Following is a sermon I delivered for Mothers Day, May 12, 2013 at Pocatello First United Methodist Church.
Today’s Scripture is meant to honor
women, but I must admit that when I listen to it, I don’t hear the honor. I
feel the burden. If this is meant as a check off list of what the perfect woman
is suppose to do, how can I ever measure up? The standard seems impossible! It
makes the modern idea of the “superwoman” who has it all seem downright easy!
It goes along with the saying, “Man may work from sun to sun, but a woman’s
work is never done.” It sounds so … oppressive.
But I want to get back to the idea
that this was meant to honor women,
not oppress them. It is traditional for this passage to be recited as funerals
for Jewish women. Puzzling.
I think there are two things that we
need to keep in mind. One, this is a poem; so perhaps, we’re not supposed to
take every line at face value. The other thing is that it is from the book of Proverbs.
Most of Proverbs is made up of short pithy statements that are intended to be
used as guidelines. One of my favorite passages in the Bible comes from
Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not
on your own understanding.” The statements are presented as absolutes, but they
are not necessarily intended to be applied without thought, without Wisdom.
But Wait, There's More ...
But Wait, There's More ...
Let me pull out a couple of examples
from Proverbs Chapter 10, “The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry but …
thwarts the craving of the wicked.” We
know that righteous people do go
hungry. In fact, the Law, the prophets and Jesus tell us to take care of the
poor and hungry. We also know that it seems like “wicked” people get a lot of
what they want, often at the expense
of the hungry.
The next verse has a similar theme,
“Lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.” Sometimes yes, and perhaps it would be true
in a perfect world, but we have to deal with sin and evil, so life isn’t always
fair.
Because this advice can’t be applied
blindly, the book of Proverbs itself talks about Woman Wisdom an aspect or creation of God. We are invited to spend
time and live with her. Reflect on the sayings and meditate on them as they
compare with commands and directions in other parts of the Bible. So, this poem
concludes the book of Proverbs as an idealized vision of what it could look
like if Woman Wisdom applied the proverbs in a balanced way.
Let’s take a look at this more
closely. Woman Wisdom certainly isn’t oppressed. She moves seamlessly between
home and the business world. When you think that this was written in about the
6th Century BCE, it features a woman doing things that I don’t
normally associate with women of that time and culture. You have to be
impressed with her freedom of movement, her involvement in all aspects of
society.
Then again, I don’t know why I am
surprised. Women may not be featured as frequently in the Bible as men, but
they are invariably strong women. When you think of Sarah who followed Abraham
from fashionable city life into the wilderness. For all she knew, he could have
been hearing voices instead of God. Queen Esther, who confronted the king and
his chief advisor to save her people. Mary the Mother of Jesus, who opened herself
to shame and ridicule as an unwed mother. To the women who came to Jesus’ tomb
on Easter morning. There are so many others. I could go on and on. It just goes
to show that the limits of culture and convention are not God’s intension.
And still, you look at all that Woman
Wisdom is doing here. The bar seems so high. Can we ever make it? I want to
talk about someone else who presents a very high standard. He is the reason we
are here this morning. Jesus. Whether you are here because you are curious about
it, want to learn more about Jesus, or consider yourself a follower of Jesus,
his disciple – That is why we are
here. He gives us an example of behavior, ideas, and deeds that seem impossible
to duplicate. Healing, feeding, resurrecting (others, not just himself),
restoring, forgiving, being sinless?
Whoa! Now, that’s a high bar!
Perhaps, it’s his resurrection and
ascension into heaven that helps us to realize that we cannot do all of the things Jesus did on our own.
We also have Paul’s teachings, as
we’ve been hearing in recent weeks from Pastor Craig that together we make up the body of Christ. Together, we do the things
of Jesus and greater, as Jesus says in John Chapter 14. Between us with our unique gifts and talents,
we can do it. We aren’t asked to do everything,
individually and alone.
Now, let’s look back at the poem in
Proverbs, “What can find a woman of worth? Far beyond jewels is her value.”
What if we consider this Scripture in the same light as we do the example of
Jesus? Not something to oppress women or overwhelm them, but as something to inspire? Demonstrating the avenues of
possibility? Illustrating what we all can do together?
