An Unexpected Candidate...

During this Christmas season, we are spending our time looking at the Christmas story from one of the four accounts of Jesus life in the Bible. And to prove that Jesus was the long promised Messiah, Matthew begins his gospel with a genealogy to show that Jesus had the proper family background to be the Messiah. Yesterday, we saw that one of the members of Jesus family tree, named Judah was known as the man that came up with the plan to sell his brother into slavery.

And if that was not bad enough, Judah was involved in one of the most scandalous stories in the Bible, where he ended up sleeping with his daughter-in-law Tamar. So as you might imagine, a Jewish person reading Matthew's letter would view Judah as a very unexpected candidate to be in the line of the Messiah. And they would not be impressed with Judah. However, there was a timeless reason as to why Judah and Tamar are a part of Jesus family tree. And this reason is revealed for us as we see Judah reappear, beginning in Genesis 43:1:

Now the famine was severe in the land. So it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, "Go back, buy us a little food." Judah spoke to him, however, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' "If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. "But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" Then Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?" But they said, "The man questioned particularly about us and our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' So we answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down '?" Judah said to his father Israel, "Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. "I myself will be surety for him; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever.

Instead of being the brother who suggested a plan out of selfishness and greed, Judah suggests a plan that selflessly places his life as a life insurance policy for the Jewish nation. And as the story continues, we see this policy nearly cashed in, as Joseph placed his brothers through one final test to see if they had changed. And it is in this context that we Judah’s response to the test, beginning in Genesis 44:18:

Then Judah approached him, and said, "Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. "My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?' "We said to my lord, 'We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.' "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.' "But we said to my lord, 'The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.' "You said to your servants, however, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' "Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. "Our father said, 'Go back, buy us a little food.' "But we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' "Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces," and I have not seen him since. 'If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.' "Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. "For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.' "Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers.

Judah responded to Joseph’s final test of his brothers by offering his life so that his brother would survive. And some 1,700 years later, a descendant of the scandalous story of Judah and Tamar, named Jesus Christ, became a life insurance policy for all humanity by allowing Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived His perfect life.

As Matthew revealed to the Jewish people, and to us here today, God used the unexpected candidates of Judah and Tamar to advance His kingdom mission. Because this morning, Judah and Tamar were not just a part of the Christmas story, they were the point of the Christmas story. The Christmas story is about unexpected candidates being a part of God’s family and a part of God’s kingdom mission. Unexpected candidates like me. Unexpected candidates like you.

So do you view yourself as an unexpected candidate? Do you view yourself as the person that would be the least likely candidate to receive an invitation from God to be a part of His family? Do you view yourself as the least likely candidate to be a part of God’s activity in the world? Because, as Matthew reveals for us in Jesus family tree, unexpected candidates are not just a part of the Christmas story; unexpected candidates are the point of the Christmas story.

The Christmas story is about God inviting and rescuing those who we would least expect to receive the forgiveness of sin and the relationship with God that they were created for. Just like Judah, the Christmas story is about unexpected candidates like you and me being invited into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ that transforms our lives and involves us in God’s activity in the world. So, how have you responded to the unexpected invitation that God is extending to you through Jesus?

Now you may be wondering “how do I accept this invitation and become a follower of Jesus?” The answer is quite simple and can be summarized in three simple words: believe, trust, and follow. First, you need to believe that you have done selfish things that have hurt God and others and are in need of forgiveness and that Jesus was who He said He was; that Jesus was God in a bod, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived His perfect life.

Second, you need to trust that Jesus death for your selfishness and sin provides forgiveness and the relationship with God you were created for. And third, you need to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader. If you desire to accept God’s invitation to enter into the relationship with Him that you were created for, you simply need to express to Him that you believe, trust, and desire to follow Jesus as Lord and Leader. There are no magic words, prayers, or formulas. Just talk to God and express that desire.

May we keep in mind that Christmas is about God giving what was closest to Himself to rescue what was furthest away. God is in the business of inviting unexpected candidates like you and me into a relationship with Him and a role in His story.