Peddler of Purple: Woman of Faith

In Nomine Iesu
Acts 16:9-15
May 26, 2019
Easter 6C

Dear Saints of Our Savior~

If you’ve travelled to Europe, then you know there’s no other continent quite like it. One of our members—Deaconess Kim Bueltmann—lives in Europe, serving as a missionary to refugees in Leipzig, Germany. From Portugal to Poland, from Finland to Italy, Europe has much to see and experience. Churches are among the chief sights to see in Europe. Steeples, stained glass, gothic gargoyles and flying buttresses are everywhere. (The world stopped and wept a few weeks ago when Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral went up in flames.)

For many of us, our ancestors came from Europe. And as Lutheran Christians, our ancestors in the faith came from the land of Luther and Bach—regions of the Reformation, where the Gospel was rediscovered and purified.

But, in all of this, it’s easy to forget that Christianity didn’t originate in Europe. Christianity’s continent of origin is Asia. Today’s first reading tells the tale of how the faith once delivered to the saints was first proclaimed on European soil—and it has everything to do with a peddler of purple goods named Lydia. There’s much to learn from Lydia.

It was no fluke—no random coincidence—that Lydia was converted to Christianity. For the mission trip that led to her conversion was orchestrated and directed by the Holy Spirit. Paul had a vision in the night of a man in Macedonia urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” Paul concluded that this was a message from the Lord and immediately made plans to sail to Macedonia. Wouldn’t it be nice if all of our evangelism efforts were so clear cut and definitive—God not only telling us to go, but also where and when to go—with perfect clarity?

Some of you might have trouble locating Macedonia on a map; others would at least know it to be a region of modern-day Greece. But, for our purposes this morning, all you really need to know is that Greece is located on the continent of Europe. Today’s reading from Acts tells of the very first time the gospel was being preached on European soil. And Lydia just happened to be the first person to be converted and

baptized in Europe—perhaps at the very spot pictured on the front of today’s bulletin cover—on the “Lydia River” outside the city of Philippi.

Lydia probably wasn’t the typical woman of the First Century. Luke tells us that she was a dealer in purple cloth. Purple cloth is nothing extraordinary today. But in those days, purple dye was a costly color that could only be drawn from a tiny drop extracted from the shell of a snail that lived on the coast of Canaan. This is why purple was considered the color of royalty—because only royalty could afford it.

This is also why it’s safe to assume that Lydia was a woman of means—a wealthy woman—a business woman whose home was big enough that the church at Philippi would eventually gather for worship in her living room (16:40).

But when Paul first showed up at Philippi (in Macedonia) there was no Christian church at all. There wasn’t even a Jewish synagogue. Lydia and her household were Jewish. Unfortunately, it took a minimum of ten Jewish men to establish a synagogue. Apparently that threshold couldn’t be met. That’s why Lydia and her posse, along with other women, had to gather at the river for worship. But Paul began to speak to the women gathered there—telling them the good news about Jesus—that He was crucified for our offenses and raised again for our justification—that Jesus was the Lamb of God long foretold, in whom there was life and salvation for all. That good news had its way with Lydia. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s preaching of Christ crucified, and she and her entire household were baptized right then and there. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, then “come to my house and stay.”

Let no one tell you that women are second-class members of the Christian church. Close your ears to all that hogwash about sexism and patriarchy pervading Christianity. Oh, there have been individual men in the church who behaved badly; but learn from Lydia that in the church of Jesus Christ no one—male or female, father or mother, single or married—no one is a second class citizen. Under the Old Covenant rules of Judaism it took ten men to start a synagogue. (That is patriarchy!) In the church of Jesus Christ it took one determined, devout woman down by the river to open up her heart and her home so that the good news of Jesus could begin to cross a new continent and make its way to the ends of the earth, and eventually into your ears and into your heart, here and now.

Doesn’t our own experience show this to be true—that it’s often the devout and devoted women of the church who work the hardest—who are most eager to share the faith with others—who recognize the importance of faith in the family, and who most readily teach that faith to their children and grandchildren through songs and Bible stories? Lydia’s love for the Lord lives on today—lives on in the women of this congregation and in many of our own mothers and grandmothers.

But all of us—women and men—have even more to learn from Lydia. For once Lydia came to believe in Christ as her Savior, she immediately did what she could to support the work of the church. Without hesitation she opened up her home to Paul and Silas—and later to all the new Christian converts in Philippi. For Lydia, there was an urgency—an intensity—about her faith in Christ. Her faith didn’t take a back seat to anything—to school or sports or career.

Beloved in the Lord, we need that urgency and that intensity when it comes to our faith today. Our membership in the Christian church comes with more privileges—and more responsibilities—than any other vocation we have. Lydia was a woman of means who fully utilized and leveraged those means to benefit the work of the Lord. We have a congregation that is filled with people of means—talented, gifted, generous people. But where is the intensity? Where is the urgency? Too often what we hear in the church is, “It’s not my job. It’s not my job to teach Sunday school. It’s not my job to greet visitors. It’s not my job to fix this or repair that. It’s not my job to solve that problem or play the peace-maker.”

Why the hesitation? Why keep our baptismal life in Christ boxed in and under wraps—carefully contained and camouflaged? It’s our own sinful nature that deadens us—drawing us downward into apathy where all of our God-given callings are concerned. As parents and family members—as citizens and neighbors—as Saints of Our Savior—we are constantly pulled to abdicate our high and holy callings—to let someone else do it—to give up on good works, while leaving plenty of time for soul-deadening, faith-destroying sin.

But not Lydia. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart and led her to say “yes” to the challenges faced by the church, and to invest herself in the life of the church. You and Lydia have so much in common—things like one Lord, one faith, one baptism. It was the Lord who opened Lydia’s heart. That same Lord is working and knocking on the door of your heart. Are you looking and listening and answering? Will you say yes? Will you invest yourself like Lydia? Will you follow Lydia’s lead? And don’t say to yourself, “Well, nobody’s asked me to do anything.” Nobody asked Lydia either. She was smart enough to see what the needs were; and she told Paul and Silas, “You’re coming to my house.”

The thing that made all the difference for Lydia is the same difference-maker for you. You might have missed it in the fine print of today’s reading, but it’s right there in black and white: “Lydia and the members of her household were baptized.” It sounds so routine—so ordinary. But that baptism brought life and liberty to Lydia. It freed her from her sins—washed them away in the cleansing water of Christ’s forgiveness.

Your baptism is a reminder that your life is rich with God’s plans and purposes. He’s always knocking, always guiding, always inviting. No, you may not receive a vision telling you to leave tomorrow for Macedonia. But tomorrow you may cross paths with someone who is hurting, and you can listen with the compassion of Jesus. You can tell them that your church is place of hope and invite them to come along. No, you might not be asked to open your home to missionaries like Lydia did, but when the offering plate comes your way in a few minutes, you’ll have an opportunity to provide housing for missionaries, to educate pastors, and to take your place in spreading the kingdom of God to the ends of the earth—just like Lydia.

Lydia was loved by the Lord; and that love had its way with Lydia. That same love can have its way with you too. It’s a love that stretches from the manger to the cross to the open tomb of Easter—all the way to the New Jerusalem with streets of gold where the light of the sun and moon is simply not needed. That’s where you’re headed by grace, through faith, for Jesus’ sake.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen