No one likes reading the story of Judah and Tamar. It’s one of those stories that kids storybook Bibles tend to skip over, and I’m sure some of us wish our own Bibles skipped over it too. It comes right after the story of Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery, and right before we’re told of Joseph’s time as a slave and prisoner in Egypt.

You can read the full story in Genesis 38 if you’d like the full context, but to summarize, Tamar was Judah’s childless, widowed daughter in law. “Feeling that no one was going to give her a child, Tamar resorted to disguising herself as a prostitute, obviously knowing she could trap Judah, which says little for his moral stature in her eyes” (MacArthur Study Bible), and then Tamar got pregnant with twins named Perez and Zerah.

Some of you may be wondering where I’m going with this — what on earth does this have to do with us today? Why would I bring up this random story that makes lots of people uncomfortable?

The gospel, that’s why.

Maybe you’ve been skipping over Bible genealogies for so long that you won’t remember this, but look at how Matthew starts his account of the gospel.

“The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham: Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot Judah and his brothers. Judah begot Perez and Zerah by Tamar...” — Matthew 1:1-3, emphasis mine

The first words in the New Testament aren’t ones that proclaim God’s transcendence and unattainable holiness. They aren’t ones that remind us how undeserving we are of a Savior or how most of the world will remain rebellious and unsaved. The first verses of Matthew connect the Son of God — our Redeemer — to sinful, broken people like Judah, not to mention Abraham and David.

And this theme isn’t special to Matthew — read Revelation 5:5.

“‘Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”‘ (emphasis mine)

From beginning to end, Jesus has identified Himself as a part of Judah, a part of David, a part of humanity in all our convoluted brokenness.

I remember how shocked I was when I came to this realization a few years ago. Why would Jesus come to Earth in this way? Why would He call Himself by Judah’s name when He could have? Why would the perfect Son of God allow Himself to be associated with a person and story that was so broken and sinful?

For us.

He came down that way for us.

Jesus stopped at nothing to save us; He came onto Earth as a baby, was raised by sinful, human parents, and called Himself by Judah’s name. He paid attention to the blind men and paralytics that all the other Jews ignored, healed the Canaanite woman’s daughter because of her remarkable faith, and encouraged the children to come to Him when His disciples were discouraging it.

If you feel inadequate, insignificant, or you wonder what your place is in this world, remember how far Jesus came to save you. How much more dedication could we ask for? Who else loves us that much?

And if you feel ashamed because there’s sin in your past, or in your family’s past, you don’t have to let that define your life. Jesus had a host of imperfect ancestors, and a few with infamous stories like Abraham, David and Judah. Our God’s not a stranger to brokenness and sin. And if you come to Him, even in all your messiness and confusion, He won’t reject you or scold you. He’ll clothe you in His own righteousness, heal whatever broken pieces you may have in your life, and teach you how to become more like Him, one step at a time.