Mistakes Were Made

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
Matthew 19.8-9

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know this is an Old Testament blog, but bear with me. For the time period between whenever Moses permitted divorce up until Jesus’ statement here (1,200-1,300 years or so) the relationship between husband and wife was, well, wrong.

I asked some of the kids in my youth group to complete the sentence, “a woman’s place is in the…”, most of the guys wouldn’t answer it, the girls gave the responses home, and kitchen. Then I had them read Proverbs 31.15-18

She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.

She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.

She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.

She sees that her trading is profitable,
and her lamp does not go out at night.

As soon as they were done reading these verses one of the guys said “women’s roles have really kind of flipped”. He’s kind of right. Apparently the ideal woman dabbles in real estate, plants a vineyard, and profitably trades. In other words, she’s entrepreneurial.

When was the last time you heard that teaching in a church? I’ve never heard it, and I’ve heard a lot of teachings in a lot of churches. Is it possible, I mean remotely possible that the church has missed the boat on this teaching for the last, oh, 1200-1300 years? I mean, if its possible for Jesus to correct a teaching about marriage that had gone uncontested for that long, is it possible the same thing has happened on this issue?


Posted in Wisdom, Devotion by Tim Reed on July 30th, 2007

6 Responses for “Mistakes Were Made”

  1. Joe Martino Replied:

    July 30th, 2007 at 6:57 pm

    Dude,
    Send me the HTML of this. I want to post it in my blog. I’ll give you full credit, but this is too good. If you don’t I’ll be forced to plagiarize! :)

  2. Jenny Replied:

    July 31st, 2007 at 6:46 am

    Career woman or keeper of her home?

    http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish/Comments_and_Letters_23/Can_a_woman_i_ever_i_do_work_outside_the_home_12641001264.shtml

  3. Tim Reed Replied:

    July 31st, 2007 at 10:27 am

    Jenny,

    My goal with this piece was to avoid two errors. The first error is the error the church has historically made, which is to say wives stay home, cook, clean and nurse children, and nothing more. The other error is the error feminists have made. And that is to say the only way to be fulfilled is to have a full time career.

    The scriptures leave a lot more freedom than the church has often taught. This is one of those areas. Buying a field and starting a vineyard is a long ways away from what teh church has called “women’s work”, but by no means am I making the other error in saying that a career is the only way to go. Rather, I want to leave room for freedom for each family to decide how best to go about their lives in regards to career decisions.

  4. Tim Reed Replied:

    July 31st, 2007 at 10:36 am

    Also, that link was much more even handed than I’d expected.

  5. Jenny Replied:

    July 31st, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    Thanks Tim. I am a wife and mother who at one time demanded the career “and” the family. I quickly realized however that it was going to be either my career “or” my family.

    I now stay home and would never trade it for all the money in the world. Do I work. I sure do. Caring for my children and home, loving my husband and ministering in my church keep me very busy and very fulfilled.

    I don’t disagree with your post I just think young women need to be told that it is next to impossible to have a career and fuflfill your God-given obligations at home.

    God bless,
    Jenny

  6. Tim Reed Replied:

    July 31st, 2007 at 12:33 pm

    Jenny,
    And I think this is where the church needs to find itself. Obviously a home without children, with a child, or with children all high school aged is going to require very different things than home filled with small children. The problem has been a one size fits all mentality.

    I’m glad that you’ve found such a fulfilling life, and I’m glad that you’ve had the freedom to choose that life.

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