Happy Mothers Day, ladies, to those of you to whom that
applies. Things My Mother Taught Me:
- My mother taught me LOGIC: "If you fall off that swing and
break your neck, you can't go to the store with me."
- My mother taught me MEDICINE: "If you don't stop crossing
your eyes, they're going to freeze that way."
- My mother taught me ESP: "Put your sweater on; don't you
think I know when you're cold?"
- My mother taught me TO MEET A CHALLENGE: "Where's your
brother and don't talk with food in your mouth. Now answer
me."
- My mother taught me HUMOR: "When that lawn mower cuts your
toes, don't come running to me."
- My mother taught me CONSEQUENCES: "You're grounded and this
is what is best for you. You'll thank me one day." (1)
- And the best, Mom taught me about JUSTICE: "One day you'll
have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you."
Of course, Mom taught much more, but those will do for
starters. It would not surprise me to hear that Mom was the one
who first introduced you to church. Since the very beginning,
women have been crucial in sharing the gospel. As our lesson
from Acts reminds us, the first Christian group in Europe was a
Philippian Ladies Aid Society. The Easter story is clear that
women were the first witnesses to the resurrection. Quite
frankly, from the first day to THIS day, if it were not for the
women, there would be no church. It is that simple.
Here in the 16th chapter of Acts is the only place in
scripture where we are introduced to this disciple named Lydia
who could legitimately be called the "mother" of the church in
Europe - she was the first recorded convert on that continent.
We meet Lady Lydia in this encounter by the river as Paul and
Silas join her and her friends for worship. Then we meet her
again at the end of the chapter following the missionaries'
release from prison; they head to her house following their
incarceration in the Philippian jail, the incredible midnight
earthquake, and the miraculous conversion of the jailer and his
family.
Lydia herself is a person of some historical mystery. In
the interest of full disclosure, we are not absolutely positive
that "Lydia" is even her name. Acts identifies her as being "a
dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira." OK. Thyatira
was, in fact, a noted center for the manufacture of purple-dyed
products. But the city of Thyatira was located in a region known
as Lydia. Could this woman who hails from there have the name of
the region as a nickname? Possibly. But for simplicity's sake,
let us go with "Lydia" as her name and leave it there.
Now, this reference to PURPLE. For my generation purple
gets its importance from the first line from that wonderful poem
by Jenny Joseph - "Warning...When I am an old woman I shall wear
purple, with a red hat, which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me."
In Lydia's world, the color purple was significant because purple
clothing was the mark of wealth and royalty -- to be dressed in
purple was to boast of influence and power. The more purple the
better. In fact, in the Roman empire, the only one permitted to
wear an outfit that was exclusively purple was the Emperor Caesar
himself. Lydia had a close connection to the lifestyles of the
rich and famous.
Lydia had a home in Philippi but apparently she also had one
in Thyatira, the seat of her business. The two cities are about
250 miles apart. So, what you have is a picture of a woman who
is running a high-end purple fabric enterprise, headquartered in
Thyatira, but with an outlet at least in Philippi and who knows
how many other locations. It is certainly likely that she had
other operations throughout the vicinity as she traveled up the
coast and around from Thyatira to Philippi.
This second home in Philippi must have been quite large -
large enough for herself, for her whole household which would
include servants, children and parents, plus the space to house
several itinerant missionaries as well. Obviously, Lydia is a
well-to-do woman. To own one large house would indicate some
level of wealth, but two (or more) is significant. There is no
mention of a husband, so we are left to think that she has come
to this position on her own. In a world in which women did not
share anything remotely like an equal playing field with men, she
must have been something special.
What makes her MOST special, as far as we are concerned, is
her religious sensibility. Scripture says she was a "worshiper
of God." Scholars are not certain if this expression is being
used in the technical sense of a Gentile who worships the God of
the Jews but has not formally converted to Judaism. Perhaps she
had not converted because there was no Jewish community in
Philippi anyway - the reason they were worshiping down by the
riverside quite possibly was that there were not enough Jewish
men in the city to form a minyan, the quorum of ten that were
required for official synagogue worship. One way or the other,
this was obviously a woman of faith who was anxious to learn.
And because of that, "The Lord opened her heart to respond to
Paul's message." She and her whole household were baptized and
she followed that up with an invitation: "If you consider me a
believer in the Lord," she said, "come and stay at my house."
And, as the text has it, "she persuaded us."
As time would go on, Lydia's home became the center of
Christian mission activity in Philippi which explains why Paul
and Silas would head there following their jail experience. In
fact, the church in Philippi becomes one of the strongest in the
New Testament. No doubt, Lady Lydia had a great deal to do with
that.
This Philippian church held a special place in Paul's heart.
Sometime later, during his imprisonment in Rome, the Apostle
would write to his friends. He said, "as you Philippians know,
in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I
set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the
matter of giving and receiving, except you only." (2)
One more note: in the second chapter of Revelation, you find
a letter to the church in Thyatira. Paul never went to Thyatira,
yet there is a church there. How could that be? Well, one
possibility is that as Lydia traveled back and forth from her
business headquarters in that city, she shared her faith and a
new church was born.
