The scarlet thread

The Scarlet Thread

Only Matthew found it necessary to include a genealogy at the beginning of his gospel. The Old Testament includes many genealogies – like the one at the end of the book of Ruth – usually included to demonstrate the way a line of people leads to a triumphant conclusion, or to show the wonderful background that the last named person could look back on. The studious Jewish readers of Matthew’s gospel will have looked carefully at the way that Matthew established a connection from Abraham (the Father of the faith) to Jesus. Matthew took care to show that Joseph welcomed Mary as his wife and that it was Joseph who gave a name to her child. In doing so, Joseph was acknowledging Jesus as his own, and whether or not he was the biological father of the child, Jesus inherited all that this long and impressive lineage promised.

In the line of male names Matthew names five women. Many of the mothers who stood behind the men in the genealogy are unknown to us and were unknown to Matthew. Some of the women do appear in scripture, but Matthew does not consider them significant enough to mention. So what is so special about these five women that Matthew draws our attention to them?

Tamar’s elder twin is marked by a scarlet thread; her younger twin – who is nevertheless the first born (it must have been a horrendous birth experience for her) is the one who becomes part of the pathway to Jesus. He and his brother are symbols of a promise that has finally been honoured because she made it so.

Rahab’s scarlet thread also reminds a group of men of a promise – this time not of marriage and the continuing of a family name, but of the protection of life in days of invasion.

Her thread saves not only Rahab but also her family, and they begin a new life as followers of the Living God and members of his family.

Ruth’s husband Boaz could be considered the product of the promise of salvation offered to Rahab. Ruth herself demonstrates keeping a promise in a committed way that sets an example for God’s people. Ruth lives out her loyalty to Naomi and Naomi’s God, never going back on her promise of commitment to her loved friend.

If the scarlet thread is about promise and salvation, it seems strained almost to breaking point when Ruth’s great-grandson David enters the story. Bathsheba – the wife of Uriah in Matthew’s list – is made to break her marriage promises by David. David makes another promise to Bathsheba – that her second son by him, Solomon, will inherit the throne of Israel (1 Kings 1: 17). When it seems that David will go back on this promise, Bathsheba is the one who ensured that he kept it. Bathsheba is in a way a symbol of the pain that comes from breaking promises, and yet she keeps her own integrity.

Mary carries the promise of God to all people. Within her the scarlet thread of the promise of salvation becomes flesh and blood.

Mary’s life is no easier than any of the other women in Matthew’s list. It is just as full of scandal (or potential scandal); relationship difficulties and painful loss. The scarlet thread which offers hope comes with added sorrow and trouble for every one of the five women. They emerge as women who are powerful examples of faith and resilience against the odds.

Read    Matthew 1: 1-17; Luke 15: 1-2

_______________________________________________

Consider

In Luke 15 Jesus welcomes sinners, and the Pharisees didn’t like it. To their minds, a person had to be perfectly clean and pure before God would accept them, since God is perfectly clean and pure. Sinners don’t get to come before the God of the Pharisees. But that was not how Jesus saw things. Jesus showed us that God loves us now, as we are. It is responding to God’s love that enables us to change and become better people – we don’t have to be the better people first before we are loved. Jesus didn’t just tell us this, he showed it by his own behaviour in welcoming people while they were still unclean and impure.

Three of the women we have studied were involved in sexual sin; one in deliberate prostitution, one in deception and one was an adulteress (even though she may not have chosen to become one). God loves them just as much as the other two. All five women are beloved of God, and it is perhaps interesting that it is the woman who one might be most likely to condemn as a sinner for her lifestyle (Rahab) who is upheld in the New Testament as an example of faith.

When Mary prayed with the women who followed Jesus, they included women who were considered to be ‘sinners’ – perhaps very much like Rahab had been. Their lives may well have included the chaos, sorrow, exploitation, vulnerability or sin that we find in the lives of Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Jesus welcomed ordinary people and loved them, just as they were.

More than that, he offered these ordinary, unclean, impure women and men the chance to become adopted sons and daughters of God. They would be welcome in the presence of the clean and pure Living God, because God loves them and includes them in His family.

The offer and the welcome has not changed. Ordinary ‘sinners’ today are welcomed by Jesus and by His family. Or they should be. The challenge in many churches today is to behave like Jesus and not like the Pharisees. It is all too easy to see people and decide that we don’t want to keep company with them because of their past behaviour. We find we’re uncomfortable around someone with a prison record, or the needle marks in the arms that testify to a drug habit, or the scars that suggest violent encounters in the past. We worry about what kind of influence they will be on our children. And we fail to make them welcome.

By including these women Matthew reinforces Jesus’ message of welcome and salvation for all people. He reminds us that the saviour of all is descended from prostitutes, adulterers, and foreigners; from killers and spies; from kings and handymen. The scarlet thread ties us to them and to Jesus, who brings salvation to all.

Question

1)   What made each of our five women unique?

2)   What common attributes did you find between the women?

3)   Was there one woman you found particularly interesting or appealing? Or whose story spoke to you in a helpful way? What was it about her story that you found interesting or helpful?

4)   Why do you think Matthew chose to leave some women out? Would you have included Sarah, Rebecca and Leah in the list? What are your reasons?

5)   Why do you think these women are important to the background story of Jesus?

The Scarlet Thread

All the women that Matthew points us to are there because of their sons, a thread of men ending with the most important man who was ever born. And yet Matthew has not included them solely because of their sons. If that had been his only motivation, then other mothers whose names are known would appear – Sarah, Rebecca, Leah. No, in drawing our attention to these five women, Matthew is pointing to more than just the fruit of their wombs. He is looking at the women themselves. There are qualities in these women, things to learn from their actions or their responses to what happens to them, which tell us something about the quality of the Messiah. The threads that you have been drawing together during the previous five studies will help as you consider how the thread connects them to Jesus.

What qualities did they possess that Jesus also valued? What precedents did they set that were reflected in the life of Jesus? As he moved towards the hard final days of his passion, how did the scarlet thread that connected them show up in his words and actions?