This
story has an enslaved young woman in it. What’s her name? Why doesn’t she have
a name?
What
does Paul do to her? (Cast out the spirit of divination)
Why
does he do it? (Because he is annoyed)
What
happens to the girl? (She is no longer useful as a commodity for her owners.
She is not free; she is now considered worthless.)
Does
she matter?
If
we keep reading, we go on to Paul and Silas praising God in prison. Their impromptu
hymn sing and prayers intrigues the other prisoners and leads the jailer,
himself an enforcer of Roman laws, to seeking salvation.
But
what happens to the girl?
You
may think it does not matter. She served her purpose in the story- moving the
plot forward to get to the imprisonment part. That’s all we need to know about
her. She’s not a Roman citizen. She’s
probably not even a follower of the Way of Jesus, even though she is able to
recognize that Paul and Silas are. Even though the story of Lydia, a woman who
comes to the Way with her whole household, is what immediately precedes this
story in Acts… this slave girl, enslaved young woman, is not to become Lydia’s
sister in the faith. At least, not so we know about it.
This
matters because she is treated as disposable to the story. She has a function
and when her function is complete, she is gone. Even for Paul’s purposes, he
does not heal her or speak the story of Christ to her. He just wants her to
stop annoying him. For even Paul, she is inconvenient and unnecessary-
disposable.
While
we may never know what happened to her, it is important to register a sense of
injustice and even outrage at the idea of a person as disposable. When other
people become means to an end, we stop seeing them as people. When they are no
longer people, we know longer acknowledge Christ in them and the work of the
Spirit in their lives. They become nameless, then faceless, and then… gone.
Disposable.
On
April 14th, 276 Nigerian girls were kidnapped from a high school in
Chibok, Nigeria. A radical group that opposes education, particularly “Western
education”, for girls kidnapped them. Some of the girls have escaped back to
their families, but most remain missing. The leader of the kidnappers has said
that they intend to sell most of the girls off to be married, but they can be
ransomed for $12 a piece. On May 1st, the president of Nigeria vowed
to do all he could to get the girls back.
This
story did not become international news until nearly 3 weeks after it occurred.
Why not? Is it because these girls are the wrong color, wrong nationality, have
no money? Do we care that some of these girls may be made mothers against their
will on this very day? Countries that poured significant resources into
searching for the missing Malaysian airplane, into training and transport for
the Olympics, into oil and gas exploration have not yet offered that kind of
money to find these girls.
Are
their lives disposable? Is what happens to them regrettable, but simply a cost
of the way the world is? We live in a world where many countries have a surplus
of men because female babies are less desirable and are eliminated. In order
for the men to have wives, girls are kidnapped. Because girls are not
desirable, women who bear girls are often considered failures. This happens
even in our own country. Even certain “Christian” sects value the lives of
women less than lives of men. Women are disposable- less valuable to men and so
perceived to be less valuable to God.
What
can we do? Let’s do a little biblical imagining here. What happened to the
slave girl?
(My imagining: Her employers beat her and cast her out without references. They will
not even give her the “dignity” of being sold to a new owner. While crouching
over a trash heap, she observes a man taking food to Paul and Silas in prison.
She follows him back to his house. She sleeps on his doorstep and is found the
next morning by his wife. The girl tells the wife the whole story. They bring
her into their home, share the gospel with her, and keep her as a valued
employee (and spiritual equal) for the rest of her life.)
If
we can imagine what might happen to a character who received 2 sentences in a
historical record, surely we can imagine greater things for real people all
around us. If we can imagine great things, we can, with the help of the Spirit, act to make our imaginings, reality.
The
gospel, the good news, of the story we heard today is actually that no one is
disposable to God. Not a jailer who serves the Romans, not other prisoners who
may have committed real crimes, not even a slave girl who annoys the Great
Apostle. Not one life is disposable to God. We are to remember that for
ourselves and for those around us.
Thinking
about the people on the fringes draws our eyes and attention to where Jesus
stands in the fringes of our society and our world.
In
our city, people sleep on the couches of friends and family because we have a
very low availability rate for affordable housing. We don’t see them.
In
our state, we have the second highest incest rate in the nation. This is not
about culture; it’s about failure to draw lines. We don’t see it.
In
our country, a person of color who commits a crime with a white victim is much,
much more likely to get the death penalty than a white person who commits the
same crime (regardless of the victim’s race). We don’t see them.
In
our world, hundreds of millions of girls die every year because they are
considered not worth the effort to keep them alive. We don’t see them.
I
realize this seems like a downer of a sermon, but a failure on my part to speak
these truths out loud means that I have contributed to these stories, these
people, these facts, these children who have mothers… I have made them
disposable because it is not comforting, uplifting, or amusing to talk about
them. I cannot do that. The gospel will not let me.
