Text: Genesis 38: 1-30<\/p>\n
In Diana Butler Bass\u2019s book, Grounded, she reminds us that our roots are far deeper than our memories.
\nWe are shaped and influenced by generations that have come and gone, whether or not we remember their stories.<\/p>\n
In one of my pastoral care classes in seminary we studied family systems and how the patterns and stories of our ancestors influence us today.
\nWe were asked to map out our family tree and to notice how our actions are influenced by the stories we find.
\nIn fact, I brought my own family system with me today\u2026 five generations worth of people who lived and loved and died.
\nI have discovered through this process the strength of matriarchs, the importance we place on loyalty and fidelity, a deep sense of togetherness, but also why I carry such heavy expectations for myself.<\/p>\n
However, the story of my identity is not limited to this family tree.
\nAs a person of faith, my ancestral line and spiritual heritage is found all throughout the pages of scripture.
\nAnd so during this season of Advent, as we prepare for Christ to make a home in our lives once again, I find myself remembering his own family tree.
\nMatthew included in his genealogy of Jesus familiar names like Abraham and Judah and David. But he also breaks with custom to specifically name four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
\nEach week during Advent, we will be exploring their stories to discover how they shape our lives.
\nHow do they ground our sense of purpose and identity?
\nHow do they help us navigate the trials and tribulations of our lives?
\nHow might we call upon these ancestors and their faith in God to help us persevere in our own journey?<\/p>\n
Too often, we have neglected their stories and their voices, but this Advent, we will remember each one.
\nAfter all, there would be no Christmas without them.
\nSo let\u2019s start where Matthew does:
\nAbraham was the father of Isaac.
\nIsaac was the father of Jacob.
\nJacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
\nJudah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.<\/p>\n
Her story begins in Genesis, chapter 38:
\n6 Judah married his oldest son Er to a woman named Tamar.
\nIf we situate her story in its context, there are some interesting family dynamics to explore.
\nFirst of all, there is a pattern in this family of God\u2019s promises being passed down not through the eldest son, but through the favored one.
\nTrickery and deception is part of this family\u2019s DNA. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife. Jacob stole the blessing from Esau. In the chapter right before we meet Tamar, Jacob\u2019s sons turn on their sibling Joseph, their father\u2019s favorite.
\nWhile some wanted to kill him, Judah, the fourth born, proposed they sell him into slavery but they lie and tell their father Joseph is dead.
\nAs this chapter begins, Judah, like ancestors before him, moves off on his own into Canaanite territory, marries, and has three sons. His seeks to establish his own legacy.
\nHis eldest, Er, marries Tamar, but things are not happily ever after.
\n7 But the Lord considered Judah\u2019s oldest son Er immoral, and the Lord put him to death.
\nTamar is left vulnerable.
\nShe has no children.
\nShe is no longer a virgin.
\nHer only hope for security comes through a custom of the day called levirate marriage.<\/p>\n
It provided a way to care for a widow and continue the family line by requiring the brother of the deceased to step in and produce a son.
\nBut Er\u2019s brother, Onan, was just as bad as his brother.
\nHe refused to plant his seed and complete the task because it would diminish his own inheritance and legacy. Yet, he continued to use Tamar as he pleased.
\nAs Tom Fuerst notes, \u201cOnan makes an active choice to deny Tamar justice and leave her in a position of vulnerability, where her safety, identity, and future remain questionable.\u201d (Underdogs and Outsiders, p. 20)
\nSo, God strikes Onan dead, too.<\/p>\n
Under the law, Judah had two options.
\nHe could continue to welcome her in his home, betrothed to his youngest, who was still a child.
\nOr he could release with an unsandaling ceremony, allowing her the freedom to marry again (Deuteronomy 25:7-10).
\nHe does neither.
\nHe sends her away to live as a widow in her father\u2019s home.
\nHelen Pearson notes in her book Mother Roots that \u201cas long as Judah had a son, he had no right to turn her away and give her back to her father, an act of total rejection on Judah\u2019s part and an even greater humiliation for Tamar.\u201d (p.56)
\nShe was trapped by an unjust application of the law.
\nAll she could do was wait and hope.
\nWait for a child to grow up.
\nHope that Judah and Shelah would fulfill their promises.
\nAnd so, she waited and hope and prayed for justice.<\/p>\n
Years passed.
\nShelah became a man, but Judah failed to act.
\nRather than sit back and wait and continue to be unjustly treated, Tamar made a decision.
\nShe cast off her widows robes, put on the veil of a virgin, and went to confront him.
\nMaybe the confrontation itself would remind Judah of what was right and he would take her home to his son, Shelah.
\nMaybe she was going to press for her release and freedom by spitting in his face and taking off his sandal, as the law allowed.
\nEither way, there was hope and possibility for justice to be done and for her to be restored.<\/p>\n
But Judah doesn\u2019t recognize her.
