The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the first lesson appointed for this day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
You see them being interviewed on CNN and PBS. You can hear their opinions on the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. You can read their comments in Time and Newsweek. They have clerical collars around their necks and the titles of Rev. and Dr. and now even Bishop before their names. Who are they? They are feminist theologians and clergy and church leaders.
Usually when you hear them and see them on TV and read their words in various print media they are castigating the church for its patriarchal past and criticizing the church for its outdated, antagonistic views on women. And my response when I see and hear them on TV and read their words is always the same: why don’t you actually open up and a Bible and read it.
And when you do so, what any honest student of the Bible will find-- with even a brief reading of Holy Scripture-- is that God tells the story of his love for the world not just in the lives of Adam and Abraham and Joseph and Paul and the Twelve--but also in the lives of Eve and Sarah and Mary and in the faithful women of the cross and empty tomb—in the life of Lydia who we hear about in our first lesson today.
It is abundantly clear in Holy Scripture that the story of God’s love and grace and forgiveness is a story that embraces all people—including women-- and that the gift of God’s Son and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is for: slave and free—Jew and Gentile—men and women.
We see how true that is in the Book of Acts. Not only does God use Paul, the Hebrew scholar and free Roman citizen, to accomplish his mission—but he also uses the gentile Timothy and the slave Onesimus and the woman Lydia to share the Good News of his salvation with the world.
On this Mother’s Day we can thank God because the mercy of Jesus Christ extends to women no less than to men! We can rejoice to see how their lives as Christian wives and mothers and daughters and church workers and businesswomen have changed the lives of those around them for the better—for time and eternity. We see these biblical truths vividly portrayed in the story of Lydia—an early Christian believer. Luke writes:
A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together. Every time you hear one of these people on television telling you how terrible and oppressive the church has been to women, and how women have been short-changed by bible-believing Christians, what I want you to understand and remember from our lesson in Acts is how, from the very beginning, the church has reached out--especially to women-- with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We read this story about how Paul and Silas and Timothy and Luke purposefully sought out the place where the women of Philippi gathered for prayer so that they could speak to them about Jesus-- and two thousand years later we say, “well of course—why wouldn’t they?”
But what we don’t see-- because the world and humanity has changed so dramatically in the intervening years-- is what a radical act this was on the part of these Christian men—how different their attitudes toward women were than the prevailing societal views. For example, rabbinic Judaism of that day regarded women as second-class citizens at best and beasts of burden at worst.
But the apostles and evangelists and pastors of the early church knew and believed something totally different about women: they knew from the Lord’s own example that women were objects of God’s love and concern no less than men—they knew that women’s souls were eternally valuable to God—they knew that that God wanted all people, men and women, to have a life with him through faith in his Son.
This attitude of God towards women-- in contrast to the mores and values of the society of that day-- was beautifully modeled by the Lord Jesus during his earthly ministry. Women were his followers. Women were his students. Women supported his ministry. Women were used as positive examples in his teaching again and again.
Where the men of Christ’s day shunned the particular troubles and travails of women—these hardships and heartaches that are unique to women received special care and concern from the Lord.
Where men of his day refused to acknowledge women as fully human—Jesus sought them out and taught them and welcomed them and made a place at this table for them and engaged them in conversation again and again.
Where men abandoned our Lord in his moment of deepest need at Calvary-- it was faithful women who were found at the foot of the cross-- and where men were hiding out in fear after the resurrection-- it was the faithful women who were charged by Jesus with the first apostolic mission of taking the Good News of the resurrection to the disciples.
Paul and Timothy and Silas and Luke knew the example of the Lord and his love and concern for women and modeled that same kind of love and concern as they took the Good News about forgiveness in Jesus out into the world. And that there were just a few women gathered together for prayer that day in Philippi made no difference—those few women were just as important to them as the thousands of pilgrims that had gathered in Jerusalem at Pentecost- and the hundreds of learned scholars assembled on Mars Hill- and the emperor himself in Rome.
The Good News for us on this Mother’s Day is that the love of God in Christ is meant for all people and would be taken to all people—especially women. Luke writes about one of these women:
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. Every time you see one of those TV specials or read one of those magazine articles about how the church is oppressive to women I want you to remember that the very first recorded convert to Jesus Christ in Europe was a woman—a very special woman—a woman that even modern people two thousand years later can recognize.
