The Sinful women in Jesus Christ's lineage

As a young christian, I always feel that the Genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:1-16 is just a mouthful of redundant information with no significant meaning. My view changed after listening to a sermon CD which spoke about the undesirable ladies in the lineage of Jesus Christ. They were prostitutes or ladies born of very low social status. There are 4 very special ladies worth mentioning here. They are Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba.

Tamar was the Canaanite widow who disguised herself as a prostitute in order to seduce her father-in-law i.e. Judah (Genesis 38). Rahab, a Gentile from Jericho, was actually a prostitute whom God used to help in Joshua's conquest of Jericho (Joshua 2). Ruth was a Moabite, a descendent of an incestuous race which had been despised by the racially proud Jews. Even the Law of Moses had disparaging things to say about the Moabites: "No Moabite, nor any of their descendants to the tenth generation shall enter the assembly of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 23:3). But yet Ruth found extraordinary favor in the eyes of Boaz. ( a very rich male relative of her mother in law Naomi.)

And lastly, we see Bathsheba, a Hittite, whom King David seduced, and whose husband(his name was Uriah) David had killed in order to have her for himself (II Samuel ll). Notice that Matthew emphasizes (verse 6) the nature of David's tryst with her: "David was the father of Solomon, whose mother HAD BEEN Uriah's wife," thus underlining the sinfulness of that link in the lineage.

These 4 ladies exihibited the fact that not only is Jesus born for sinners, he is also born through sinners. For it seems the longer we are Christians, the more tempted we are to please God and earn His approval by our "religious" behavior and "religious" language, rather than through changed hearts and lives. Abba does not care about your looks, your social background,your occupation, the number of sins commited by you or your race (note the barrier between Jew and Gentile is down. Rahab, the woman of Jericho, and Ruth, the woman of Moab, find their place within the pedigree of Jesus Christ.) or your "works". Abba only cares about the quality of your affection & thoughts in Him.

PS:Another noteworthy observation:

It is the women among Christ's disciples that remained near the Cross when the going gets tough. (Matthew 27:55, 56). While the disciples cowered in fear after Jesus' death, the women were found at the Tomb, caring for the body of our Jesus Christ. Consequently, women become the first witnesses to proclaim the news that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead (Matthew 28:1, Luke 24:9-11)! All you sisters are so precious in Abba's eyes!!!!.