As a member of the Millennial generation, I was told that if I believed in myself, I could achieve the impossible and become whoever I wanted to be. The key ingredients to professional and personal success are passion, determination, and hard work—right? If I really find my passion, then God will be able to work through me. If I put in a few more long days at the office, then my boss will award me the well-deserved promotion. If I really focus on the positive traits of my spouse, then it will be easy to work through this tough time in our marriage. There are these "if-then" statements that seem to define how we view ourselves—as if our wisdom and power are infinitely capable of achieving success, and maybe even salvation, in our own lives.
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| Photo Credit: Flickr User Brad.K, Creative Commons |
In the story of Judah told in Genesis, the character creates his own "if-then" statements to live by. If I sell my brother Joseph, then I will be rich and my father will no longer have a favorite son. If I instruct Tamar to live as a widow, then I am fulfilling my duty as her father-in-law. If I sleep with a temptress in secret, then the sin will not affect my household. These statements are the foundation for the lies and secrets that Judah seems to spin around himself; these lies give him no need for a Savior, as he is taking matters into his own hands. It is in Judah's nature to seek the short-term fulfillment that requires little work or sacrifice, and not to seek the possible long-term joy that is given by the Father.
Don't we often act the same way? Our secrets and lies hide a complicated web of short-term fulfillments, "if-then" statements, and unavoidable failures. We tell ourselves that hard work will save our marriage, our jobs, our families. We find ourselves standing in Judah's shoes during his moment of realization: Tamar, a trickster daughter-in-law, is even more righteous than himself. His lies and secrets could no longer protect him, and this moment of realization with Tamar paved the way for his reunion with Joseph. It led Judah to recognize the sin in the depths of his heart, that he was the kind of man unable to offer forgiveness and prone to ignite anger. In that moment, as Judah and his brothers stood before Joseph in Egypt, we saw grace show up in Jesus' lineage.
In Genesis 50:20 Joseph states, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
There is grace that extends to those of us who find security in the lies that say we don't need God to fix our marriage, to mend our families, to heal our hearts. God's grace finds us there, even in the darkest moments, like when Judah sold his own brother to slavery or banished his own daughter-in-law to become a widow. This scandalous grace is what makes the genealogy of Jesus so powerful—his love and grace cover the broken tax collectors like Matthew, the unforgiving men like Judah, and the sinners like us.
Let's reflect again on these words from the song "Scandal of Grace":
The day and its trouble shall come
I know that Your strength is enough
The scandal of grace, You died in my place
So my soul will live
We are called to recognize our own limitations, where determination and hard work fail, but where Jesus's strength prevails. These are the stories that ought to be told amongst our brothers and sisters in the church—stories of forgiveness, grace, and redemption. We should share these moments when we realize that we are not enough, that our hard work, determination, and passion just won't cut it this time. We share in our collective brokenness and in the forgiveness and grace given by the one and only Savior, Jesus Christ.
[Megan Stephenson is a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University and works for a private education group in Grand Rapids as an Assistant Registrar. She loves spending time with her husband, Ben, trying out new breweries, restaurants, and local attractions. She also self-identifies as a crazy cat lady, despite owning no cats of her own, thanks to her loving and allergic husband.]
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