We know from ancient Roman history that, at this time, Philippi had a corporate guild of dyers and Lydia was no doubt a member of that guild-- and because purple was the most sought after color of all in the ancient world we know that Lydia was capable, successful, and wealthy. The fact that Lydia had an economic life outside the home, I believe God intends as a special comfort for modern, Christian women.
The majority of Christian women today work outside of the home and I know that this is not done without some degree of guilt. Most of us were raised by moms who were able to stay at home and be full-time homemakers and many women today wish that they could do the same.
But the world has changed- and now many women work and feel guilty about it- wondering if they are doing the right thing by their families. There are some parts of the church that are not particularly helpful to women in this—some preachers and teachers—and other women—who add to working moms self-imposed guilt by almost equating being a stay at home mom with being a true Christian and a working mom as coming in a distant second in their piety.
These preachers and teachers are wrong. If you are able and want to stay at home-- God bless you! But if genuine economic realities necessitate your working, I want you to remember Lydia’s story and take to heart the Good News that there is not a particular kind of lifestyle or family style that is a pre-requisite for being loved by God. The love and mercy of God in Christ did not pass Lydia by because she was a working woman—but was given to her too. Luke writes that:
The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.Before her conversion to Christ, Lydia was a Gentile believer in the God of Israel. She would have known that a Messiah had been promised and she believed in that promise—but she did not yet know that he had come and lived and died and rose again as the prophets had promised he would—she did not yet know that the Messiah had taken on flesh and bone and was named Jesus.
If she were to be saved and have a life with God, she still needed to hear that Good News that the apostles were sent to bring and so she listened to what they had to say. Paul wrote in Romans chapter ten that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” That is how conversion worked in Lydia’s life and it is how conversion works in every believer’s life. The Gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection is the power of God unto salvation and the Word of God is sent into the world and does not return to the Lord without accomplishing the saving purpose for which it is sent.
That is exactly what Lydia experienced that day as she heard for the first time the Good News about Jesus—that his righteous life was lived for all people—that his death was the fully atoning sacrifice for the sins for all people—that his resurrection was the hope of life to come for all people—including her—and she came to faith in Jesus by the power and work of the Holy Spirit in her heart.
As with Lydia, so with every believer, that our salvation—from beginning to end—is the work of the Triune God who has known us and chosen us from eternity—who has sent his Son to die for us on the cross and rise again—who has called us to faith in him by the Holy Spirit-- so that from beginning to end it is the God of love who gets all of the praise and glory for what he has done for our salvation.
Lydia’s conversion is a picture of every conversion—no ranting of some wild-eyed preacher to work up his subject—no manipulative altar call with soft music in the background to get us to come to the front—no emotionally agitated decision on the part of the hearer. Simply the still, small voice of the Spirit of God powerfully working in our hearts through the Good News about Jesus and the God-given confidence and trust within us that says “I believe”—just like with Lydia. Luke writes that, after hearing the Good News:
she was baptized, and her household as well, When Jesus gave his church the Great Commission he said:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Now it is self-evident that in the word “nations” Jesus was not talking about baptizing geographic areas delineated by physical boundaries and ruled by some particular form of government—he was talking about the people in the those areas—all the people without restriction--and so Lydia, a gentile woman, was baptized-- and so were those in her household irrespective of age or gender or ethnicity.
The Good News about Jesus and the Sacrament of Holy Baptism and the gift of the Holy Spirit was for all of them and Lydia wanted to make sure that those among her family and friends heard it and received it. Luke writes:
She urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. "And she prevailed upon us.In Lydia’s example of taking the Gospel to her home, we see a beautiful picture of Christian womanhood that has repeated itself countless millions of times over the last two thousand years of the church’s history: faithful Christian women, not counting it good enough that they know Jesus as Lord and Savior, but making it their first priority in life that everyone in their homes knows Jesus as well.
There is simply no way to calculate the spiritual good that Christian women have accomplished over the course of salvation history for the eternal welfare of their friends and families through their Christian lives and through their witness to Jesus Christ—Christian women who have been insistent that their friends and their families hear the Good News that the hope and peace and forgiveness that we have in Jesus is for all people.
As we see this so beautifully portrayed in the life of Lydia we have an opportunity on this Mother’s Day to once again thank God that the Good News of salvation in Jesus is also for women. Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your heart and min in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
