I can remember – as if it were yesterday - some of the “home-spun wisdom” that my dad used to share with me. Once, when I was a boy, one of my friends tried to sell me his bicycle. Of course I didn’t have to the money to buy it, so I went to my dad. He must’ve noticed my excitement and instinctively realized that I was operating on glands. And so he offered to me one of his special sayings: “Nadie vende su burro por bueno.” “Nobody sells his burro because it is a good one.” This was dad’s gentle way of teaching me to really be careful about buying somebody else’s stuff. Sort of like the Latin phrase – caveat emptor – let the buyer beware.
Dad was a truck driver. When I was about fourteen years old, one Saturday dad decided to paint the bed of the truck. He asked me to help him and of course, I loved it. We worked and worked and finished the outside of the bed and toward very late afternoon we started working on the inside. Soon night was upon us and dad suggested that we finish the next day. Of course at fourteen years of age you never run out of energy so I said that I would keep painting. Finally at about 10:00pm I finished and walked into the living room. I told dad that the paint job looked really good. He asked me how I could tell in the dark. I must’ve said something like, well it’s got to be good because I feel so tired. Perfect time for some “home spun wisdom” and instruction, right? I don’t know where my dad would get the sayings, but I’ll never forget what he told me: “Mi hijo, de noche todos los gatos son pardos.” “My son, at night all cats look brown.”
If we spent any time at all thinking about it, most of us would probably remember one or two words of wisdom from our parents or grandparents. Parents want the best for their children and so they spend much of their time trying to share their hearts and souls in order to help their children. These nuggets of wisdom are intended to prepare us to take on life. What loving parent doesn’t want this for their children?
Our loving heavenly Father wants to do the same for us. He shares his ’Wisdom’ with us in order to prepare us for eternal life.
The Old Testament lesson for today is situated in a chapter of the book of Proverbs, one of the Old Testament books of wisdom. This chapter is interesting because it offers us an incredible contrast between wisdom and foolishness. Wisdom and foolishness are personified and introduced to us as if each were a woman. Listen to the ending verses of this chapter where we are introduced to the woman named foolishness:
The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!” But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave. (Proverbs 9:13-18)
Whoa! These scriptures sure take a dim view of foolishness, don’t they? Foolishness is equated with loudness. You’ve all run into the boar – haven’t you? Folly relishes loud, obnoxious behavior; folly is enamored with the sound of his / her own voice. The fool approaches life with a total lack of humility.
Another dimension of foolishness is living without discipline. Undisciplined living can manifest itself in many areas: finances; personal health and hygiene; the approach to one’s responsibilities; our relationships; our approach to spiritual matters especially our approach to God’s house and his Word. Not only is a fool undisciplined, but they take pride in their “freedom, their ability to live life as they please; