Risky
Righteousness
A Sermon on Tamar
(Genesis 38)
By Griff Martin
For the Beloveds of
First Austin: a baptist community of faith
On the First Sunday
of Advent
December 3, 2017
It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers
and settled near a certain Adullamite whose name was Hirah. There
Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; he married
her and went in to her. She conceived and bore a son; and he named
him Er. Again she conceived and bore a son whom she named Onan. Yet
again she bore a son, and she named him Shelah. She was in Chezib when she bore
him. Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn; her name was Tamar. But
Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord put
him to death. Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s
wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her; raise up offspring for
your brother.” But since Onan knew that the offspring would not be
his, he spilled his semen on the ground whenever he went in to his brother’s
wife, so that he would not give offspring to his brother. What he
did was displeasing in the sight of the Lord, and he put him to death also. Then
Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house
until my son Shelah grows up”—for he feared that he too would die, like his
brothers. So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.
In course of time the wife of Judah,
Shua’s daughter, died; when Judah’s time of mourning was over, he went up to
Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. When
Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she
put off her widow’s garments, put on a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat down
at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. She saw that Shelah
was grown up, yet she had not been given to him in marriage. When
Judah saw her, he thought her to be a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
He went over to her at the roadside, and said, “Come, let me come
in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said,
“What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered,
“I will send you a kid from the flock.” And she said, “Only if you give me a
pledge, until you send it.” He said, “What pledge shall I give
you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord, and the staff that is in your
hand.” So he gave them to her, and went in to her, and she conceived by him.
Then she got up and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments
of her widowhood.
When Judah sent the kid by his friend
the Adullamite, to recover the pledge from the woman, he could not find her. He
asked the townspeople, “Where is the temple prostitute who was at Enaim by the
wayside?” But they said, “No prostitute has been here.” So he
returned to Judah, and said, “I have not found her; moreover the townspeople
said, ‘No prostitute has been here.’” Judah replied, “Let her keep
the things as her own, otherwise we will be laughed at; you see, I sent this
kid, and you could not find her.”
About three months later Judah was told, “Your
daughter-in-law Tamar has played the whore; moreover she is pregnant as a
result of whoredom.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.” As
she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “It was the
owner of these who made me pregnant.” And she said, “Take note, please, whose
these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” Then Judah
acknowledged them and said, “She is more in the right than I, since I did not
give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not lie with her again.
When the time of her delivery came, there were twins in
her womb. While she was in labor, one put out a hand; and the
midwife took and bound on his hand a crimson thread, saying, “This one came out
first.” But just then he drew back his hand, and out came his
brother; and she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore he
was named Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the crimson
thread on his hand; and he was named Zerah.
Sisters and brothers, this is the Word of the Lord. (Thanks
be to God)
Incarnate God, we ask that you once again take the Word
and transform it into a living and breathing Resurrected reality we can all
together experience. Be present here in this space and in these words God for
if you are present here then nothing else will matter, but if you are not
present here then nothing else will matter. In the name of the Creator, the
Risen Christ and the Comforter. Amen.
I am going to take the risk of assuming what a few of you
are thinking this very moment….. Some are just sitting there, squirming
uncomfortably thinking, “Really Griff, The sin of Onan as the first Advent
sermon?”…. Others are trying to figure out how they never knew a story like
this was found in our Scripture… some of us are blushing because we are not
sure that story really needs to be read aloud and in church pulpit of all
places…. some of you more mature biblical scholars noted that the name of
God is never mentioned in the text, except associating God with killing two
men…. And some of you have simply made a mental list of all the other stories I
could have chosen for this morning.
But please note I did not choose this story. This is part of
something much bigger.
Matthew begins his Gospel with a genealogy for Jesus…. It’s
quite a list. It’s overtly schematic, like much of Matthew’s Gospel. It’s 46
names long, it’s 39 generations and it’s dominated by male names, with four
notable exceptions…. four females feature into Jesus’ genealogy…. Tamar, Rahab,
Ruth and Bathsheba…. Jesus’ grandmothers, they are his Mrs. Which, Mrs. Whatsit
and Mrs. Who, these voices that shape and guide him.
And I am fascinated with these four females and their
stories because I think they are hugely influential in the lives of Jesus and
Mary. In fact it’s my reading that these four names are mentioned in Matthew’s
Gospel because these are stories that Jesus referred back to and Matthew knew
these women and their narratives played a huge role in Jesus’ personal and
theological development. I think these are the stories that gave Mary boldness.
I think these are the stories Mary told Jesus over and over, in fact as I have
sat with these stories over the last few weeks I have begun to think these are
the stories that taught Jesus everything. These women were Jesus’ guides.
