The Lord Jesus Christ's human bloodline included some very disappointing characters.  Today’s reading is a list of examples of how God used people, who were mostly not godly, to be ancestors of Jesus Christ.  It is the second section of the genealogy of Jesus – from David to the Exile in Babylon (Matthew 1:17).  King David should never have married Bathsheba and fathered Solomon: the king committed adultery with the boy's mother and had her husband killed (2 Samuel 12:11-14).  Solomon’s only son, Rehoboam, encouraged people to worship idols and the nation was split in two (1 Kings 14:21-26).  

Abijah gave the impression of being godly but did not truly worship the Lord (1 Kings 15:1-3).  Asa served the Lord for the first 35 years of his reign (1 Kings 15:9-15) but turned against the Lord in the last 5 years (2 Chronicles 16:1-13).  However, his son Jehoshaphat wanted to honour the Lord although he made some bad decisions and compromised his faith (2 Chronicles 20:1-12).  Jehoram brutally murdered his brothers and reigned wickedly (2 Chronicles 21:4).  Uzziah was an effective king until he became proud and God struck him with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21).  

Jotham was a good king but was unable to lead the people to love the Lord (2 Chronicles 27:1-2).  Ahaz was wicked throughout his reign (2 Chronicles 28:22-25); but his son Hezekiah was a godly man (2 Kings 18:5-6).  Manasseh worshipped idols and practised witchcraft (2 Kings 21:1-6), and his son Amon was worse (2 Kings 21:19-22).  Josiah was very different; he loved the Lord and established major spiritual reforms (2 Kings 22:1-2).  However, it was the sin of Jeconiah (also known as Jehoiachin) that finally tipped Israel into exile in Babylon (2 Kings 24:8-12).

You may think, how could God choose such wicked people to be the human ancestors of the Christ?  The answer is that their sins were the reason why Jesus had to come to die.  Matthew probably saw his own previously corrupt lifestyle mirrored in this list.  And yet Matthew knew the freedom of forgiveness through Jesus' death.  God chooses to use flawed people to achieve His purposes and Matthew was glad … and so should we be glad – otherwise none of us would have any hope.  So we should be encouraged that there is no sin so bad that God cannot work out His purpose through us.  Of course, He wants us to repent and cooperate with Him like Josiah and Hezekiah (they were greatly blessed by God), but He has the power to achieve His plan even through evil people (although they will face His judgement).