#265 Tamar

Two Sundays ago (July 17), I preached from the story of Tamar and Judah from Genesis 38. Without a doubt, this is the messiest, strangest, most cringe-inducing passage I've preached so far in my career. And yet, I can't get the passage out of my head. There's something about Tamar that makes her and her story incredibly compelling.

Now before you go any further in this blog, please take some time to read Tamar's story for yourself, whether by clicking on that link or opening up your own Bible.

For the first eleven verses of Genesis 38, things happen to Tamar. Judah chooses her as a wife for his son Er. Wicked Er dies, leaving Tamar with no husband and no son in a world where only men own property. Brother-in-law Onan refuses to follow the custom of the day and provide an heir for Tamar. Instead Onan simply uses her for sex over and over until God puts him to death, too. Then Judah sends Tamar back home. Judah worries that Tamar is to blame for his sons' deaths, and he's trying to protect his youngest. But Tamar has no real hope back at home. Her father can provide for her now, but as a daughter she won't receive any inheritance. In this world she's supposed to have a husband and then at least one son to provide for her. Again and again Tamar has been wronged by Judah's family, her in-laws: used for meaningless. loveless sex and then discarded.

Suddenly, in verse 14, after hearing a report about Judah, Tamar takes action. This story really seems to become her story. With no one to speak up for her and no formal avenue for seeking justice in her society, Tamar launches this desperate, risky plan. She covers her identity, sits by the side of the road like a prostitute, and takes the signs of Judah's identity in exchange for letting him sleep with her. Things seem incredibly messy here, but we're still not done. Then, it turns out, Tamar is pregnant by her father-in-law, Judah. He hears and tries to have her put to death. (Awfully convenient, isn't it, how Judah can have sex outside of marriage, but Tamar can't?) But then she throws all her cards on the table, sending Judah his own ID markers to prove that he's the father of her child—actually, the father of her children, but we'll come back to that.

But through all of this mess, Tamar and—I think it's safe to add—God get Judah to realize how he's wronged Tamar. Judah says, "She is more righteous than I." I wouldn't say this is an unqualified stamp of approval on what Tamar has done, but Judah takes the blame here, saying that he's essentially forced Tamar into doing what she did by not giving her as a wife to his third son, according to the custom of the day.

I like Tamar. She's just so real. I feel for her pain and feelings of desperation, which motivate her to do something that even she might have thought unthinkable when the story began. I get wanting to take matters into my own hands when everything seems hopeless. Still, I really wish Tamar's story went differently. Tamar is a sympathetic character to be sure, but this story would be so much more pleasant if she got Judah's attention in some other way, like revealing her identity as soon as Judah tries to hire her for sex.

But that isn't our story, and it's probably ultimately better for us that way. God doesn't give us a sanitized Bible with all the messy, uncomfortable parts taken out. He certainly doesn't give us this story as an example of how we should act, but He's also not afraid to tell us exactly what happened. We humans can make an awful mess of our lives through our sins and fear and scheming, and I think that makes Tamar's story, messy as it is and foreign as it may seem, relatable.

Now—praise God!—the story doesn't end in messiness and despair. God's grace breaks through. Tamar, at long last, is fully embraced as part of Judah's family and part of God's chosen people. God undoes the terrible injustice that has been done to Tamar through Judah trying to get rid of her. God gives her not just one son but two, and, as uncomfortable as this may seem, those boys are recognized as Judah's sons, two new sons to "replace" the two dead sons from earlier. (Plus, as far as we can tell, God changes Judah's heart at this point: when we next encounter Judah, he's a much more upstanding guy.)

But even that isn't the end. Tamar, through her son Perez, ends up becoming one of the ancestors of Jesus, the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world. When Jesus, God the Son, comes into the world, He chooses to come as part of Tamar and Judah's messy, messed-up family. And there's God's grace breaking through. Like Tamar and Judah, we all need to be cleansed from our sins, healed of our brokenness, rescued from the mess and misery inside of us and around us. Sometimes we're victims, but all of us also are at fault, too, and we can't fix ourselves. So Jesus comes down to us, showing us that we need Him to save us and then saving us. Through Jesus and His redeeming work on His people's behalf, any of us sinful, broken, messy humans can be made right with God and set free from sin and death. Jesus comes into human history and chooses unworthy people like us to be part of His family.

