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Christian Network

 
The Women of Christmas
Matthew 1:1-17
 
 

Matthew 1:1 through Matthew 1:17 (KJV)
1The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of 
Abraham. 2Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and 
his brethren; 3And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat 
Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; 4And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat 
Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; 5And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz 
begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; 6And Jesse begat David the king; and 
David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias; 7And 
Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; 8And Asa begat 
Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; 9And Ozias begat 
Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; 10And Ezekias begat 
Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; 11And Josias begat 
Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: 
12And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and 
Salathiel begat Zorobabel; 13And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; 
and Eliakim begat Azor; 14And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim 
begat Eliud; 15And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan 
begat Jacob; 16And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born 
Jesus, who is called Christ. 17So all the generations from Abraham to David are 
fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 
fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 
fourteen generations.
 
I can hear it now!  You are already groaning in your mind over the scripture we 
read earlier.  I can see tell you might already be thinking, “How in the world 
could that preacher preach that, especially during our Christmas Sunday 
service?”  If you had a remote control, you’d probably change the channel.  
Well, I had the deacon’s confiscate all of the remote controls before the 
service this morning, so you are stuck with those unpronounceable names in 
Jesus’ genealogy.  
 
Genealogies can be important to people.  We live in a generation that is trying 
valiantly to rediscover its “roots.”  I for one would love to go back into my 
family tree and find out where all the forks and branches are, but it is such a 
daunting task I scarcely know where to begin.  Besides, there is always that 
risk that you may find out something you really don’t want to know.  Yet 
sometimes we can learn important things about people by studying their 
genealogies.  In fact, sometimes it’s quite interesting to discover where a 
person comes from in order to understand where they are now.
 
In 1750, a black child was born in a village called Juffure on the Gambia River 
in Africa into the Kinte family. His father named him Kunta Kinte, and told him 
the story of his ancestors. The boy grew into a man, and was captured by slave 
traders. Taken in chains to America, he was sold as a slave. Eventually he 
married a slave woman, and they bore a daughter Kizzy. Kizzy was sold to another 
slave owner who used her for selfish purposes and she bore a son, George. She 
was ashamed of the circumstances of his birth but she told her boy about his 
grandfather and his great grandparents back in Africa. George grew up and 
married Matthilda and their son Tom married Irene. Their daughter Cynthia 
married Will and their daughter Bertha married Simon Haley and they produced a 
boy whom the called Alex. Alex Haley! In every generation the parents told the 
story of their ancestry going back to the family home in Africa. 
Alex Haley became a reporter, and on a trip to Africa visited the village of 
Juffure where he met an old griot who recited to him the family history right up 
to the disappearance of Kunte Kinte. Alex was amazed at this confirmation of the 
story that had been passed down to him. He wrote a book and called it "Roots".
 
The genealogy of Christ is important to us as well.  There are some interesting 
things to be found in it.  It was an odd genealogy for a writer in Biblical 
times because it listed some strange people.  It mentioned women in the list.  
Now, if you and I were to think hard about it we could come up with several 
important women in our life, but for the people in Biblical times women were not 
“deemed” important enough to merit mention.  The fact that Matthew mentions 
women, indeed he mentions four women, gives us a clue as to their importance to 
the story.  Let’s look at each of them in their order of appearance.
 
TAMAR – The Forgotten Woman (v. 3)
 

Genesis 38:8 through Genesis 38:11 (KJV)
8And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and 
raise up seed to thy brother. 9And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; 
and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it 
on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. 10And the thing 
which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also. 11Then said Judah 
to Tamar his daughter in law, Remain a widow at thy father’s house, till Shelah 
my son be grown: for he said, Lest peradventure he die also, as his brethren 
did. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.
 
We don’t talk much about Tamar, but she was an important person in the genealogy 
of Christ.  As we can see in the scripture just read Tamar was treated unjustly. 
 According to custom, when Tamar’s husband died, she was supposed to get a 
husband from among her dead husband’s family.  Judah, as head of the family 
promised this to Tamar, but his promise was not kept.  In fact, the promise was 
forgotten, and forgotten on purpose!
 
There is more to the story of Tamar.  She does the unthinkable.  She does 
something that was taboo in her society even as it is taboo in our own.  She 
disguises herself as a prostitute, and seduces Judah, her father-in-law. Nine 
months later, she bears a child as a result of this -- to put it mildly -- most 
questionable relationship. But hear this: Because of this event, according to 
Matthew, Tamar through her refusal to let her father-in-law shirk his duty to 
provide male heirs keeps the messianic promise alive -- a promise which results 
centuries later in fulfillment in the Bethlehem manger. 

 
Tamar refused to be forgotten.  She refused to be shoved aside.  Many today are 
shoved to the side and forgotten during this holiday season.  It is for the 
forgotten, and the forsaken that Jesus came!  Jesus died for all, and He has 
forgotten nobody.
 
 

Hebrews 13:5 (KJV)
5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things 
as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.   
 
What a wonderful Christmas promise found in the genealogy of Christ.  Jesus came 
for the forgotten.
 
RUTH – The Foreign Woman (v. 5)
 
Ruth was born a foreigner.  By her bloodline and her upbringing she was an 
outcast.  She was not overly special, she wasn’t a princess or a queen, or any 
other royalty.  She was an ordinary woman who had an extraordinary faith in God. 
 Not even the God of her people, but the God of the Jews.  
 
Nationality was extremely important to the Jews.  Remember, in Christ’s time, 
these were the same people who would walk on the other side of the road to avoid 
contact with a “dreaded” Samaritan!  Yet this foreigner found a place in the 
hope of Christmas.
 
