Many years ago I heard a preacher/ professor named Wesley Tracy give a sermon with the title “Come Running with a Bucket” — inspired by a poem by Nancy Spiegelberg. To this day the title is still fresh in my mind, and the words are even more meaningful in the troubled times in which we live. His message focused on the lineage and ancestry of Jesus Christ. The people on the lists described in Matthew 1 are varied, and several had a pretty illustrious past. I was surprised to find a still existing, published version of the sermon, available online, in Preachers Magazine Volume 60, Number 1 (Sept. 1984)
Wes is no longer with us, but his message remains powerful. I am quoting from the article (from here to the end):
VI. What Does This Mean to Me?
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- It means that my race is no plus or minus so far as God is concerned. In God’s sight, being a white Anglo-Saxon gives me not one hint of an advantage over the simplest person in the jungles of South America. But my race gives me no disadvantage in comparison to any other son or daughter of Adam or Abraham.
- It means that my gender is no testimony to my personal and eternal worth.
- It also means my past failures and sins need not be final, and that my past self-righteous strivings cannot buy my salvation.
Now reducing this whole study down to one application, one truth that you can tuck in your heart and live by, I come to this: Most of all it means that— if Jesus claimed those four sinfully notorious women as His own (not on the sly) in His public credential statement, there can be no possible reason to think that He will reject you! If He claims a Moabite— oh, wretched, incestuous clan; if He claims Rahab of red-light fame; if He claims Bathsheba, that heartless adulteress; if He claims Tamar, is there a shred of evidence that He will reject you? No! No— a thousand times No!
You see, this is one reason why all this is in your Bible— Jesus is announcing to you that all the broken memories, all the wrong decisions you can’t undo, all the heartaches, all the wickedness— in short, all the sins of all the past can be put under the redeeming Blood, and you can be a child of the King. He wants to adopt you. All your sins of all your past have not weakened His Calvary love for you. Don’t let fear or guilt or pride or a broken heart keep you away from Him. Your sins make you feel guilty and ashamed. They make you want to shun His presence, but that’s when you need Him most. He assures us of His love through His teaching, through His example, through His preaching, through His precepts, through His invitations, and even through His genealogy. If He claimed sinners like Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba, and Tamar, He will accept your repentant and contrite heart. These four women have not exhausted His mercy. There’s grace and mercy aplenty for you. He will say of you what He said of each of these women: “You are one of Mine.” You can come to Him just as you are— and He will set you free.
Nancy Spiegelberg expressed it this way in a poem:
Lord, I crawled Across the barrenness to You With my empty cup Uncertain in asking any small drop of refreshment.
If only I had known You better, I would have come running with a bucket. (From Decision magazine. Used by permission.)
Too long you have borne the guilt and pain of sin. Come and let Him forgive and redeem you. There is no question, there is no doubt, that He will accept and forgive and redeem you too. Jesus, the Savior, will accept you just as you are, but He will not leave you just as you are. He will liberate you from the guilt and power of sin.
The fountain of grace is overflowing— come running with a bucket.
In our current age, none of us have any prerogative on the basis of race, gender, class or religion — in relation to God, or in relation to mankind. My rights are no greater than anyone else’s! Jesus’ pedigree was only important with respect to prophecy. The lineage of Jesus DID NOT MATTER. My lineage with respect to race, gender, class or religion is also irrelevant. Instead, the only important thing for us is God’s grace. Jesus accepts me as I am. He will free me from all my guilt and the power of sin.
