meditations on James 2:25 and Matthew 1

Byzantine depiction of Mary and Jesus in the Ayasofia (Hagia Sofia) in Istanbul

As I consider  Rahab the prostitute, an example in Hebrews and James of faith that works, I am awed to see the grace of God.  In the perfect plan of God to rescue sinful men who had rejected Him, He placed four "defiled" women in what we would imagine as a "pure" line of ancestors for his Son Jesus. 

Tamar - the Canaanite woman whose prostitution scheme brought about incest with her unfaithful father-in-law which ended with a pair of twins, one of whom carried the Messiah's line

Rahab - the Canaanite prostitute who not only believed the LORD would give her land to Israel, but also reached out to demonstrate this belief in her treatment of the spies, becoming a mother in Israel

Ruth - the Moabite widow who abandoned her culture and gods to follow and care for her Israelite mother-in-law. God blessed her to be the great-grandmother of King David and ancestor of the Messiah.

the wife of Uriah - a girl who was raped by King David and whose husband, a foreigner, was murdered in the cover-up, yet her second son would become king and another ancestor to Messiah

Each of these women show the grace of God in a sinful world.  They demonstrate His purposes for the nations of sinners and His means of salvation in an array of beauty that Mary, the virgin Jewish mother of Jesus, could not show us by herself. 

*Thanks to Brad for the picture.