God allowed this foreigner to become part of His family, and even gave her a 
place in Christ’s genealogy.  She was not a part of the “church” yet she found a 
place.  Many people today find out that they are not part of the “church” 
either.  Perhaps they are square pegs that don’t fit well in the round holes, or 
they have a different background, or come at Christianity from a different 
place.
 
Often we are guilty of “cookie cutter Christianity” where we try to stereotype 
everyone and pigeon hole them into neat little packages.  The truth is that it’s 
not a matter of our background that brings us to salvation, it’s a matter of 
faith.  
 
It was Ruth’s faith that God honored, and it is our faith that will make us 
stand out as well.  This Christmas we need to learn from Ruth and display our 
faith.
 
BATHSHEBA – The Fallen Woman (v 6)
 
If anyone ought to tug at our heartstrings this Christmas it is Bathsheba.  Not 
because of what she did, but because of what she overcame!  
 
In 2 Samuel 11-12 we can read a sordid story of adultery, betrayal, and murder.  
We see a woman who was unfaithful, and a man who was where he shouldn’t be, 
doing what he shouldn’t be doing.  Then after committing a grievous sin, he 
tried to cover it up by committing yet another sin, the sin of murder.  
 
Yet in this story we see a greater thought, and that is the thought of  
forgiveness.  David and Bathsheba both were forgiven.
 
   Early in 1993 British police accused two ten-year-old boys of the brutal 
murder of two-year-old James Bulger. The two boys pleaded innocence. The young 
defendants responded to police questioning with noticeable inconsistency. The 
climax came when the parents of one of the boys assured him that they would 
always love him. 
 
   Confronted with irrefutable evidence linking him with the crime and the 
assurance of his parents' love, the boy confessed in a soft voice, "I killed 
James." The miracle of God's love is that he knows how evil we are, yet he loves 
us. We can confess our worst sins to him, confident that his love will not 
diminish. 
 
   -- Greg Asimakoupoulos, Concord, California.  Leadership, Vol. 15, no. 2. 
 
God is not pleased when we sin, in fact our sins are grievous to him!  Yet even 
so, He will still offer to us forgiveness.  This is the message we can learn 
from the genealogy of Christ.  God will bring forgiveness even to those who have 
fallen.
 
 

1 John 1:8 through 1 John 2:2 (KJV)
8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in 
us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we 
make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
 
1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any 
man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And 
he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the 
sins of the whole world.
 
MARY – The Faithful Woman (v 16)

Luke 1:26 through Luke 1:38 (KJV)
26And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of 
Galilee, named Nazareth, 27To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, 
of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28And the angel came in 
unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: 
blessed art thou among women. 29And when she saw him, she was troubled at his 
saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30And the 
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. 31And, 
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call 
his name JESUS. 32He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: 
and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33And he 
shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be 
no end. 34Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a 
man? 35And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon 
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that 
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. 36And, 
behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and 
this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 37For with God nothing 
shall be impossible. 38And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it 
unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.
 
Mary was a sinner like the rest of us.  Now, I know that some say that Mary was 
without sin, and she had no sin before carrying the Christ.  This is referred to 
as the doctrine of immaculate conception and there is absolutely no Biblical 
basis for it.   There is not any scriptures that back up the concept that Mary 
was without sin.  She was a woman of great faith though, and a blessed woman 
because God chose her to be a special vessel.  It was she who was chosen to 
carry the Christ.  
 
Faithfulness is a quality that we should cultivate this Christmas.  
 
   In Living Above the Level of Mediocrity, Chuck Swindoll writes: 
   On Sunday, believers arrived at a house church in the Soviet Union in small 
groups throughout the day so not to arouse the suspicion of KGB informers. They 
began by singing a hymn quietly. Suddenly, in walked two soldiers with loaded 
weapons at the ready. One shouted, "If you wish to renounce your commitment to 
Jesus Christ, leave now!"
 
   Two or three quickly left, then another. After a few more seconds, two more. 
   "This is your last chance. Either turn against your faith in Christ," he 
ordered, "or stay and suffer the consequences." 
 
   Two more slipped out into the night. No one else moved. Parents with children 
trembling beside them looked down reassuringly, fully expecting to be gunned 
down or imprisoned. 
 
   The other soldier closed the door, looked back at those who stood against the 
wall and said, "Keep your hands up--but this time in praise to our Lord Jesus 
Christ. We, too, are Christians. We were sent to another house church several 
weeks ago to arrest a group of believers." 
 
   The other soldier interrupted, "But, instead, we were converted! We have 
learned by experience, however, that unless people are willing to die for their 
faith, they cannot be fully trusted." 
 
n        David Waggoner in Fresh Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching (Baker), 
from the editors of Leadership.
 
We should all have this kind of faith.  Faithfulness is a quality that the world 
will take note of and one which the world can understand.  
 
Where do we place our faith this Christmas?  Is it in Santa Claus or in 
MasterCard?  Or do we place our faith in the same God that Mary did?  In the 
same God that Ruth did?  In the same God that Bathsheba did?  In the same God 
that Tamar did?  These four women contribute in a mighty way to the Christmas 
story.  
 
There is much to be learned from a genealogy.  I hope from our discussion of 
Christ’s genealogy you have been encouraged to show these characteristics in our 
own lives.
 

 
Copyright © 1999 by Claim The Victory Ministries
South Peninsula Baptist Church
Daytona Beach, FL
Rev. Charles S. Mims