What does your family tree look like? You might have some branches that you show off regularly. Like my great great great etc. founded this town or invented this product or was famous for this reason. Jesus had some of that in His family tree. There are names like Abraham, David, and others who were "big" names recorded in Matthew chapter one. But most of us have those branches that we do not talk about as much because we find their actions to be embarrassing. In fact, we might have been made fun of or mocked because of a relative's actions. People might say, "You are a liar just like so and so," or "I am not hiring you because your relative was a thief, and you probably are as well."
Well, interestingly enough, Jesus had some of those in His genealogy. This is probably a good place to remind us that even the best of us have flaws. Even the "big" names that we mentioned in the last paragraph had their struggles. For example, Abraham lied (Genesis 12). In verse six, Matthew 1 mentions David but reminds us of him taking Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. Not David's greatest moment or the one he would want to be remembered by. Verse three mentions Judah and Tamar. Genesis 38 would remind us of their sin. Verse five mentions Ruth, a Gentile. Finally, verse sixteen mentions Mary who, even though she was righteous and doing what God said, was probably shunned and mocked as an unwed pregnant your woman. Then there was Joseph. Was he the father? Why else would he marry this woman? This is by no means an exhaustive list of the sins in Jesus family tree. We could mention many more.
Why would we mention these? Because Jesus was not bound by poor decisions by those in His family tree, and you are not either. So what if your great, great whatever robbed trains or rustled cattle. You do not have to do those things. Do not allow your family tree to determine who you are. Thanks be to Christ, you can have a new life. Go live it for Him.
Chris