady wouldn’t be in the top ten of most likely candidates to be listed in the family lineage of Christ!

Rahab’s story is found in Joshua 2.  Rahab was a local prostitute. As Joshua had sent spies from the Israelite camp, Rahab allowed the two spies to stay in her home for the night. No one would have really thought anything about two strange men entering the house of the prostitute. The king’s men questioned her and she put her life on the line in order to save the lives of the spies. In return, Rahab and her family were offered safety as the Israelites destroyed the city.  Rahab’s questionable past did not keep her from using her life for good and changing the course of her family.   

There is an entire book of the bible dedicated to Ruth.  While her life wasn’t messy because of her sin, she found herself in a mess due to some sad circumstances.  Ruth was a Moabite and married the son of Elimelech and Naomi. Ruth’s husband died and Ruth was left with her mother-in-law. Ruth could have returned to her family, but instead she chose to stay with her mother-in-law and return to her homeland. Ruth worked tirelessly in the fields of Boaz, to provide for Naomi and ultimately win the affection of Boaz. She dressed in her nicest clothes and put on perfume and laid at the feet of Boaz on the threshing floor. Boaz married Ruth and they had a son (Obed) who became the grandfather of David.  She used some messy circumstances in her life to lead to an eternal lineage.  

In 2 Samuel 11, Bathsheba was taking a bath. Something so innocent led to something so inappropriate. While her husband was away at war, King David noticed Bathsheba’s beauty while she was taking a bath and he sent someone for her. While she was at his palace she slept with powerful David and became pregnant. David tries to cover up their sin by having Uriah, her husband, come home and encourages him to sleep with his wife, but Uriah would not do so because his troops were still at warand he would not engage in activity during that time. Eventually David has Uriah killed and begins a life with Bathsheba.  Bathsheba begins a new life and has a son named Solomon who becomes one of the wisest kings in history.  

Lastly, we see Mary.  Her story is told in Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38:  a teenage girl engaged to be married to her love, Joseph. Mary had actually found favor with God and was chosen to carry the Christ-child. However, that was not how the world viewed it. The world viewed it as a teenage girl becoming pregnant outside of marriage. Her fiancé, Joseph, was planning to break off the engagement quietly as he didn’t want to disgrace Mary, but knew that it wasn’t his child.  However, Joseph and Mary both turned to God during this messy time in their lives and ultimately birthed the Christ-child.  

Messes. God chose to use the messes of this world to bring about the one answer to our messy life. A schemer, a prostitute, a widow, an adulteress, and a teenager. God could have traced Christ’s lineage through anyone He wanted, but He chose these women . . . women who had pasts, women who had problems, but women who had promise.

God is not looking for perfection in finding people to use in his Kingdom. He is not looking for ability, but simply availability. Just when we think that our life is too messy for God to use, He provides examples like these five women who each had their issues, but played a role in promising hope for the entire world. God will use messes, but we must be willing to offer Him ours. God can use our mess and turn it into a message.

Written by Amy Carrico
Author of Making the Moments Matter Blog

Last Updated on December 5, 2023