June 1, 2013
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Is pride a good thing?
Esther 1:1-19
This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: 2 At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, 3 and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.
4 For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. 5 When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa. 6 The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. 7 Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. 8 By the king’s command each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.
9 Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.
10 On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas— 11 to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. 12 But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.
13 Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times 14 and were closest to the king—Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.
15 “According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?” he asked. “She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.”
16 Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, “Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. 17 For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ 18 This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.
19 “Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she.
Acts 8:26-40
26-28 Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.
29-30 The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”
31-33 He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this:
As a sheep led to slaughter,
and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
since he’s been taken from the earth?34-35 The eunuch said, “Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?” Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.
36-39 As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, “Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn’t mind. He had what he’d come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be.
40 Philip showed up in Azotus and continued north, preaching the Message in all the villages along that route until he arrived at Caesarea.
Mark 11:15-19
15-17 They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;
You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.18 The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.
19 At evening, Jesus and his disciples left the city.
The month of June is Pride Month and some choose to celebrate it, some choose to minimize its value, and some believe it to be an abomination leading to God authored calamities. Those who reject a month of pride often cite Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” So, are we wrong to be proud of who we are, to celebrate the wide diversity of gender affection and gender expression found in humankind? And what does the story of Vashti have to do with this?
Most of us have read the story believing Vashti was haughty and this is what led to her fall. She would have had to be not only haughty but foolish too. As queen she had no power beyond what King Xerxes granted her. It is possible we have missed the point of the Vashti story because it has been so sanitized so as to make it acceptable to Victorian sensibilities. A cultural historian has suggested and the text supports the possibility that King Xerxes’ request was not as innocent as we have been led to believe. Consider that the king has been hosting a drunken party for a week and he decides to invite Queen Vashti to come to the party. He specifies she is to wear her royal crown so that all might be able to see her beauty. The suggestion is that the king wanted her to wear only her royal crown and parade naked in front of his drunken guests. If this is the situation, then it is much easier for us to understand why the queen would risk all she had, even her life to defy the king. She responded not out of haughtiness but out of a deep sense of her personal value and unwillingness to be debased for the king’s pleasure. You might even say she responded out of her pride. This way of telling the story is further supported by the way King Xerxes responded when his head cleared enough to realize what he had done and how Vashti had responded. We are told that those who annoyed the king were regularly executed so it would have been expected that Vashti would be killed. Instead he councils with his think tank to come up with another solution. It is even possible that he wanted to overlook the whole matter but his think tank was concerned about the empowerment such an action might give the marginalized women of the kingdom. Read this way the story has much to say about those who are marginalized and the importance of pride in confronting their marginalization.
June became Pride month to remember a group of cross dressing men who stood up and said they weren’t going to be treated as powerless victims any more. One of the saddest things for me in contemporary pride celebrations is the people who wish the drag queens, the dykes on bikes, and the disco boys would tone it down. If it weren’t for the radical misfits that couldn’t blend into society, we would have no pride celebrations and many of us would still be hiding in our closets hoping no one would guess that we are different. We are tempted to believe our safety is in staying under the radar when the truth is we are never safe until we are safe being just as God created us. The clearest message I find in the sacred texts is the message of God’s love for us just as we are. God created the diversity and God loves our diversity. In the time of Jesus, eunuchs were thought to be unclean and outside of God’s love. Certainly Philip would have been taught to avoid contact with a eunuch as contact would make him ceremonially unclean and yet the Spirit tells him to go where the Ethiopian eunuch was traveling and get right in the chariot with him. Philip knew the eunuch was worthy of hearing about Jesus and he baptized the eunuch right on the spot. We claim this story because it speaks so clearly to God’s love and acceptance of those marginalized by their sexuality and their sexual expression. Philip did not pray for a healing of the eunuch or insist he attend eunuch conversion classes before he could be baptized into the community of Jesus. Clearly there is much in these stories to commend our taking pride in the way we are, how God has created us, and not letting anyone treat us as though we are unworthy of being treated as God’s beloved children.
Does this mean the Proverbist got it wrong, there is nothing wrong with pride? I think the problem is the word pride can mean very different things. When the word is paired with haughtiness, it carries the connotation of superiority. Being proud of the way we are and how God has made each one of us does not mean we consider ourselves superior to others. Imagine the story of the eunuch and Philip had the eunuch considered his position in the court of Candace made him superior to Philip so that he would not invite him into his chariot? He would have missed the opportunity of hearing the Gospel message and receiving his baptism. The story of Jesus clearing the temple is also a story of the pride of superiority. We often hear the story as a condemnation of buying and selling in churches. Jesus’ anger wasn’t about the marketing that was going on, his anger was about the dishonesty, the cheating, and the superiority of those who took over the temple for their purposes. To understand Jesus’ rage, you need to understand about the temple. The temple was designed with several distinct areas. The outer court was open to all, including Gentiles. The other areas were restricted to Jews. Jewish women could enter only one of the inner areas of the temple. Men could enter all areas of the temple but some areas were restricted to only priests who were only men. The Holy of Holies was entered only once a year and only by the high priest. What had happened was that these Jewish merchants had taken over the outer court making it difficult for the gentiles to have access to the worship of God. Jesus was angered that they were acting out of their sense of superiority and ownership of God’s temple. This is why he quoted this scripture, “My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; you’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.” They had driven out the aliens from God’s temple because of their sense of privilege.
We do not need to worry about our fund raising activities in the church, we need to worry about the ways we push the aliens out of worship. The sin of pride is when we feel some people are not worthy to worship with us. Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship but doesn’t dress the way we dress, perhaps they come in poor clothing or perhaps they come in finery that we think is off putting. Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship but doesn’t worship the same way we do, perhaps they are too loud or perhaps they are too quiet. Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship and sits where you have always sat in worship. Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship with new ideas about how we could be church together. Perhaps it is someone who comes to church and does something that you consider to be your job. Perhaps it is someone who comes to church and you feel they are exuding too much male privilege or perhaps someone who is a bit too aggressive woman. Perhaps it is the person who attends and we aren’t clear on what gender they are expressing and they don’t feel the need to clarify for us. Perhaps it is the person who comes but expresses political ideas that are too conservative or too liberal for our taste. Perhaps it is the person who attends with clear emotional or intellectual deficits that make us uncomfortable. It is not for us to determine the worthiness of anyone to come into God’s Holy temple to worship. It is up to us to make a space for them because our pride gives us the confidence to serve others with the humility with which Jesus came to serve them and the acceptance that God had for us even when others considered us to be unworthy. Amen.
