There are definitely weeks that when look at the scripture readings they sort of jump off the page and slide into some good words for a reflection or sermon. That is not in my opinion what we have this week. Nothing jumped anywhere. How do priests do this each week and still give us good information?
The Proverbs reading is one that I looked at earlier in the week and wondered how could I possibly write anything in a good light on a virtuous wife. What comes to mind here is a fairy tale? What woman has time to do all this and have a life too. This is 2021 after all. and yes, I do realize that this was written many years ago. When I read this I think of Mrs. Cleaver from the old show, Leave it to Beaver or Mrs. Brady from the Brady Bunch. Both of these characters from television shows were home in dresses with smiles on their faces and just seemed to be happy most of the time, rarely a hair out of place. So like I said, fairy tale type.
But, is this the only way we can look at this reading. I am going to take it in an entirely different direction and I apologize in advance if you think I am stretching things. In a sermon not long ago, Sheila mentioned that sermons are opinions, so this is my opinion only.
If we look at the happy, dutiful wife and change it to a happy, dutiful Christian, how does that work?
When you have a moment read the scripture passage again thinking Christian and not a wife. Some lines will work and others not so much.
Starting at the first line. “A capable wife who can find” …
I have heard people who have said something similar to this about Christians. That some can be a bit two sided. Christians in the church but not outside the church. We need to make sure we are not that way in our lives.
Many of the lines in this reading can be translated in a “person doing things for Jesus” and not a husband. God trusts each of us to do what Jesus was put on this earth to teach us to do. We all need to do things that show God’s love for everyone and it is not a part time job. It should not be switched off like a light switch when it isn’t convenient for us to follow Je- sus. It isn’t always easy but as long as we are truly trying then we are in the right direction. We have to believe in ourselves that we are equipped to be a good Christian and with prayer and the strength of God behind us we can do more than we can even imagine.
The reading has a line “she opens her mouth with wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue”. We have the knowledge to keep being good Christians, sometimes we have to think twice about what we may say or how we say it.
I always remember as a kid, when my mother would get angry with me for what I had said. I would look at her and say “What did I say that was so wrong?” Her answer would be that it wasn’t what I said but it was the tone I said it in. A tone can make the whole conversation different than how it was intended.
It isn’t always tone that can get us into trouble, but also how we do things. I have done jobs in the past because they needed to be done, however I wasn’t always happy about doing some of them and it is possible that the way I did the task showed that I wasn’t quite thrilled to be doing it. I think if we all, when taking on any job, we do it with as much joy as we can, remembering that Jesus himself had some lesser than pleasant jobs to do, but did so with respect for all.
So let’s all work towards being virtuous Christians. That is… striving for honesty, courage, compassion, generosity, integrity and self-control as we pick up our crosses and follow Jesus.