Sermon Acts 16:9-15 – Lydia “If you have judged me to be faithful”

Just occasionally, the Lectionary which sets out the recommended readings for each Sunday, in fact each day of the year, comes up with the perfect reading for the day. Today is such a day as the Bible introduces us to Lydia and her baptism along with her whole household, making this an excellent choice for an adult baptism.

Lydia, in requesting to be baptised says to Paul “If you have judged me to be faithful”. Elsewhere, in Acts 8, an Ethiopian Official asks Phillip “What is to prevent me from being baptised?”. When we baptise children, others make promises on behalf of the child. But with adults the question are we ready and A, like Lydia, like the Ethiopian Official is ready. That is not to say that she is good enough to be baptised any more than whether I am good enough to baptise her. That is not the question, instead the question is have you judged me to be faithful? It is our faith, our turning to Christ and trusting in him that judge us to be faithful and enable us to be baptised. We are sinful and we turn away from our sins and the water of baptism symbolically cleanses us from our sins. It is an outward sign of an inward spiritual grace and is not something we have to keep doing because the act of baptism unites us to Christ, who was himself baptised in the River Jordan.

But let’s get back to Lydia, one of the great women in the Bible. Who was she? Well, we are told quite a bit about Lydia. We know that Lydia is from Thyatira in Asia Minor, which makes her Turkish today on the Asian side of the Bosphorus and Lydia is a dealer in purple cloth. Purple is a very special colour often associated with royalty and while we were away in January we learned that only one national flag contains the colour purple and that is Dominica. A good quiz question but here is another what plant, animal or mineral substance was used to create the colour purple? Any ideas? The answer is snails but specifically certain sea snails and the coast off Thyatira is known for its abundance of these sea snails. Located just inland from Smyrna and Ephesus, this dye was incredibly valuable and was produced from secretions of these  sea snails so they could be “milked” but often were not and it would take 12000 snails to produce just 1.4 grams of dye sufficient to just dye the hem of a garment. Hence the value of purple was like that of silver. Apparently, you can produce the same dye from dog whelks in this country.

Clearly Lydia was a very successful businesswoman and had decided to move her business to the wealthy city of Philippi in Greece and it seems her business kept growing; she had a big house which was quite probably where she ran her business and maybe her household included her staff. Some people suggest Lydia was a widow but if she was Luke would probably have said so and there is no mention of a husband and so Lydia may well be a successful single business woman and home owner in a big house sufficient to practice the hospitality she did.

Timothy, Paul and Silas had come over to Macedonian Greece not following a guidebook but a vision of a man pleading with him to come over to Macedonia and so they did. It was Sabbath day so Timothy, Paul and Silas had gone out of the City gate down to the river to pray and had found a group of women doing just that and there they meet Lydia. It is quite possible that this was her household. What Lydia says is remarkable. First she listens to what the 3 evangelists say and Luke makes a point of recording this not to show how good Paul was as a speaker but writing “The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.” It was God who enabled Lydia to listen not the preacher and then she said “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” Lydia does not say “Come to my office and I can put you in contact with the movers and shakers of the city.” Not, “You know, Paul, I rub shoulders with some pretty important people around here, and I could introduce you to them.” Not, “Let’s do dinner sometime.” No, instead Lydia says with all humility and grace, “If you have judged me to be faithful.” Lydia, for all her fine garments and confidence and leadership ability, is humble in spirit, and out of this humility offers a heart of hospitality. To ask Paul and his friends to stay in her home is her way of asking God to do the same. This encounter and conversion makes Lydia and her household the first people in Europe ever to receive a Christian baptism and A is following in the same steps that Lydia took all those years ago. This should be a lesson for all of us “If you have judged me to be faithful…” In our desire to be found faithful, let us similarly invite God to enter into our lives, into our world. In such humility we will find the grace that fills the human heart and brings us to eternal life. Let us pray. Father, find our hearts open and welcoming into our lives. And when you enter, may you discover the kind of humility that Lydia displayed mirroring the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.