“Listen to the Women” or “My Way or No Way”
When I write a
blog, the site I use to publish it requires a title. As I was musing over the
lectionary reading in Acts I had two thoughts, hence two titles!
The story I want
to focus on is just a little one, a few short verses pushed into the middle of
a chapter (Acts 16: 16-19). The central character is a woman. One often gets
the feeling that whenever there are verses about women they tend to get marginalized.
I appreciate, very much, Anne Thurston’s teaching that women need to be lifted
from their obscure places in scriptures and stories re-told with them taking
the centre stage. Often the story changes as it is viewed through new eyes (See
Anne Thurston, Knowing Her Place).
This tale is
disturbing on a number of levels.
It is
immediately proceeded by the story of another woman, Lydia. The text makes it
clear that Lydia is a rich woman and a home owner. We are told that Lydia
listened to all that Paul and company told her, believed them and invited them
to stay in her home.
Then it turns to
the tale of the slave girl. As with so many of the female characters in the
scriptures she is unnamed. I always find that sad. She is a non-person. Names are
really important. I just read an article where an experiment had been done in
how people’s names affect their chances of being hired for a job. It was
shocking study. It showed how deep racism pervades employers thinking. The
experiment was that job applications were sent out using four different names.
Emily and Brendan got fifty percent more first interviews than Lakisha and
Jamal (https://www.chicagobooth.edu/capideas/spring03/racialbias.html)
Another study
about names which I found fascinating was about hurricanes. If a storm is given
a female name it results in a higher death toll. It is not taken as seriously
as a storm with a male name thus people do not seek shelter as readily from
female named storms. It seems patriarchy even stretches to hurricanes!
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2014/06/02/female-named-hurricanes-kill-more-than-male-because-people-dont-respect-them-study-finds/)
So names are
important. Note that the rich woman was named but the poor slave girl was unnamed.
This we could link to the idea of Kyriarchy. This was a phrase first used by
Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza in 1992 (Wisdom
Ways). Included in Kyriarchy would be any form of dominant hierarchy
including patriarchy, racism, classism, sexism, economic status, homophobia,
etc.
Not only was the
slave girl unnamed she was exploited. The text tells us she had owners who used
her gifts to bring them lots of money. This exploitation probably left her without
help and without hope. It seems to me she was just the sort of person that
these followers of Jesus should have been helping.
Yet, what
happens next is intriguing. This slave girl is following them declaring a
truth. Rather than embrace this and even use it to advantage, the men let it
annoy them. Not only that, they took away her means of being useful to her
owners without offering her anything else. They too exploited the slave girl. The
story does not tell anything further other than her owners were very angry. The
fate of the slave girl is left to our imagination.
So I find it
interesting and unsettling that the men were happy when Lydia listened to them.
Yet they weren’t happy to listen to the slave girl even though she was
declaring truth. Obviously listening to a woman was hard for them.
Is it still hard
for people today? Perhaps, things are starting to change. This week I have
heard about two new bishops being consecrated soon who are both female. It is
also likely that the next president will be a woman. These changes are good,
but still only small starts, just tiny steps towards the crumbling of
patriarchy.
But back to the
men in Acts, they only wanted the truth spoken on their terms, through their
particular lens and framework of belief. Is truth not truth regardless of who
speaks it?
I have always
been drawn to the suggestion that the gospels were written to correct and
soften the doctrines and practices circulating in the very early church. The
gospels were a reminder to return to the simplicity of the life of Jesus with
the central theme of love and care for those in need.
Interestingly
there is a reminder in the gospels that could speak to this story. The
disciples were concerned and went to Jesus because someone, unknown to them,
was ministering in Jesus name. Jesus told them not to stop the person because, “Whoever is not against us is for us.”
These
would have been good words to have remembered as Paul and company dealt with
the slave girl. Good messages for us today too. To be open and receptive to
truth from wherever it comes.
