“Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth … And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah” (Matthew 1:5-6)
Jesus’ genealogy lists all kinds of people. Not only the men are mentioned (as was usual in genealogies), but several women as well. Some of them were Gentile women from other people groups, and this fact alone was enough for many Jews to consider such women socially inferior. But apparently God included them in the genealogy of his Son.
Rahab had been a prostitute before she married Salmon. She became the great-great-grandmother of King David, and thereby one of Jesus’ ancestors. The short sentence about Solomon’s mother refers to an utterly scandalous story about King David taking another man’s wife and giving the order for her husband to be murdered in order to cover up the whole thing. And yet, God did not abandon David’s family.
In short, Jesus’ genealogy shows God’s mercy. It is a list of all kinds of people: men and women, kings, heroes, a prostitute, adulterous men, Jews and Gentiles… Jesus was not ashamed to be born in such a family. He came to save exactly such sinful and unworthy people.
Do you sometimes feel unworthy and ashamed? What would God think about that?