Jesus's Family Tree (part 3)

Matthew 1:6

Pete Rose is one of the all time great baseball players. According to his Wikipedia page, "Rose was a switch hitter and is the all-time MLB leader in hits (4,256), games played (3,562), at-bats (14,053), singles (3,215), and outs (10,328). He won three World Series, three batting titles, one Most Valuable Player Award, two Gold Gloves, and the Rookie of the Year Award" (wikipedia.com, 2022). And yet, all most people know about him is that he was banned from MLB and the Hall of Fame for betting on baseball games. If he is indeed guilty, one mistake became his defining moment, and he has never lived it down.

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David the king begot Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.

Matthew 1:6

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David did a lot of great things as king. He won many battles, expanded the kingdom, gathered the materials for the building of the Temple, wrote many Psalms, and more. Yet, almost any time people talk about the life of David, his affair with Bathsheba comes into the picture. Just in case you are not familiar with the story, I will give you a brief telling of it.

Instead of being with the army at war, David stayed home. One evening, as he was walking on the roof of his palace, he saw a woman bathing on the roof of her house. This was neither indecent or immodest. It was normal for that culture and was secluded from most everyone, except the tall home of the king. David saw her and that she was beautiful. Then he sent for her. They had their affair, and Bathsheba became pregnant.

In a panic to cover up his sin, David called her husband home from the battlefield. He got him drunk and told him to go home. Uriah, even drunk, would not spend the night in his bed and with his wife while his fellow soldiers were sleeping in the field. So he slept at the king’s gate. When David realized that Uriah would not go home, he sent a letter to Uriah's captain, which told the Captain to abandon Uriah in the conflict and let him die. The captain did, and David took Bathsheba to be his wife. The first child died, but they had a second son that they named Solomon.

Solomon is another example of a defining mistake that overshadowed everything else he did. Solomon built the Temple of God in Jerusalem. It was a magnificent structure. He also prayed that great prayer at the dedication of the Temple. He had great wisdom from God, and he expanded the kingdom beyond that of which David had. He was a man of peace and diplomacy instead of war like his father. And yet, there are two things that he is really known for: his hundreds of wives and his turning to worship pagan gods.

Many of us have been here as well. We took our eyes off of God and suddenly found ourselves somewhere we never thought we would be. We may have repented, but that action has a way of rearing its ugly head. Even when others don't talk about what we did, we remember. There are some things you can never live down. The Apostle Paul was like that. Over and over again he mentions the stoning of Stephen from Acts chapters 6 and 7. He never lived that down. And yet, he knew that God had forgiven him. If we have repented, like David did, we are forgiven. Paul wrote in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit".

Father, sometimes we mess up BIG. You draw us back to Yourself, and call us to repentance. If we do, we know that we are forgiven. However, sin has consequences and sometimes those last a lifetime. I pray that we would guard our hearts and minds so that we don't find ourselves in these situations, but if we do, remind us that even when it won't go away, our identity is in Jesus and not our sin.

“Pete Rose.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 23 Nov. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Rose#:~:text=MLB%20records&text=Rose%20was%20a%20switch%20hitter,Rookie%20of%20the%20Year%20Award.