Once upon a time, there was a young man and young woman who met in a university class. During their last semester, she became a Christian. They were smitten with love and got married the summer after they graduated.
The husband was fine with his wife attending a local church. Though he did not want to attend any really religious stuff like the worship service, he did go with his wife to social events. It was at these occasions he heard from a few men about Jesus. A year later, he became a Christian.
Both the wife and husband landed high-paying jobs. That allowed them to seek out the American dream. They purchased a big beautiful house with a big pool and a big, big yard, expensive cars, a big boat, and other big things.
The wife had been to a few women’s Bible studies where she learned that her husband was supposed to be the head of the marriage and take charge of the relationship. The more she talked with her friends and read books, the more she was concerned about her husband. Like a loving wife, she voiced her concerns with her husband. Because the husband wanted to please his wife and do the right thing, he agreed to attend a men’s group to learn about how to be a godly husband.
In the space of a couple years, he came to believe he was not a good husband and began to apply the guidance his pastor and mentor gave him. He started doing the manly things he was taught and eventually convinced his wife to quit her job. It would be a financial stretch but they could do it. The wife was grieved but agreed to quit her job; her dream job where she was rising quickly in the company. She wanted to be the good wife.
The more the husband learned about what a real, godly husband was like the more rules he imposed on the marriage. But she was not satisfied with staying home and doing those godly domestic duties like cleaning house and cooking.
Her friends at church told her she needed to begin having babies and have a big family. Though the couple tried, they were unable to do so. The woman’s Bible study teacher and pastor’s wife said their infertility was because of some past sin she or her husband had committed. They considered adopting but the elders told them that was a bad idea. It would introduce three or four generations of demons into their family through the child.
At a church service, the pastor was talking about what a real godly husband and father were like. Forbidding the wife from doing anything outside the home that could contaminate the relationship was necessary. The wife was designed to make babies and stay home to make sandwiches.
The wife was becoming more and more discouraged. She wrestled with depression but her church counselor and the elders told her it was because she was fighting rebellion and the sin of discontent. Her calling was to be a Proverbs 31 woman according to their version. Arguing with her husband did not make life better.
Being the wise and industrious woman she was, she determined to be the best virtuous Christian woman alive. She made sandwiches. Lots of them. She’d bring them to church functions, to her husband’s workplace, to the local homeless shelter, and to the church for the staff. The husband liked what she was doing but it began to dig into their budget.
Then, the wife decided to create a delicious, gourmet-quality sandwich. After months of researching, watching YouTube videos, and trying out her own recipes, she came up with a big winner. Everybody loved those sandwiches.
She convinced her husband to permit her to sell the sandwiches just like a good Proverbs 31 woman. The husband consented so long at the other domestic duties were not neglected. You know, like cleaning their large house, doing the wash, keeping things organized and neat – everything the Bible says to do. Well, that’s what they believed.
It did not take long before her sandwich business began to prosper. She was going to need help and a larger kitchen to keep up with the big demand. The husband was skeptical but convinced himself that the income could support renting a big industrial kitchen. He was also enjoying having a wife who made sandwiches and big money. She had become the virtuous wife.
At first, she hired out high school girls. No boys or men were allowed to work with her. That was to keep them from their lusty temptations. Because no woman at her church was allowed to work outside the home, she hired Christian women from other churches. In two years, this virtuous, very godly wife was making twice the income her husband was.
The elders got word about that and decided to have a meeting with the couple. Making sandwiches was fine. Selling a few were fine. Making more money than the husband was a big sin. It was ungodly and did not please the Lord. The couple asked how that could be since it appeared God was blessing them with this business. They said their prosperity was clearly from the devil. It had to be since God would not bless a woman to be successful in business. And the devil was using the allurement of money to cause their downfall from godliness. That was a very big deal.
The wife asked the elders if the church would be financially hurt if the couple quit the business and stopped tithing their thousands of dollars. The pastor told the husband to ask the question because it was not godly for the woman to speak with men. The pastor said the elders would have to seek God’s will on that.
The pastor decided to preach another big series on marriage and family. He presented seven ways for a husband to take charge of the home and thirty-five ways for the wife to submit to the husband’s demands. The messages were clear. The pastoral visits were clear. The comments from the influential women at church were clear: the husband was failing to keep his wife under control and the wife was showing rebellion by making too many sandwiches.
In the meantime, the couple seriously considered buying a café to sell the big, delicious sandwiches. They felt obligated to seek the counsel of the elders. Once again, the pastor and elders made a home visit. The elders told them they could buy a cafe only if the husband purchased the property and managed the café. The wife was not allowed to take on such a big responsibility or own property but could make sandwiches as long as she could not be seen by people outside her staff. Only Christians could be hired. And that was just the shortlist of their holy requirements.
While on vacation, the couple talked with long-time Christian friends about their dilemma. The friends asked Mr. and Mrs. Sandwich King to find explicit teaching their church was telling them and go from there. After taking a few weeks to study the Bible together, they discovered there were no such “biblical” rules, and the so-called principles were based on twisting many verses and taking passages out of context.
The income from the sandwich business was now five times the husband's salary. Word got around the church that the husband was a failed leader and the woman was not godly at all. The elders called the couple into another meeting. She brought boloney sandwiches. The pastor announced that the couple had to give up their business and repent from their worldliness. And since a few new rich couples had joined the church, losing their tithe money from the couple was not a problem. If the couple did not agree to this, then they would be disciplined and perhaps excommunicated. It was a big deal.
The couple wanted to pray about it. That’s what godly people do. No answer was forthcoming by Sunday morning, so without warning, the pastor brought the elders forward at the beginning of the service to deliver the big announcement: the couple was not repentant. The husband was a failure. The wife was rebellious and all because of their love of money. The elders took turns giving reasons why this once-promising couple had backslid. They revealed personal things about the couple that was shared in confidence. People in the pews kept staring and glaring at the couple. Finally, the pastor loudly declared this couple could not be real Christians and asked for a vote to excommunicate them. He gave one last, loud, long appeal for the young sandwich couple to turn from their evil ways.
The couple, humiliated but disgusted with the charade, got up and walked out. The pastor demanded they sit down and kept screaming at them as the couple walked out the door.
So, the woman, who dutifully complied with her husband and made sandwiches became very successful. The couple turned their café success into a franchise and became millionaires. At the hometown café, the wife hired wives who escaped the control and abuse by their godly husbands and the church. The husband decided he was not fit for management, so went back to school and became a lawyer to defend abused wives and offer free services to them when dealing with the family court. His law firm was nicknamed The Sandwich Brigade.
The church’s regular calls for boycotting the “evil” shop and their regular protests only bolstered the café business. And on occasion, one could see an elder or a number of wives from the old church sneak in and purchase contraband sandwiches.
The couple adopted six children, found themselves in a grace-based, Christ-centered church, and enjoyed freedom they had not known in years. And all because of sandwiches.