Jesus speaks to you today, in your hearing, saying:
“Now he told a parable to those who were invited...”
The book of Proverbs is a favorite
staple in prison for 2 reasons: first, it appears extremely practical and
second, having 31 chapters makes it the ideal time-keeper. In reading a chapter
a day, you know what day of the month it is. I don’t know where this practice
comes from, but it gives prisoners a little bit of confidence and comfort. They
think that they not only have something with which to pass the time, but also
something to do, and its God’s Word.
It would seem then to us today,
that from our Old Testament reading, we understand it the same way. Hearing v.6
& 7, we can understand being humble and respectful to others and how it is
better to be invited rather than place ourselves in the place of honor, even
though we haven’t had a king in the U.S.
In verses 8, 9, and 10 we hear
more easy-to-do things, as in don’t be so quick to judge and don’t think you’ll
come out on top or in the right just because you’re the first to get your case
heard. Tables turn quickly in the court room. Verse 11 is a pretty metaphor,
verse 12 also, but encouraging listening to good advice as well as giving it.
Verse 13, another metaphor about being faithful and 14 a metaphor about not
being a disappointment to people.
In this same way, the book of
Proverbs goes on for 31 chapters: do this or you’ll be sorry. Don’t do this and
you’ll be sorrier still.” A pretty straight-forward book of action.
Until it isn’t. Not
everything in Proverbs is as apparently doable as we have thus far seen.
Sometimes it gets flat-out weird saying things such as: “The wicked is a
ransom for the righteous, and the traitor for the upright” (21:18). And
what do we do with this mysterious name of this Son in 30:4?! “Who has
ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who
has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the
earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name? Surely you know!” Don’t
you?
At points, the Proverbs appear to
contradict other parts of holy Scripture. When it says that there HAS been a
just man on earth in 20:7: “The righteous who walks in his integrity —
blessed are his children after him”, yet Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, “Surely
there is not a just man on earth who does good and never sins.”
Or when Proverbs 2:7 presumes to
affirm the existence of a righteous person, “the Lord...stores up sound
wisdom for the righteous” but Romans 3:10-11 says no way: “None is
righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks after God.”
This is not even the worst part.
The worst part is, when we come across these passages in our personal study of
God’s Word, we deal with them the same way prisoners do: we don’t. They get
filed under “something to worry about later” and later usually means never. And
that means we miss out on the most important parts of holy Scripture, every
time we read them.
Fortunately, the Holy Ghost did
not leave King Solomon without divine inspiration, as in having nothing to do
with Christians and faith. We begin to unravel this dilemma in returning to the
first chapter of Proverbs to hear the book’s purpose in verse 7:
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...and piety
toward God is the beginning of discernment”
Read literally, it means that the origin of wisdom is fear of the Lord and the
origin of discernment is piety or godliness.
So we must consider fear and piety
in order to gain wisdom and discernment. First off, piety and what it
means. And What it means is actually a lot simpler than we may think. In no
uncertain terms, St. Paul let’s us have it in 1 Tim. 3:16 saying, “the
mystery of godliness [is]: [Christ] was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by
the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the
world, taken up in glory.”
Which sounds a lot like the Creed
we confess each Divine Service. Jesus’ prayer for us is “...that your love
may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment”, but
discernment for a specific purpose, that is: “...so that you may approve
what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled
with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory
and praise of God” (Phil. 1:9-11).
So if we want to discern what the
proverbs wish to say to us, we must be pious. And if we want to be pious, we
must attend the Divine Service and confess Jesus in the Creed. This will
illumine our understanding of the Proverbs for us. For, in the first place, how
can we understand if we first do not practice the faith?
Which brings us to fear. The key
to understanding Biblical fear is to remember that there is a difference
between the fear of a son and the fear of a servant and fear, when seriously
reflected upon, reveals what our true god is. For the servant, there is no hope
of mercy or inclusion. They are not a part of the family and they stand to gain
no inheritance. Therefore, this fear is simply fear of punishment.
The fear of the son is wholly
different. The son is not in fear of his life, his position in the family, or
his life after family dies. For the son fear is fear of being disciplined. So
when we hear the explanation of the First Commandment: “...fear, love, and trust
God above all things”, it is more saying that we should fear nothing else, but
God. Death, misunderstanding Proverbs, or even what seat we will be assigned at
a wedding are all things that should not phase us.
Again, though, this fear leads us
back to a life of faith; lived out in Faith, rather. Meaning, true fear of the
Lord can not happen except you already be a son and already worshipping in the
Divine Service. And we know that we have the adoption of sons. Thus true fear
we already have and that fear, the fear of the baptized believer, prepares a
place for God’s love and likewise, His wisdom.
Yet even before we get to all
these verses, we should have heard Jesus speaking to us when He said that “...because of Him you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and
redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
Jesus is the Wisdom come from God.
He is the Righteousness, the Sanctification, and the Redemption, come down from
heaven, in the flesh. Where before, these ideas had only an abstract, spiritual
meaning for us, Jesus gives them a concrete existence. In Christ, we do not
just repeat these things, but live in them.
In other words, the beginning of
any and all good things done in this life, be they proverbs or parables, is Jesus.
The Fear of God is for us, because the Son of God has adopted us as sons. The
piety we need to be perceptive is found in confessing this same Jesus in the
Creed and worshipping Him by Word and Sacrament. True discernment of the
correct meaning of the Bible is Jesus Himself; hearing and reading His Word in
light of Who He is, what He has done, and What He is still doing, that is,
forgiving sins.
So we go back to our Old Testament
reading and hear it in this light: Jesus does not put Himself in the king’s presence;
not Herod’s, not Pilate’s, not even God’s. He is put there. Jesus is forcibly
brought forward and, in an upside-down way, faces the punishment of the one who
puts himself forward. He faces the shame of the one who takes the highest seat on
his own, when He Himself did no such thing.
“Come up here”, the king says to
Jesus and He is placed high upon a cross.
False witnesses, who did not have
faith, were quickly brought in to condemn Jesus, misunderstanding His words
when He said, “Destroy the Temple
Jesus boasted of being able to
give eternal life and sinners tried to prove Him wrong, by killing Him. Yet
Easter proved that Jesus did have the gift of eternal life which He is also
able to give in Word and Sacrament. Thus, Jesus is the faithful messenger
Who brings tidings of great joy in His Gospel. His word of forgiveness are
words fitly spoken. His declaration of righteousness for all, opens
sin-deafened ears to listen.
So watch Jesus carefully. Just as
He moves through dinner at the house of Pharisees, so too is He moving through
the book of Proverbs healing, forgiving, and setting right what sin has marred.
The Proverbs and parables speak of Jesus first, then us, in Him, second.
Exalting Himself as God of all,
Jesus is humbled upon the cross. Yet, humbling Himself to death, He is exalted
above death, never to die again. Going back to our strange Proverbs, we can
confidently say that of course we know the Son’s name now, from chapter 30. And
of course the wicked are a ransom for the righteous, because Jesus became sin
for you, became wicked, in order to make you righteous.
In order that you, now invited to
the feast; to the Holy Sacrament which is the High Feast of Heaven, may sit
yourself down in the lowest place, that is to come with no thought of merit or
worthiness. For Jesus comes to commune with you and He is the more honorable
One. No shame comes to you, though, for you have received the wisdom of
unworthiness and, therefore, the highest seat at the Table. For in the
Sacrament, penitent sinners are truly awarded the highest honor heaven can
bestow.
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