One of the difficulties with this
Scripture is that it uses images outside our modern context, but what if it was
updated for the 21st Century? Listen to a version of Proverbs 31
adapted from Jenny Schweyer:
10Who can find a woman of worth? Yes, she is worth far more than the annual salary of any high paid corporate executive who works for a Fortune 500 company.
11Her family has full confidence in her ability to remember dentist appointments, mend broken Barbie dolls and replace flat bicycle tires, lead the elementary school PTA, drop the children off at swimming lessons and karate class, return the library books on time, pick up socks, check the mail, fend off telemarketers and door to door salespeople, and get dinner prepared.
12She brings benefit, not strife, to the people around her all the days of her life.
13She selects the ripest fruit at the supermarket and taps the watermelon expertly to make sure it will please her young children.
14She is like the giant rigs which bring food from the far corners of the country, over highways and yes, even from across the ocean.
15She gets up while it is still dark and drives her sons to hockey practice. She comes home, takes a shower, puts on makeup, feeds her children breakfast, packs their lunches in an array of brightly colored, environmentally-friendly reusable cloth lunch bags (except for the eldest, who is much too cool for reusable lunch bags), all before the school bus arrives at 8:00 am.
16She considers opening her own business, and reinvests her earnings to help it grow.
17She sets about even heavy household chores with strength and vigor, for she works out every other day with weights and jogs 3 miles four times each week.
18She enjoys the profit from her business; and her electric bill is always paid on time so that her power is never shut off by the electric company.
19In her hands she holds a cell phone, which she uses to keep track of the comings and goings of her family members, and also to conduct her business, except when she is driving, for then she uses a Bluetooth so that her hands always rest firmly on the steering wheel, because safe driving does please her greatly.
20She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. [Okay, I didn’t make any changes to that verse. lol]
21She earns enough to clothe her whole family for the winter, yes, even her daughters in UGG boots and her sons in Abercrombie & Fitch.
22She buys bedcoverings at discount prices, for she is a savvy shopper and knows where to find the best linens for a bargain.
23Her family is greatly respected in the city, and she stands by them as they run for city council, maybe even seeking office herself.
24She sells merchandise to her customers, and even makes a profit on eBay.
25She is dignified enough to maintain her cool, even when a traffic jam makes her late for work, and worries not about her future, for she is savvy with money and shrewd with balancing the books.
26She is full of wisdom, and gives sound instruction to her family on many subjects, yes, even dating advice.
27She manages the affairs of her household and keeps track of important dates on her calendar, yes, also on her Blackberry so that she forgets not even one basketball game or hair appointment.
28Her family arises and says “Way to go!” to her and they praise her to all who listen.
29“Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.”
30Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who loves and follows the LORD is to be praised.
31 Give her everything she deserves! Let everyone hear of her greatness!
Okay, does that make it less or more intimidating? Well, if we don’t
expect every woman to do all of those
things, but realize that all of these things are done by women, everyday, we
can look on this passage not as something to be a heavy weight on our
shoulders, but as a model that shows us the opportunities … That honors mothers
and all women and the service they offer the world. We don’t have to avoid it
or be afraid of it. We can claim it
with a sense of empowerment. In it we can see that there is nothing that women
can’t do.
The Good News is that this is an
ideal. We are all called, man or woman, to dwell with Woman Wisdom to learn how
to apply the lessons of the Lord to our lives. We can aspire. We can try. We
are imperfect, but we can get better. We are lifted up by a God that is on our
side. We have a God that accepts us as we are but is not content to leave us
where we are. We can have confidence because we know that through Jesus Christ,
we are forgiven and provided with another opportunity to try again … and again.
We are forgiven because Jesus loves us and made the ultimate sacrifice of death
on a cross … and given new life through his resurrection. On Easter morning,
the woman came expecting to find the dead body of their failed hope, but the
tomb was empty. Expectations were shattered. The possibilities in new life are
limitless. There is no differentiation. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave
nor fee, male nor female. We are all one through Jesus Christ our Lord! Glory
to God!
Amen!
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