And I think these might be the exact stories we need this
Advent to guide us, because we need a guide today. Because we are living in a critical
time, a time period when things are not working out for us all that well. Just
for one example- let’s just talk church for a bit and where we are today: a
continued steady decline of church attendance for all mainline church, an
increase in the percentage of Americans who don’t attend church and claim they
are not religious, fewer young clergy being ordained and entering ministry,
loss of moral authority and credibility among clergy and church due to sex
scandals and financial misconduct (as Dean of Duke Divinity Elaine Heath puts
it we-the church- have given the world a hermeneutic of suspicion) and churches
everywhere closing their doors because they are out of money or people
whichever runs out first.
Philip Jenkins, a religious historian at Baylor, sums it all
up with this simple ultimatum: the era of Christendom in the United States is
over.
And we are trying everything we know to stop it, and by
everything we know I really mean it, we are trying everything we have already
tried, we are trying to so hard to turn back the clock, to return to a time
when Sunday’s were sacred, when church programming actually worked, when I35
traffic midweek was not a nightmare, when the only source of community was
found here at church, when the sacred cows of church were still mooing and
alive and vital… as Molly Marshall once said to this community: “If the 1950’s
come back, you all will be ready” implying to this very community, if the
1950’s ever come back, you all are going to be so ready to do church and you
will do it so well… the problem you all need to face is that the 1950’s are not
coming back.
So maybe there is something we can learn from Tamar… a woman
who simply goes along with all the rules, the norms and the roles of the day,
who goes with what she knows… when the first husband dies, she moves in with
his brother… because that was custom, that was how things worked, that was how
things had always been done, that was tradition. Until it no longer was,
because she ends up with two dead husbands and stuck in a situation that looks
totally hopeless.
But it was not hopeless for Tamar because she found a way,
she was “innocent as a dove but shrewd as a serpent.” There was a way forward
for her, there was a way to earn her place in the story…. Break the rules.
Shatter the norms. Reverse the roles. Do whatever it takes to find yourself a
way into the story.
And she did and because she broke the rules, because she
shattered the norms, because she reversed the roles she was called
righteous.
I can picture Mary telling the story to Jesus from the time
he was a newborn to right before he started calling disciples. It was probably
a bit cleaner at first and then it got a bit edgier as he got older and could
handle more of it. When he was a newborn, Jesus got the simple version with the
moral, don’t be afraid to think outside the box and don’t be afraid, be like
Tamar. When he was a bit older, the story got more detailed, the word victim
was used and he was told that things had to change. I imagine Mary pointing out
the problem of wealth, religious abuse, political power used wrongly and
religion going along with all these things and Mary simply pointing them out to
Jesus: “Break the rules. Shatter the norms. Reverse the roles. Learn from our
Tamar.”
And Jesus did, over and over again, and as a result we got
Love Incarnate.
So I wonder this morning what lessons we can learn from
Tamar?
What rules need to be broken in our world today?
What norms need to be shattered?
What roles need to be reversed?
These are questions that I believe our world is actively
asking these days- in terms of gender, class, race, economics, nationality, and
religion- and they are not easy questions. In fact to be honest there are days
I think: “My heart is full and my head can’t handle anymore, can’t we take the
easy road and can’t we just ignore all that?” But then I look around and I see
Blake and Jude and I see Ella and I see Sam and Jack and I see Schaeffer and I
see Carys and I see Arianna and I see Rankin, Benet and Wallis. I see our
kids here at First Austin and I think it’s worth it to actively ask these
questions because maybe we will give our kids a better world by asking these
questions.
But these are not just questions we need to ask only in the
world, these are questions we need to ask here in the church as well because
things are changing here too. And they are not easier questions here either. In
fact to be honest there are days I think: “My heart is full and my head can’t
handle much more. We could surely keep getting by at this pace for another few
decades right, so can’t we just keep ignoring all the warning signs?” But then
I look around and I see Mason and I see Bethany and Josh and I see Fannie and
Charlotte and I see Anna Jean and I see Robert and I see Ada and David, I see
our kids and I think maybe we will give our kids a better church by asking
those questions.
What rules need to be broken in our church today?
What norms in our church must be shattered?
What roles in our church need to be reversed?
Because I believe that the church will find our hope when we
ask those questions and honestly answer them.
Because the truth is the way we have done church
historically will no longer work but that does not mean there is not a way
forward for us. Instead it means that with a faithful God we forge a new path
forward and we make our way into the story.
And these are not just questions we need to ask in our world
and in our church, these are questions we need to ask in our own lives because
we get stuck in patterns there too… so what rules in your life need to be
broken, what norms in your life need to be shattered, what roles need to be
reversed? Because God is doing something new in your life too, there is
something in your soul trying to be born this Advent season.
So listen to Jesus. Listen to Mary. Listen to Tamar.
Sometimes being faithful means breaking the rules.
Sometimes creating hope means shattering the norms.
Sometimes the only path forward is reversing the roles.
Often those are the only way a new path is made, that is how
love is born, that is how the broken is made whole, that is salvation.
Jesus did it and changed the world.
Mary did it and changed the world.
Tamar did it and changed the world.
May we be so bold. May we be so righteous. Because in
doing so we too will change the world.
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