Dirt Farmers and Horse Thieves: Dregs. Genesis 38.

My dad used to joke, “My ancestors were all dirt farmers and horse thieves.” Actually, his farmer-ancestors were hard-working, honest, kind, and willing to reserve judgment until they had heard all the facts.  Yet my grandfather’s nine siblings were not untouched by scandal and rumor.

Every family tree has rotten limbs—it’s a mathematical certainty. For some, it may be your parents.  For others, you have to look further, knowing the worst among us are hardest to find. Criminals, drunks, gamblers who can’t pay, and the unemployable often live on the run leaving behind few records for the genealogical researcher. But they lived, whether you can find them or not.

‘Dregs of society’ is a metaphor comparing the lowly to grounds swirling in the bottom of a coffee cup.  And one genealogical record is loaded with the dregs of society: Jesus.  The Messiah is descended from Rahab, a pagan prostitute; King Ahaz who worshipped idols and had his own son burned alive as a human sacrifice; King Joash who murdered the prophet Zechariah; and many more.

Jesus is “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah”—consider the sins of His ancestor, Judah.  First, he kidnapped his brother Joseph, second, he suggested selling Joseph into slavery.  Then he raised sons so wicked, the Lord slew them. He disobeyed God regarding his daughter-in-law, Tamar. Later, he slept with a prostitute. Then he angrily sentenced Tamar to death for ‘having played the harlot’ before realizing she was pregnant by him.  Like the soap operas of David and Solomon, the life of Judah is a pageant of sin and shame.  But there is no shame in Jesus.

And there is no shame in you!  No matter how bad your parents are, no matter the secrets in your family, God sees you individually.

“In those days, it will no longer be said: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the teeth of the children are set on edge.’ Instead, each will die for his own iniquity. If anyone eats sour grapes, his own teeth will be set on edge” Jeremiah 31:29-30.

God, thank you for redeeming us no matter our family of origin.  Thank you for grace!

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