Likewise, tell the older women to be reverent in behavior, not to be slanderers or slaves to drink; they are to teach what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be self-controlled, chaste, good managers of the household, kind, being submissive to their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.
Paul, Paul, Paul. Just when I’m leaning in to Paul, trying hard to learn and appreciate what he says, I stumble over something like this. Or the subsequent line from this morning’s reading about how slaves are supposed to be submissive, and not pilfer.
What to do with these sections of Scripture? Am I allowed to dismiss them, because they contextually don’t make sense to me? More than don’t make sense, they outright offend me?
I don’t think I’m allowed to dismiss, or ignore. But I do think there are lessons to learn from these types of passages, that perhaps I should carry into the rest of my Scripture reading.
First, as much as I admit I don’t understand context and haven’t studied it, context and history are real things. A speaker was asked about some women in the past, who’d mostly done great things, but had some off-the-wall writings. The speaker’s point was that while we absolutely have to look at things in the past with our lens – it’s our default – we must be cautious about judging people in the past, based on our modern-day norms. Maybe they weren’t norms back then. If women, men and slaves had roles back then, I believe this section from Titus is a well-intentioned description of how those roles could be best played out. Paul is not single-handedly creating a subservient class of women, or imposing slavery. He’s working within his default lens, based on his time, and counseling people how to do it well.
To be clear, we can absolutely disagree with those norms. And we can judge actions today against today’s standards. If a modern-day apostle were professing similar teachings, I’d likely let them be; they can believe what they want, based on their understanding. But that’s not my understanding. And we can disagree with the norms back then too. I don’t agree that slaves need to be submissive. But I don’t think I should judge Paul for offering his God-inspired counsel, based on his times.
Second, I think the Holy Spirit is alive and moving through time. Things are different now than they were then. And they’re constantly changing. That means there are always people on either side of that changing norm. Neither side is inherently right or wrong. I’ve been on the pre-change side, and on the post side. It’s easy to decide I’m right and they’re wrong. They’re wrong to change too quickly or to move somewhere I’m quite sure isn’t correct. Or I can decide they’re wrong to move too slowly. Culturally things are changing now. And on any given issue, 20 of my friends would form different constellations of agree /disagree. Needle exchange. Gender fluidity. Marriage equality.
So back to Paul. Other than that whole submissive thing, I should heed Paul’s counsel as a woman. And if I were to modernize the slaves of the past to people in hierarchical role like boss/employee, the counsel offered is also good. Don’t talk back, show perfect fidelity. When I’m under someone else’s authority, those would be good traits to attain. Being ordained and under Holy Orders is a little like this. I took a vow to basically do this, and I can’t easily quit.
This reading reminds me that I need to pay attention to the context as an antidote to being quick to judge. That includes people today, and readings from back then. It reminds me that if me and my friend are both rooted in God, we both can claim to be right, as we understand God, as we’ve experienced God. And the Holy Spirit is constantly moving in us, in our world and in our perspectives. Just because today I disagree with Paul’s talk of slaves, doesn’t mean it wasn’t God inspired. I am called to speak my truth, my understanding of God’s will and purpose, through my lens, and be patient and merciful for the lenses of others.
No comments:
Post a Comment