So, we've all seen those movies and TV shows. The ones were someone is having to make a decision and an angel appears on one shoulder and a devil appears on the other, and they argue back and forth, trying to get the decider to go their way. You know what I'm talking about.
Well, this weeks readings were like that. I mean, it seemed so easy and simple. The Gospel passage was 1) short, 2) familiar, and 3) starred a cute little kid. I could make a lot out of all that. And even if I couldn't, introducing a kid to the story is a lot like introducing a dog.
The audience spends all their time thinking of their own dogs that they stop listening and don't know if my sermon is any good or not. Perhaps you have noticed that I spend a lot of my sermons talking about Cotton, the dog.
Of course, Jesus and the kid was the way to go, no doubt about it.
And the reading from James? All that stuff about conflict and envy? People who crave power and use the cloak of Jesus to get it? Well, that seemed almost too easy. I mean, seriously.
But then it happened: I started arguing with myself like the angel and the devil. What about Proverbs, I would ask. Are you just going to leave it sitting there? People heard it. Do you want them to think you're afraid to touch it?”
“The Gospel has a kid in it,” said the other part of me. “Remember how they like those.” “And James is so 'today.' Back and forth I went. Proverbs orJames or Gospel? Proverbs or James or Gospel?
Soooooo.....
Our Old Testament reading of Proverbs is one of those that anybody with a lick of sense would ignore. It sounds clangy to our modern ears and is troubling to 21st century people who assume equality in marital relationships or who feel alienated from it's description of class and gender roles.
Why are we talking about a good wife? Why not a good husband? Surely after all this time we can be gender neutral and talk about a good spouse?
And let's face it. This passage makes you tired just reading about it. The capable wife does all the shopping and all the sewing. She goes out and gathers the food. She gets up early, she buys the land and plants on it. She harvests it. She runs the household. She makes the investments. She is secure in what she accomplishes. She is a good counselor, she reaches out to the needy. She has strength and dignity and wisdom. She is loved and trusted.
This is too much, right? Who can possibly do all of this?
Well, the simple fact is, no woman can do all this. And even in the Bible, never is this passage trotted out to shame a woman (as in, “you can't even do half of what the woman in Proverbs can do!”). And never is this passage used to praise a woman (like “you've got Proverbs 31 written all over you!).
And that's because I don't think this reading is actually meant to give us a checklist of what a woman should be able to do. I don't think it should be something that makes a woman feel guilty because she can't do it all. None of us can do it all.
What this makes this passage unique is that the capable woman is her own agent.
She is not a derivative being, whose identity is a consequence of her husband's, or whose status depends on his. Nor is there any claim that her virtue lies in her submission to her husband and his direction.
Her virtue and worth are a result of her own agency, her actions and choices. She leads her own life rather than following someone else's. She pursues her own ends rather than obeying orders. There is no hint that her industry is not her own, that she is demure or deferential, or that her pursuits are directed by others.
Never, in this entire passage, is the husband ordering her around.
It is she who rises to work; She buys. She invests, She provides. She creates. She who cultivates. It is she who provides a way for others to live. Her husband’s praise is well-deserved, because she’s earned it!
And notice, this passage doesn't say anything about her appearance or physical appeal. There is nothing about her laugh, her weight, shape, make-up or make-over.
We don't ask, “Has she achieved younger-looking skin?" Does she "bulge in the wrong places?" Does she know "what not to wear?" We'll never know, because that's not what provides worth to this woman of wisdom. In fact the closing verse reminds us that "beauty is vain," not something women in today's America.
She is praised for the content of her character and the excellence of her endeavors rather than what her skin looks like.
And while being THIS woman is impossible, being like this woman is not. Even in the Bible. From Sarah to Ruth. From Naomi to Mary. From Martha to Phoebe. Wherever there are women in the Bible (even when they are “bad girls”) they are their own person. With few exceptions, they act on their own. They have their own relationships and their own wills.
How have we missed this over the centuries? How have we missed the amazing example that our Biblical mothers and matriarchs have given us? Why have we never stopped and asked how we can be more like these women? Women who act of their own will to seek the best for others: their families, their children, their communities.
Male or female, black or white, gay or straight, conservative or liberal, rich or poor. This passage in Proverbs, in reality encourages people of all varieties to seek the best for those they love, those who depend on them, and the community at large.
This passage tells us to go beyond self-concern and to identify our well-being with the well-being of others. We are to praise, affirm, honor, and look for the best in one another, not tear them down and toss them outside into the outer darkness.
And, truly loving God – putting God at the center of our lives – as James would say, is the foundation of this care for others. When we truly love God, we love others – not power; and we love God by loving others – not by stigmatizing them.
We love God by giving all that we are and all that we have to others, to God. We love God by being good stewards of all we have and sharing that with each other – not by taking and hording and grifting. This is what makes the woman in Proverbs capable and worthy. This is what makes US capable and worthy.
Jesus presents a vision of worthiness in the Gospel reading. Being capable and worthy are not found in power or wealth or degradation, but in service and lifting up and care for the vulnerable. They are matters of character, of sharing and giving. This great woman in Proverbs, this woman as a leader, truly cares for others and embodies that care in her everyday life. No one is beyond her care.
And that's why we come here as a church. And that's why we give back to the church.
Because it represents a way for all of us, as a caring group of believers in Jesus' vision, to give of ourselves for others. To work for others. To fight for others. To invite them in and care for them.
To bring them in and show them God's love. To make them welcome and encourage them to live in a new way, for a new nation and a new kingdom and for a new, gentle, loving savior.
A savior who finds ALL of us capable and worthy. A savior who is willing to give all of himself so that we can give all of ourselves.
You've heard me preach this again and again: Loving God and loving our neighbor. Giving of ourselves is how we do that. Not being nice to each other. Not being polite.
But emptying of ourselves for others, working hard and leading, so we can be filled with the Spirit of God.
That's hard, but the Woman of Proverbs is called to do that.
And it's what James calls us to do, too. To take the risk of giving. To take the risk of loving. To take the risk of standing up to hatred and division and injustice all around us.
To stop arguing and start loving, start serving, just like Jesus commands us. Today and every day.
Well, I'll be darned. When I started this, I didn't think I could do work in all three lessons: Gospel and James and Proverbs.
Now if I'd just been able to work in a Cotton, the dog, story.
Amen.