When I read the newspapers or an article online, I will scroll though it. We all do. But actually, most often, I will just skim it. Scrolling is very prone to skimming. I pick the article because I think it’s important for me to know the news it reports or because I think the subject matter is something I should know. I mean I sort of want to know the poll numbers as we approach the November election and what the pundits say is happening and why the liberals or the conservatives are screwed up. Or I’d love to know about the latest technology that will scan the zillions of clay cuneiform tablets that archaeologists have unearthed and so very carefully laid in cotton and boxed. And that’s not all.
But in scrolling, that is, skimming, I just breeze through. Can I tell you what is actually written? To tell the truth, I often cannot. I find that, essentially, I’ve wasted my time. Without intention and patience, I haven’t really read the article and I haven’t thought about it.
I’ve thought about scrolling and skimming in the context of reading the Bible. I admit that sometimes I end up skimming. Oh, that parable about the seeds that fall on the stony ground and so forth. (e.g., Matthew 13:1-9) I’ve heard that one before. I know it like the palm of my hand, right? Well, no. Sometimes I’m very wrong. Or sometimes I approach a passage with preconceptions. Take the ode to love in First Corinthians, chapter 13. Well, all is love, and God is love, and all’s well, right? But what about faith and hope, love’s companion virtues? And what is love anyway? What about seeing through the glass darkly? What about putting away the toys of childhood? That’s all there somewhere, too, right?
I am trying to approach today’s passage from Proverbs with a little bit more attention. We can skim it as just lovely language about the lovely lady of the house. We can approach it with a touch of anger because we say, this is pure patriarchy, and I’m not getting stuck in that rut. I’m not a trad wife! But I do want to beware of the friendship between skimming and failing to understand; or the possible conflict between meaning and preconception.
So, let’s check this passage out. I learned that the passage is an original part of the Book of Proverbs, but it is also a poem in and of itself. It is what’s called an “abecedarian” poem. That is, the first letter of each line tells out the Hebrew alphabet. It is also a song of praise. I will admit that it is just a teensy bit patriarchal. I think that, in its historical context, it rather has to be so. And, look, the praise is not for a subservient housekeeper. This perfect wife labors, but she also gives to the poor, she sells what the household makes, she buys property and plants a vineyard, she is to have a share in what she creates. Her sons stand up and bless her. Her works lead to respect for her even at that place where, in ancient times, governance and judgment occur, that is, the city gates. Importantly, she is wise.
Remembering always the context that in those days both men and women were expected to marry, this passage does not portray a woman who is passive or dependent. She is an essential part of her working community. That is, she is economically valuable. Her example inspires her kin and her people. And I think we have a lot of this inspiration here at Saint Alban’s. Why? The leadership of this church consists of more women than men. Saint Alban’s is the vineyard that they have at least partially purchased. I mean, there are men, too. But today of all days when we read this poem to the perfect wife, let’s applaud the women in our kinship.
The passage from Proverbs reminds me of some political speeches and remarks that I have heard recently. Here, too, women have been praised as inspiration and foundation even if they were, strictly speaking, homebodies. Mr. Vance has consistently praised his grandmother for the rock that she provided. Mr. Obama praised his grandmother in Peru, Kansas, for her example to him when he was young. Ms. Harris has praised her own mother over and over. The women that were mentioned in the speeches of these politicians were a people with diverse backgrounds. There may not have been a husband in the home. The women may have had to make their own economic way. But the women made sure that they taught endurance, improvement, productivity, and compassion. These are the very lessons that the wife and mother in proverbs gives. It is why, as the poem states, her sons stand up and proclaim her blessed.
I said just a little while ago that the woman who is wise is the one who is declared praiseworthy (Proverbs 31:30). The wisdom of this woman bookends the whole Book of Proverbs. I say this because the spirit of the book or its metaphorical inspiration is a woman called Wisdom. Towards the beginning of the Book, the author writes: Wisdom cries aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares; she calls out at the street corners, she delivers her message at the city gates. (Proverbs 1:20-21) And note how at the very end of the book, in the last verse, it says: . . . and let her works tell her praises at the city gates. (Proverbs 31:31) That is, at the very place where Wisdom delivers her message at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs. Again remembering that there is a historical and cultural context for the Book of Proverbs, the structure of the book itself tells us that it is not only men that have power, but that women in the natural course of things have great power also.
And we have to remember too that, ideally, men are brought up to power with difficulty: most of the book of proverbs between these female bookends is essentially about a father teaching a son not to behave like an idiot.
The Book of Proverbs says a lot. But I think that part of what it says is a call for a kind of idealism. This idealism is an aspiration for the joint and mutually respectful lives of the sexes. In this sense, the book is exceptionally modern. A way to see the book’s idealism is to turn the poem in Chapter 31 by 180 degrees. What I mean is to reverse the gendered pronouns so that every time there is the word “she”, we put in the word “he”. It doesn’t work perfectly, but here are some examples. Verses 10 through 12 would read: A capable husband who can find? He is far more precious than jewels. The heart of his wife trusts in him, and she will have no lack of gain. He does her good and not harm all the days of his life. Verse 16: He considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of his hands he plants a vineyard. Verse 20: He opens his hand to the poor, and reaches out his hands to the needy. Verse 27: He looks well to the ways of his household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Switching pronouns here is just an exercise, and it’s kind of fun. I am not recommending rewriting the Bible to match your taste! But it slowed me down here when I was skimming and preconceiving.
I note that today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark also speaks to joint and mutually respectful lives. And I think that means joint and mutually respectful lives between the genders. In the Gospel, the disciples had been arguing with one another about which of them was the greatest. This, of course, goes on in public discourse all the time. Did you watch the debate between Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump? Jesus tells the twelve that if a person wants to be the greatest or the first, he must be the servant of all. This is Jesus’ own stance of servanthood in the world of the Incarnation. It takes everything out of categorization and into the world of pure togetherness. Jesus also implies, for me, that to be the greatest means not to accept or to approve of some man or some woman, or to over-estimate one’s gender, but to take up and welcome a child in his name. I have to use a loaded word here, a word I usually prefer not to use. But here goes. The welcoming of the child, of each other, with wisdom, is the true “equality” that should underlie our world. This erasure of categories for the sake of Jesus’ world is a really radical message. It’s hard to conceive of and hard to live. As people said to Jesus in another context, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” (John 6:16) Are we perfect? Well, not me! Let’s start by not skimming!
Amen