At the end of the day the hero of Tamar's story isn't Tamar. It's Jesus. But that's true in my story, too. That's true in the stories of all of God's people. Unexpectedly, Tamar's story finally gives us hope. As messy as our lives can get, God's grace is always stronger. Tamar points us to Jesus, the Savior we don't deserve, the Savior we so desperately need.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#264 Wait… What?

We have a few children's storybook Bibles at our house that I get to read with our kids. Every so often as I read these books, I think to myself, "Why do children's Bibles have to be wrong about stuff?" Don't get me wrong. For the most part, these Bibles for children do a good job of telling Bible stories in a way that kids understand. I am quite pleased with them overall. But every once in a while the authors and/or editors make a choice that leaves me scratching my head. "Don't they know that's wrong?"

Sometimes these errors are pretty small and not really important. One of our children's Bibles says that David had one stone when he fought Goliath. The Bible actually says that David choose five smooth stones as he prepared for battle (1 Samuel 17:40). Now, David only seems to use one of the stones, so I'm not going to write angry letters to the publisher or anything. I just wish the author and/or editor would've double-checked the Bible story or clarified their language.

But other times the children's Bibles seem dangerously wrong. Another one of our children's Bibles describes the general pattern of Samson's life by saying that Samson listened to God. And that's just wrong. Samson is not some sort of shining moral example for us. If we read the story of Samson in the book of Judges, it seems much safer to say that Samson didn't care what God said. Samson breaks God's commands by marrying a woman who isn't part of God's people and then pursuing other women outside of God's people. Samson is supposed to be dedicated to God for his entire life, and as part of that dedication, Samson is not supposed to be around dead bodies. He's around dead bodies all the time. God doesn't help Samson and empower Samson to deliver God's people because Samson is moral. It's much more accurate to say God does those things in spite of Samson's lack of concern for God's instructions. What in the world were these authors/editors thinking?

So, if you're writing or illustrating a children's Bible, or if you're editing or publishing such a book, please be extra careful. And if you're reading such a book with children, please take the time to check out the Bible passages yourself and see if the children's book matches the Bible. Words can be hard, and God's Word isn't always easy to explain to children, but teaching God's Word to children is important. Let's take care to be correct and do things well.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#263 Systemic Trouble

The term systemic racism became much more familiar to many people in the U.S. a couple years back. Since then there's been a lot of debate about the role racism does or doesn't play in America. Now I'm certainly not an expert in this area, but when I was reading articles explaining the idea of systemic racism, the idea that racism gets embedded in the ways our society and its structures and our organizations operate, I wasn't at all shocked. In fact, I thought the basic idea was a natural outworking of my beliefs as a Reformed Christian. Let me explain.

I believe that every human being is a sinner. We are born sinners. Sin has corrupted our very nature. Every part of ourselves is infected with sin. Every single day we willfully choose things that go against what God wants for us (and refuse to choose things that fulfill what God wants for us). We are inclined toward sin, defaulting toward it because our sense of right and wrong is broken. Apart from the saving, transforming work of God, we humans are slaves to sin who can't stop sinning. Only after being redeemed by Jesus Christ and renewed by the Holy Spirit can humans begin to truly do what is good, and even then we continue to sin and struggle with sin all our lives.

