Saturday 17th December

Genesis 49:2,8-10; Psalm 72,1-4,7-8,17; Matthew 1:1-17.

Jesus’ family tree

The family tree of Jesus shows God is quite able to write his plan of salvation using different people and circumstances, and not so perfectly ordered as the perfect Jewish number 7 and 14 suggests! There are special mothers Tamara, Rahab, Ruth, Uriah’s wife and Mary at work. We all have our family tree and its heritage. Our family and our history and salvation is like a tapestry; from one perspective it can look ordered and neat, from underneath it can look rather messy and full of jumbled colours and knots. Perhaps Christmas lets us take a step back. God can make a beautiful picture with the paint brushes of our lives and our families.