What I Take Away from the Tamar Story
#CCLB Voices: Jason Brown (co-founding pastor of City Church)
To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what we’re supposed to learn from the story of Tamar in Genesis 38. I say this because the story is very old and originally told not only in a different language but a completely different cultural setting. When I’m reading stories from the Old Testament, I typically get the feeling that the original listeners understood a lot more than I do.
Caveats aside, I suppose what I like about this story is that Tamar stuck it to the man. This is a bit ironic since I represent “The Man” in our culture (educated, white and male). Nevertheless, I like the fact that the one who had power and status was brought low while the one who had none was revealed as more clever, more tenacious and more moral. Judah himself admits that she is better than him. This storyline never gets old.
What do I take from this? Well, at the most basic level, I don’t want to be like Judah. I don’t want to even be close to a position where my cluelessness, self-absorption and lack of empathy would make people cheer were I to be taken down. This is always a danger. I think the best ways of mitigating this possibility are close friendships with wise and generous people who know you and can shoot you straight, and a commitment to honest conversation (confession?) with God on a regular basis. Easy to say. Hard to do.
The other thing I think about is one of the great themes of the Bible – the outsider shows the insider up. It’s all over the place. I think this is God’s way of keeping the community that follows Jesus humble, curious and grateful.
Who is the outsider? Well, that depends on who you are. If you are politically conservative, it means that truth will show up in the form of a liberal. If you’re more politically liberal, it might show up in a close-minded conservative. If you’re religiously traditional, it means you might learn something about God and the nature of ultimate reality from a progressive. And, if you consider yourself progressive, it might come from an unlikely friendship with someone whose religious beliefs offend you. You get the picture. It’s whoever represents the outsider to you.
Perhaps we can remain open to the possibility that God wants to reveal something good and real to us through the outsider. Perhaps we can remain open to the possibility that God wants to write them into the Story in the role of hero.