Tamar, Mother of Jesus

Tamar is one of the “mothers” of Jesus listed in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1. She was the twice-widowed daughter-in-law of Judah, the leader of the twelve sons of Jacob. When Judah refused to provide for her future by giving his third son to marry her, Tamar took matters into her own hands. She disguised herself as a prostitute, and Judah took the bait. When she was found to be pregnant, Judah initially ordered her killed, but when she produced evidence that he was the father, he declared her “more righteous than I.” And she was more righteous than him, but only in a relative sense. Both were attempting to rewrite the story of their lives apart from the Lord – Judah by trying to cover up his shame, and Tamar by trying to level up her injustices. But it didn’t work, only further isolating and dividing. Thankfully, God was writing their lives into a better story. Centuries later, their descendant Jesus would show a better way: We can be honest about our failures, trusting his blood to cover our shame, and we can petition him about our injustices, trusting him to vindicate and redeem in his timing.