\nMore than that, he thinks she is a prostitute.
\nAnd he is lonely.
\nHe\u2019s far from home, his wife is now dead, no one will know\u2026
\nAnd so he propositions her.<\/p>\n
I think Tamar\u2019s game plan changes in this moment.
\nA new possibility for fulfilling the law and bringing about justice comes into being.
\nAs Helen Pearson writes, \u201cWith sacred intent Tamar acted to preserve the name and inheritance of her dead husbands, Judah\u2019s sons. Trusting her life to the Lord of the Hebrews, Tamar believed that justice and redemption would come to her.\u201d (p. 60)
\nShe makes a deal with him.
\nAnd the payment for her services is secured with a deposit: Judah\u2019s seal, cord, and staff.
\nThey were markers of his identity, \u201csymbols of his authority\u201d (Mother Roots, p. 59), and would create a kind of security for Tamar if in fact this plan works as intended.
\nIt does. Tamar conceives.<\/p>\n
Word gets back to Judah that his widowed daughter-in-law is pregnant, and NOW he decides to uphold the law.
\nThe law which required the death penalty for someone having sex outside of marriage.
\nConveniently ignoring his own transgressions, he was prepared to condemn her.
\nBut then Tamar produces his seal, his cord, and his staff.
\n26 Judah recognized them and said, \u201cShe\u2019s more righteous than I am, because I didn\u2019t allow her to marry my son Shelah.\u201d Judah never knew her intimately again.
\nThe man who was so quick to judge and condemn is now convicted by her righteousness.
\nWhen Tamar gives birth, Judah claims the twin sons as his very own.
\nA future is secured\u2026 not only for Tamar, but for the entire family of Judah.
\nMore than that\u2026
\nTamar\u2019s actions are instrumental to God\u2019s plans for the birth of a Savior.<\/p>\n
On this first Sunday of Advent, we often focus on hope.
\nBut I am reminded that there can be no hope without the promise of justice.
\nYou see, hope is the force that allows us to keep pursuing what is right in the face of everything that is not.
\nIt is holding on to the possibility that things can and will be different.
\nWe hope because we are unwilling to accept things as they are.
\nWe hope because we believe that there is a future in which dignity and righteousness will prevail.<\/p>\n
In the story of Tamar, we discover a situation in which the law designed to provide security and protection was being thwarted.
\nJudah and Onan and Shelah abandoned the law for their own benefit.
\nAnd by refusing to live according to the law, the person it was designed to protect became a victim.
\nShe was forgotten.
\nOverlooked.
\nIsolated.
\nAlone.
\nYet she clung to hope.
\nShe remembered God\u2019s promises and God\u2019s laws and worked to bring about God\u2019s justice.
\nAs my colleague, Rev. Elizabeth Grasham writes, \u201cTamar shines a light into unjust, corrupt, and banal violations of the law and how they hurt women like her and she uses every resource at her disposal to get what she deserves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her legacy became a part of the ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
\nHe called out hypocrisy in the leaders of his time, who used or ignored the law in order to benefit themselves and oppress others.
\nI think of the story of the woman caught in adultery we find in John 8:1-11.
\nWhen she is brought to Jesus by the religious leaders, they wanted to stone her\u2026 following the same law that would have condemned Tamar.
\nBut where was the man who had also been involved?
\nSurely if she had been caught in the act, he had been present as well.
\nWas this really about the woman, or were they simply using her to make a point and advance their own agendas?
\nJesus refuses to play their games and instead confronts their own sinful and guilty hearts.
\nGod\u2019s justice, after all, is not just about getting what we deserve when we have done something wrong.
\nIt is about seeking to restore relationships, repair harm, and rejoice in the dignity of all people.<\/p>\n
As we prepare our own hearts and lives for the birth of Christ this year, the story of Tamar invites us to seek justice and to persevere in hope.
\nPerhaps we have been like Judah: quick to act in our own self-interest without examining how our actions have harmed others.
\nAdvent is a time for us to confess and repent and make things right.
\nPerhaps we have been like Tamar: forgotten or trapped by situations out of our control.
\nAdvent is a time for us to cling with hope to the promise that God does not forget the downtrodden, but brings about justice for the oppressed.
\nPerhaps we are simply bystanders in this story, and I am challenged by their own inaction and refusal to name the harm.
\nAdvent is a time for us to use our own voices and bodies to act and bring about the future that we long for, not only for ourselves, but for all of God\u2019s people.
\nAdvent is a time for light to shine on all places of injustice, for truth to be revealed, and hope-filled actions that prepare the way for the child of Mary.
\nMay it be so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Text: Genesis 38: 1-30 In Diana Butler Bass\u2019s book, Grounded, she reminds us that our roots are far deeper than our memories. We are shaped and influenced by generations that have come and gone, whether or not we remember their stories. In one of my pastoral care classes in seminary we studied family systems and…<\/span><\/p>\n