This brief story of Lydia is remarkable for two things, the
first, less obvious, perhaps, than the second. First, this is
the story of the conversion and faithful discipleship of a
WEALTHY woman. In our time we have heard over and over and over
again of God's "preferential option" for the poor. Indeed,
scripture does talk more about the poor and our responsibility
toward the poor than almost anything else. You could take some
scissors and attempt to cut out all the references to the poor
from scripture and you would be left with a mish-mash of
spaghetti. But the story of Lady Lydia lets us know that the
gospel is not meant ONLY for the poor.
Just as the gospel is meant for both Jew and Gentile, so it
is meant for both poor and rich. In the Old Testament, Amos was
a wealthy landowner, Isaiah was welcomed in the court of kings.
In the New Testament, that rich rascal tax collector Zacchaeus
becomes the focus of Christ's attention, (3) and Luke tells us that
wealthy women supported the mission of Jesus and his disciples
out of their own pockets. (4) Lydia is just one more example.
No question, wealth can be a huge stumbling block on the
road to faith - Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter
the kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. (5)
Impossible? Not with God. But be aware, it CAN be done, but it
is very tough on the camel. "From everyone who has been given
much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been
entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (6) Lydia reminds us
that the good news of Jesus Christ is given to rich and poor
alike. We have only to receive it.
The second issue of note in this brief account is, as we
mentioned earlier, there is no mention of any husband in Lydia's
life. She is the head of her household, a woman. Lydia is but
one more example of the importance of women in the sharing of the
gospel.
Strangely, in an era when women were not second-class
citizens but maybe twenty-second-class, the early church seems to
have risen above its own cultural milieu and accorded them a
respect that later generations lost. Paul, for example,
instructed women in the Corinthian church to dress properly when
they led public prayers or preached, (7) but then subsequent periods
of Christians refused to allow women to preach at all - indeed,
in some churches, women are still kept back. To the church in
Galatia, Paul declared that in Christ there is neither Jew nor
Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female. (8) No
gender distinction. Lydia says AMEN!
Years ago, Hal Luccock, one of a previous generations' great
teachers of preachers, wrote about this scene:
It must seem at times that Paul made a poor return for
the help given him by the Philippi Ladies Aid Society.
He seems so slow to recognize the contribution, real
and potential of women to the cause of Christ.
Whatever may have been the causes for his attitude to
women, unquestionably his mind had a blind spot there.
The church inherited that blind spot. It has accepted
the great and unceasing material contributions of
women, but it has been stupid in failing to avail
itself of their measureless resources for spiritual
work. It has exploited women for money-making. Again
and again, thousands of times over, women have come to
the church with Paul's question on their lips, "Lord,
what wilt Thou have me to do?" The church has
answered, "Bake a chocolate cake or make a quilt." (9)
Truth be told, whether women held official leadership roles
in the church through the ages, they led anyway. In our nation,
women have dominated American churches from the beginning; church
records from the early colonial period document largely female
congregations. The weeping and wailing about the lack of men in
the pews that we have heard in recent years is really nothing
new. In the 1830's, the Rev. Sebastian Streeter observed,
"Christian churches are composed of a great disproportion of
females." And historian Ann Douglas notes in "The Feminization
of American Culture," the "19th-century minister moved in a world
of women." By the 1920's, the 60-40 gender split that is more or
less the norm today was firmly entrenched. (10) Is that a problem?
Perhaps. But the point is the church would have closed down long
ago were it not for the faithfulness of women. Thank you, Lady
Lydia.
In 1892 William Jennings Bryan was a freshman congressman.
Bryan was famous for his silver-tongued oratory but one day he
was stumped when a woman debated him. It was the first time
anybody saw William Jennings Bryan speechless. He had been
speaking that day on the Pilgrim fathers.
A lady named Mrs. Henrietta Szold pointed a finger at the
young Congressman and said, "Mr. Bryan, have you nothing to say
about the Pilgrim mothers?"
Bryan asked, "Why? What about them?"
She stood tall and replied, 'The Pilgrim mothers ought to be
saluted. They not only had to endure the same things the Pilgrim
fathers did; they had to endure the Pilgrim fathers as well."
Happy Mothers Day, ladies. And thank you for all that you
do.
Amen!
1. HOMILETICS, May-June, 2007, p. 19
2. Philippians 4:15
3. Luke 19:1-10
4. Luke 8:3
5. Matthew 19:24; Mark 10:25; Luke 18:25
6. Luke 12:48
7. 1 Corinthians 11:5
8. Galatians 3:28
9. Halford E. Luccock, The Acts of the Apostles in Present-Day Preaching, (New York :
Harper & Brothers, 1938), pp. 110-12
10. Christine Rosen, "Church Ladies: Women dominate America's pews. Is that a
problem?" Wall Street Journal, 10/21/05
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