September 28th

Skeletons in the Closet

            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 Aram, and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon 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 King David.

Matthew 1:2-6

            My daughter is working on our family tree for a school project.  There is a lot of family history that we do not know…and there is a lot of family history that we wish we did not know.  There are stories of abuse and divorce and suicide and taking up arms in some of the biggest wars of America’s history…for the losing sides.  The Menaker/Rucker/Stafford/Lopez family tree is full of head shaking moments that leave me amazed at how we managed to make it this far.

            Our family has nothing on the family of Jesus.

             The Book of Matthew begins with the author laying out His genealogy, from Abraham to Jesus.  The first third of the list includes a man who sold his brother into slavery then slept with his daughter-in-law when he thought she was a prostitute after God killed her 2 previous husbands.  It includes an actual prostitute who was a traitor to her people.  It includes a widowed immigrant.  And it includes a shepherd who became king but also married the wife of one of his best friends after having his friend killed to hide the fact that he had gotten her pregnant while the friend was away fighting for his king.

            Families are messy.  Families are hard.  Families shape how we see ourselves and how the world sees us, often not in the best ways.  And yet, family is also the picture that God uses to describe our relationship with Him.  When He wanted to reach out to the world, God used Abraham and his family.  When God sent His son into the world, He sent Him into the loving arms of a family. 

            We are a part of the Family of God.  There are skeletons in that closet, but that’s okay.  We do not need to live out of guilt or shame or pride over the legacies that previous generations have left for us.  We are simply invited to live our lives, aware of the generational baggage that has been gifted to us and willing to surrender it to Jesus.  We do not need to carry the wounds of the past; we have enough to deal with here in the present day.  We can create new legacies for our children to inherit that will make their lives and their worlds better.

            Because that is what families are supposed to do.

A moment to reflect:

What baggage do you carry from your family?  How could life be different if you did not pass that on to your children?