Day 25: My Great Grandparents Had Dirt Floors (Ruth 4:18)
Today’s Passage: Ruth 4:18
I remember sitting at my paternal grandfather’s feet. He had a maroon leather chair. He loved to smoke cigars. Smoke would billow around him as he watched baseball, with us sitting at his feet.
As kids we would love for him to tell us about our ancestors. He would regale us with great delight and we would always want more.
There is one story I remember to this day about “Ducky Bill”, my great grandfather. He lived in a small house with a dirt floor and worked on a large estate. Although the floors in their home were dirt, “they were the cleanest in the town”. So he would tell us, and I would note my father’s agreement.
Today, Ducky Bill’s picture hangs in my home.
I have this longing to be connected to family. I don’t think I am alone given the interest in web services such as Ancestry.com.
Long before the web, there were lists. First transmitted orally, and then written down.
As we come to the close of this short story, and come to a genealogy, what is your reaction? What did you notice?
I notice a few things. I am struck by the connection back to Perez. The story in Genesis 38 of Judah and Tamar (Perez’s parents) is not the most complimentary story. I’m not sure my grandfather would have told me about my ancestors with this level of detail.
It is amazing how the Bible honestly tells of the highs and lows of those that have gone before. The honest retelling of how we are far-from-perfect humans demonstrates how our infinitely-perfect God operates.
Too often, we followers of Jesus who have broken lives from divorce, addiction, etc., count ourselves as second-class Christians. Our inner voice says, “Certainly God won’t (or can’t) use me.”
This genealogy is one of the many evidences that God exactly uses broken people; especially those who have come repentantly to him for healing and restoration. He does his best work through these humble saints.
How can I say, “God does his best work through broken and repentant people”? Because this is Jesus’ lineage. Look again at Genesis 38. Look again at Ruth 4:18. Consider that King David’s great grandmother is a Moabite. If you are unsure about how negatively the Moabites were viewed, click here for an article. If this is not enough to convince you, check out who Boaz’s mother is. It is Rahab. Don’t know Rahab? She is a harlot. Her story is here.
I must tell you that I have read Ruth many times before, but for some reason this time I was really moved by considering the crazy genealogy that Jesus comes through. If you asked me if I have to earn God’s love, I know the right answer is “no”. Yet I need to learn this at a deeper level. Too often I respond as if I must be perfect to be used by God and thus earn His love.
It is true that God calls us to be holy because He is holy. But (and this is a HUGE but) our striving to be holy is not a prerequisite for His love and care. God tells us that He thought about each of us before He laid the foundations of the world. That we are part of God’s family. You and I are adopted as sons and daughters.
I have a strong identity with being the great grandson of the man and woman with the cleanest floors in town. The fact that they were dirt somehow strengthens that identity.