Because human beings are sinners, everything that we design and build will be tainted with sin. Sin isn't just an individual matter; it's also a corporate, structural matter. Our governments, our economies, our creative arts, our health care systems and education systems and criminal justice systems—every part of society—will work in sinful, broken ways. If we as individuals are selfish and unjust and inclined to favor ourselves, then certainly the things we make together will have a tendency to be unjust and prone to give advantages to certain groups. My denomination, the CRC, wrote a contemporary statement of faith that puts it this way: "All spheres of life—family and friendship, work and worship, school and state, play and art—bear the wounds of our rebellion. Sin is present everywhere—in pride of race, arrogance of nations, abuse of the weak and helpless, disregard for water, air, and soil, destruction of living creatures, slavery, murder, terror, and war, worship of false gods, the mistreatment of our bodies, and our frantic efforts to escape reality. We become victims of our own sin." (Our World Belongs to God 16)

Now let's be clear. Believing that sin and evil work in corporate, structural ways, does not at all deny that sin and evil work in individual, personal ways. Sin is still in each of our hearts, and we are responsible for our own sinful deeds. Recognizing that our systems are broken and tainted by sin does not mean that we humans are not personally responsible for our actions, though it should make us understanding of and even sympathetic toward each other due to how our sinful structures impact us in different ways.

Recognizing that the structures of our society are sinful also does not mean that nothing ever goes right in our world. I believe that sin is everywhere in our world, but I also believe that because of God's grace and involvement in our world, things are not absolutely as bad as they could possibly be. Our sense of right and wrong is broken, but God's Spirit continues to point us toward what is right, and the goodness of God's original creation continues to shine through in places. All of us are capable of doing what is outwardly, morally right—speaking kind words, sharing with those in need—because God created us good and reveals Himself in our world. (However, without being saved and transformed by Christ, we won't do what is truly right with right motivations for God's glory.) In the same way, even judicial systems that are tainted by sin can still make just rulings and sin-stained economies can still reward honest efforts and promote cooperation.

Finally, our society and structures can't be fixed by human efforts. The solution to the problem of sin and evil is not us making ourselves better. As individuals, we can only be saved from sin through Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life of obedience in our place, took the full punishment for our sin in His death, and rose again to bring reconciliation with God and forgiveness and new life to all His people. Jesus calls and leads us to believe in Him, confess and turn from our sins, and strive with His help to live like Him. Our structures and society also need to be redeemed and transformed by Christ. Only He has the power and goodness to set this world right and establish true justice and heal and repair what is wrong. So we Christians lament the evil we see, witness to the wisdom and righteousness of Christ, and do all that we can with His help to live by His standards and work for reform. With God's inspiration and guidance, we can advocate for fairer housing practices and less partial laws, but that work will not be finished until Jesus returns, just like we individuals won't reach perfection until Christ comes back. And any progress that is made in our individual lives and in our structures comes from God. He can and does use us, but the work and credit is His.

In short, I think we Christians should agree that sin and evil are present both in our individual lives and in our society. But we can't fix either ourselves or our world. Our only hope is in Christ. We should trust in Him alone and ask His help to make our lives and our structures reflect Him and His ways more and more. And we should have confidence that in the end He will make everything right.

Grace and peace,

BMH

#262 VBS

The church I serve hosted Vacation Bible School last week. Four days in a row, I came back after my normal work activities to help out with all the kids for the evening. I, like all the other adult volunteers, was pretty tired by the end of the week, but the week was great for a couple different reasons.

First, as a pastor, it's really nice to be a part of a church event that I had basically no part in planning and wasn't responsible for. I came and helped out in different ways each night, and I was happy to do so. But I especially enjoyed watching other people use their gifts in ways that I don't get to see every week. Different people from church led singing, told Bible stories, organized games, supervised crafts, led groups of kids, and served meals. Since I wasn't in charge, I had wonderful opportunities to see church members at work, serving God and others. That warms my heart.

Second, watching the kids experience VBS is a lot of fun. There's always a few that are nervous—at least the first day—but most of the kids are just excited. They eagerly learn new songs and actions and are so proud to demonstrate for their parents at the end of the week. The kids soak up Bible stories and remember what happened from day to day. They jump into crafts and games and can't wait to tell any listening adult about all the cool things they've been doing. I think most of the adults who come to worship each week are happy enough, but the kids coming to VBS just bubble over with energy and enthusiasm. Watching the kids light up as they make connections and learn about Christ Jesus is a beautiful thing.

Long story short, VBS week was wonderful.

Grace and peace,

BMH