I don’t like “Yield” signs. They always remind me that some traffic is more important than my momentary errand. They remind me that someone else has the right-of-way. They don’t coddle my ego with false affirmations of my obvious worth, and they make me wait even though my present project is urgently changing and renewing the world. Single-handedly. I don’t Yield very well. Two of this weekend’s scriptures lift up the virtues of Yielding while they smack down our grandiose persons who dote upon being Number One. Owww!
Generations of power-people have misused Proverbs 31:10-31 to idolize “the perfect woman/wife” at the expense of those who don’t measure up. Weird Al Yankovich has a song which says, “You’re not perfect, but you’re good enough for now”. Then there’s the movie of THE STEPFORD WIVES, where robots replaced actual women. The reading brings us nice thoughts, of course, but these tend to both lionize the Ideal and put down real women with all their human complexities. The final verse helps to save it: “Give her a share in the fruit of her hands, and let her work praise her in the city gates.” Can I and my fellow chauvinists yield our self-importance?
St. James speaks about bitter envy and selfish ambition: “do not be boastful and false to the truth.” (3:13-4:3) These things are unspiritual and evil, leading to “disorder and wickedness of every kind”. “But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” This indicates that such traits are God-given, and the Believer is exhorted to receive and imitate them. Can I lock my Ego in a closet, along with my Evil Twin? Or does that just deny my humanity?
Mark 9:30-37 recounts two instances where the Disciples didn’t know what to say! The first verses tell of Jesus constant reminder of his betrayal, death & resurrection; but they didn’t understand, and were afraid to ask. Later, at home, Jesus asked them what they were discussing on the road; but they were silent with shame, since they were arguing about which of them was “the greatest”. From Ozymandius to Cassius Clay/Muhammed Ali to POTUS #45, our tendency is to proclaim our greatness. It makes us feel good. But “whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” !!! Can we learn to yield?
Seems as though those darned yellow triangles are all over! Not only at busy intersections, they seem to pop up wherever my daily smugness carries me. I guess I really need these reminders that my traffic is neither more important nor less so than that of those sharing my space. (“MY” space??) My spiritual practice du jour might be to yield my agenda to God–and those created in a Divine Image. Lord, that’s hard!
God Bless Us, Every One Horace Brown King
My encounters with scriptural passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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