In Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus Christ we find 4 “not so illustrious” names. So far we have seen the first two – Tamar and Rahab. Now we come to the third one – Ruth. Why did Matthew include her? Because Ruth had three strikes against her – she was poor, a widow, and a Moabite. None of this interfered with God’s plan of grace on Ruth’s life. He saved her and grafted her into Jesus’ genealogy. He can do the same for us today.