Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost Year B 2009

16 Pentecost B 09
September 20, 2009

Proverbs 31:10-31
10 A capable wife who can find? She is far more precious than jewels. 11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. 12 She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands. 14 She is like the ships of the merchant, she brings her food from far away. 15 She rises while it is still night and provides food for her household and tasks for her servant-girls. 16 She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard. 17 She girds herself with strength, and makes her arms strong. 18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night. 19 She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle. 20 She opens her hand to the poor, and reaches out her hands to the needy. 21 She is not afraid for her household when it snows, for all her household are clothed in crimson. 22 She makes herself coverings; her clothing is fine linen and purple. 23 Her husband is known in the city gates, taking his seat among the elders of the land. 24 She makes linen garments and sells them; she supplies the merchant with sashes. 25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. 26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. 27 She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. 28 Her children rise up and call her happy; her husband too, and he praises her: 29 "Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all." 30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. 31 Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the city gates.

Psalm 1
1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; 2 but their delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3 They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15 Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16 For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.
1 Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2 You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Mark 9:30-37
30 They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." 32 But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.
33 Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

A Successful Church

Fred Craddock tells a story about a little church he served in the country that was attended mostly by women. The men, most of them, didn’t come with their wives, and instead went to a diner in town. The diner was where the real business of the town was talked about, where the important things were decided. From time to time, one of the men who went every Sunday morning to the diner would disappear.

“Where did Joe go?”

“Oh, his wife got him to go to church.”

“Another one down.”

One of those diner guys, a good man who worked hard and took care of his family, but who didn’t come to church, would occasionally run into Fred and whenever he did, usually without Fred saying anything, would say, “Don’t even start. I know what you’re going to do.”

And Fred would say, “What’s that?”

And the man would say, “You’re going to try to talk me into going to church. Look, I mind my own business.”

And Fred would usually turn the conversation to other things.

One Sunday morning, the man showed up at church. When Fred asked if anyone wished to be baptized, the man came forward.

Fred said, “Why you? Why now?”

And the man said, “Because I realized Jesus’ business is my business.”

What is the business of the church? How do we measure success for the church? What is Jesus’ business?

Some would say, a successful church is a happy church, everyone having a good time, enjoying each other, getting along well. That’s important. It’s true. Good relationships in the church are very important.

Some would say, a successful church is a growing church, more and more people coming to believe in Jesus. That’s important, it’s true. Church growth is important.

Some would say, a successful church is a learning church, lots of people of all ages in bible studies and Sunday School. People growing spiritually. Learning, it’s very true, is important.

Some would say, a successful church is a beautiful building. Lovely grounds, lots of flowers, pretty steeple. And this is true, a beautiful space for classes and worship services and meetings is important.

Some would say, a successful church is a worshipping church, lively and interesting Sunday morning experiences that inspire everyone and fuel them up for the week ahead. Good worship is certainly very important.

Some would say, a successful church is a service church, meeting the needs of people in the community. Meeting people’s needs, it’s very true, is certainly important.

Some would say, a successful church is a mission church, participating with the denomination in promoting the gospel all over the country and throughout the world. It’s true, you know. Mission is very important.

Some would say, a successful church is a caring church, looking after the members in times of crisis and difficulty, chasing after members who drift away. Caring for our members is certainly important.

Some would say, a successful church is a giving church, everyone tithing, giving ten percent of their income every Sunday, giving lots of money away to the denomination and the community. Giving is certainly important.

Some would say, all of these things are important, and everyone in the church should be doing all of them. Others would say that some of these things are more important than others. Some might say Philippi is successful at all of these things. Others might say we’re successful with some and not others.

Who is the greatest? We all know how success is measured in the world. Success is power. He who wields the biggest club politically or militarily or economically or even charismatically. The richest people in the world, the people that command the biggest and most destructive military forces in the world, the people who are the most charismatic or beautiful or lovable, the people in charge of the big stuff. They are the successful ones, and the world is fascinated by them. Things don’t happen to the successful. The successful make things happen.

Which is the greatest congregation in the world? By what measure do we determine this? The one with the most charismatic and lovable preacher? The one with the biggest building? The one with the largest worship attendance? The one with the biggest education program? The friendliest one?

Our Old Testament lesson comes to us probably from about 600 years before Christ, some think even earlier. It’s what we call “wisdom literature.” The bible is composed of many books, and the books are of different types. There are history books, law books, books of oracles from prophets, all different kinds. Wisdom books are books about everyday life. They’re comprised of little sayings meant to be useful in one’s ordinary affairs. Proverbs was probably written for the training of young men.

The passage this morning is usually called “the ode to the good wife.” It’s a description of what ancient writers thought of as a successful household. Now some modern marriages among Christians still model themselves on this passage, but the ideal of marriage I think is not found here, but in Genesis, an equal partnership between the man and the woman.

The main principle of the ancient Jewish household was that everything and everyone in the household was owned by the man. The good wife described in the passage belongs to her husband, as does everyone and everything else in the household. When Jesus uses the image of Father to describe God, one dimension of his meaning is this household. God the Father is the owner of the house and everyone in it.

The good wife sees her success in the success of her husband. The description we get here is of a tireless and very capable manager of resources. She works day and night to use and distribute the resources her husband has provided, for the purpose of giving honor to her husband. The ode to the good wife is included in our readings today because it is a very fine image of a successful church.

All the business we do as a church, taken together, are dimensions of the one great work of Jesus Christ. Like the good wife, the church provides food and clothing for the members of the household, makes strategic plans to maximize the gain of her husband Jesus, takes time to build herself up in strength, opens her hand to the poor, speaks only wisdom, has no worry about the future, skillfully manages the members of the household, and does everything she can to bring honor to Jesus in the sight of the whole world.

The business of Jesus , the husband of the church, is salvation, and the letter to James makes no bones about what salvation is. The congregation he’s writing to has probably fallen prey to the old worldly wisdom that “bigger is better.” They’re chasing the important people and putting them in charge of the church. James is withering in his condemnation of this idea of success. Salvation for him means nothing if it isn’t really about rescuing people. Remember back when we started reading James? He said, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God is this: to care for the widows and orphans in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

What is the measure of the success of the church? According to Jesus, it is in the smallness and insignificance and powerlessness of the people it serves. He says, “Whoever wants to be great among you must be the servant of all.” And then to demonstrate, he picks up a child.

In the ancient world, and perhaps today as well, the child is the very image of powerlessness, weakness, and vulnerability. “Whoever serves the least powerful of all, the bottom of the barrel, the forgotten, the most oppressed, the most hated, the most outcast, the most humiliated, whoever serves the one who is being crucified by the world, that one serves me. And whoever serves me, serves the one who sent me.”

The business of the church is salvation. She is the good wife of Jesus, tending carefully and wisely and tirelessly to the gifts he has given her, and when she opens her hand to the poorest and the weakest, she brings him glory.

Amen.