How can Jesus stand to have Tamar (see Genesis 39) in His genealogy? From the standpoint of the eternal councils, did the Son ever want to suggest an alternative plan to the Father, maybe something a little less scandalous and gross, something more suitable for church people, and the kids?!

Tamar was a Canaanite, one of the strange women the Patriarchs were eager to avoid. She was not a one man woman; she had sex with two men so sinful that the LORD executed them, and then with another man, her father-in-law, that she deceived into it by playing a prostitute.

Yet there she is, the 47th word of the New Testament, in the third verse of the book intended to show how Jesus is the Messiah. Matthew wrote the Gospel of the King, and Tamar (along with Rahab and Ruth and the wife of Uriah) is an unmistakable link, one Jesus doesn’t try to veil.

Jesus isn’t trying to cover up His past filled with sinners, nor is He looking for sinners who can cover up their past of sin. He is looking to cover our sin with His blood. Do you have sin? He has blood. Do you have great sin? He has great blood. Do you have unspeakable sin? He has blood that covers for sake of our joy unspeakable and full of glory.

We don’t manage our sin and guilt. We don’t need a public relations team to spin how the formerly shady Mr. So-and-so got in here, or to deflect attention from the nasty past of Mrs. What’s-her-name. We are here because of God’s grace, not our editing. We eat the bread and drink the wine because His love overcomes our wickedness. God didn’t kill us, He killed His Son for us. That’s why He can stand to eat at the same Table with us.