What’s a poor preacher-man to do, when his preacher-wife is coming to church, and the first words out of the lector’s mouth will be “A capable wife who can find?” No doubt it will be a cause for great mirth among the congregation. Several years ago we went to a service where the scheming scheduler had arranged for the priest’s husband to read “Women should be silent in church,” much to the amusement of everyone.
What really struck me about Sunday’s reading from Proverbs, however, is how little it supports the traditional cultural model of the stay-at-home wife whose entire life revolves around her husband. Yes, “she rises while it is still night and provides food for her household.” (Not even the promise of Peet’s is enough to convince R to get up in the dark.) But she also buys a vineyard and plants it. She sells merchandise and plans for the future. She is not dependent on her husband for her identity; instead, Proverbs implies that it is because of her reputation that “her husband is known in the city gates, taking his seat among the elders in the land.”
It is the woman’s wisdom that is especially praised, however, and her kindness to the poor and needy. Those biblical qualities are much more important that superficial appearances. “Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Talk about counter-cultural!
James picks up on the concept of wisdom, contrasting holy wisdom with “earthly, unspiritual, devilish” actions born of “envy and selfish ambition.” James often gets hammered because he is so focused on what one does – Martin Luther hated what he called James’ “works-righteousness” – yet if one reads closely, James is saying nothing more than one’s inner life is revealed in one’s outward actions. Even Jesus said that!
The Gospel has an excellent illustration of what James is talking about. Jesus has once more predicted his betrayal and death, and how do his disciples respond? They get into an argument about which one of them is the greatest. They are driven by envy and selfish ambition. When Jesus calls them on it, they hang their heads and can’t say a word. So he goes into teacher mode and gives them a lesson, complete with an illustration. If you want to be great, he says, you’d better act with humility, as though you were a servant of everyone else. Look at this child, he says. If you welcome this child in my name, you welcome me and the One who sent me.
So, do we conflate the readings and say “A capable wife must be last of all and servant of all”? Hardly. I wouldn’t say that even if R weren’t listening! It’s simply not true to the biblical witness. All of us, male and female, are to respect God, care for the poor and needy, and examine our actions for what they reveal about our inner thoughts. For cultural reasons, it is probably the case that males need to focus more on being servants of all (to counter pride) and females on how capable the woman of Proverbs is (to counter self-doubt). Yet as Paul writes, in Jesus Christ there is neither male nor female. All have fallen short of who God created us to be, and all of us are in need of amendment of life.
Now if I can just figure out how to wake up to the smell of pumpkin chocolate-chip muffins.
Pentecost 16: Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
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3 comments:
One of the times when I almost threw my job to the wind and walked out on a sermon was when this Proverbs lesson showed up three years ago, and we heard a sermon by a notable female clergy (not resident in this parish) deconstructing the passage as patriarchal oppression at its worst. This is what MEN think women ought to be, and it has worn out generations of women who have worked themselves to death to try and live up to this impossible standard.
The rector here said in our meeting that the elderly women in his midweek Bible study at a retirement home this week agreed. But one of them made an interesting suggestion which he passed on to me; perhaps this is a description of Sophia, who has played such a prominent role throughout the book. This is what it looks like when a woman (or man, for that matter) lives a life filled with Sophia.
We have a fine hymn for the Gospel lesson, from Voices Found, number 70: "One small child," by Shirley Erena Murray, about whom I have written recently. I commend it to you, though I have no idea if it would work in your situation.
Here is stanza two:
"Upside down, downside up,
go our perceptions of who's the greatest:
'Take my word, trust my word
as readily as this small child.'"
One could view the Proverbs passage as a prophecy of Our Lady as she lived the life of a housewife and mother. The end of the passage, especially, has resonance in this light:
"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." (v. 28-29)
Just a thought. . . .
I believe I may know that priest who almost caused you to lose your job.
Many of the New Testament writers saw prophecies about Jesus Christ in the Old Testament; indeed, he was called the fulfillment of those prophecies. As far as I know, that did not extend to other NT figures. Maybe it is my Lutheran blood, but I would be very reluctant to say that there are such prophecies about the BVM. I'd rather say that Mary reflected the best values of her Jewish heritage (including those held up in Proverbs).
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