What
can you do? You can pray for the girls on your paper and for those who are
unnamed. (Only the names of the Christian girls have been released.) You can
talk with friends and neighbors about what you think a safe intervention would
be. You (and we) can look for charities that support the education of girls and
women and give them solid backing. We can sing hymns and pray and refuse to
accept that a culture that seems loud and powerful determines the worth of
people. No child of God, born into this world, has a two-sentence life. No one
is disposable. Let anyone who sees you know that you are servant of the Most
High God, that you proclaim a way of salvation, and that you see them- just as you yourselves have
been seen, forgiven, and loved. Amen.
Deborah Abge
Awa
Abge
Hauwa Yirma Asabe
Manu
Mwa Malam Pogu
Patiant
Dzakwa
Saraya Mal Stover
Mary Dauda
Gloria Mainta
Hanatu Ishaku
Gloria Dama Tabitha
Pogu
Maifa Dama
Ruth Kollo
Esther Usman
Awa James
Anthonia Yahonna
Kume Mutah
Aisha Ezekial
Nguba Buba
Kwanta Simon Kummai
Aboku
Esther Markus Hana
Stephen
Rifkatu Amos
Rebecca Mallum
Blessing Abana Ladi
Wadai
Tabitha Hyelampa
Ruth Ngladar
Safiya Abdu
Na’omi Yahonna
Solomi Titus
Rhoda John
Rebecca Kabu
Christy Yahi
Rebecca Luka
Laraba John
Saratu Markus
Mary Usman
Debora Yahonna Naomi
Zakaria
Hanatu Musa Hauwa
Tella
Juliana Yakubu Suzana
Yakubu
Saraya Paul Jummai
Paul
Mary Sule
Jummai John
Yanke Shittima
Muli Waligam
Fatima Tabji
Eli Joseph
Saratu Emmanuel
Deborah Peter
Rahila Bitrus
Luggwa Sanda
Kauna Lalai
Lydia Emmar
Laraba Maman
Hauwa Isuwa
Comfort Habila
Hauwa Abdu
Hauwa Balti Yana
Joshua
Laraba Paul Saraya
Amos
Glory Yaga
Na’omi Bitrus
Godiya Bitrus Awa
Bitrus
Na’omi Luka Maryamu
Lawan
Tabitha Silas Mary
Yahona
Ladi Joel Rejoice
Sanki
Luggwa Samuel Comfort
Amos
Saraya Samuel
Sicker Abdul
Talata Daniel Rejoice
Musa
Deborah Abari
Salomi Pogu
Mary Amor
Ruth Joshua
Esther John
Esther Ayuba
Maryamu Yakubu
Zara Ishaku
Maryamu Wavi
Lydia Habila
Laraba Yahonna Na’omi
Bitrus
Rahila Yahanna Ruth
Lawan
Ladi Paul Mary
Paul
Esther Joshua Helen
Musa
Margret Watsai Deborah
Jafaru
Filo Dauda Febi
Haruna
Ruth Ishaku Racheal
Nkeki
Rifkatu Soloman Mairama
Yahaya
Saratu Dauda Jinkai
Yama
Margret Shettima Yana
Yidau
Grace Paul Amina
Ali
Palmata Musa Awagana
Musa
Pindar Nuhu
Yana Pogu
Saraya Musa Hauwa
Joseph
Hauwa Kwakwi Hauwa
Musa
Maryamu Musa Maimuna
Usman
Rebeca Joseph Liyatu
Habitu
Rifkatu Yakubu Naomi
Philimon
Deborah Abbas
Ladi Ibrahim
Asabe Ali
Maryamu Bulama
Ruth Amos Mary
Ali
Abigail Bukar
Deborah Amos
Saraya Yanga Kauna
Luka
Christiana Bitrus Yana
Bukar
Hauwa Peter Hadiza
Yakubu
Lydia Simon Ruth
Bitrus
Mary Yakubu Lugwa
Mutah
Muwa Daniel
Hanatu Nuhu
Monica Enoch Margret
Yama
Docas Yakuba
Rhoda Peter
Rifkatu Galang
Saratu Ayuba
Naomi Adamu Hauwa
Ishaya
Rahap Ibrahim Deborah
Soloman
Hauwa Mutah Hauwa Takai
Serah Samuel Aishatu
Musa
Aishatu Grema Hauwa
Nkeki
Hamsatu Abubakar Mairama
Abubakar
Hauwa Wule Ihyi
Abdu
Hasana Adamu Rakiya
Kwamtah
Halima Gamba Aisha
Lawan
Kabu Malla Yayi
Abana
Falta Lawan
Kwadugu Manu
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