I’m no fool: I knew what I was doing, making the title as inflammatory as “two prostitutes, a pagan, and a princess.” I was hoping to be, not scandalous, but certainly eye-catching. I can appreciate that the title—specifically the usage of the word “prostitutes”—might have gone over the line, and if you were distracted by it, or felt it was inappropriate, etc, then I apologize. No one is asking me to say this, by the way; I was just thinking about it and wanted to be clear.
Having said that, I will defend the core thesis of the sermon. My goal was to show that the Lord used unlikely people to uphold the lineage of Jesus throughout the Old Testament.
You might be a lady with a spotty past. You might feel like your life choices make you incompatible with Divine service or that God won’t want to use you because you’ve made (or are making) too many bad decisions. No. God can and will use you. Turn to Him and He will work His will through you. A quick glance at some of the names in Jesus’ genealogy will prove that to be true. That was the point of the sermon.
Not every women in the story of the seedline of Jesus was as pure and noble as Mary.
Some were harlots.
Some laughed at God.
Some had no thought for the Lord at all.
Some were devout.
Some were sinful.
Some were old.
Some were young.
Everyone was different, but everyone was used by the Lord to bring about His marvelous good. That’s worth celebrating, in my opinion.
~Matthew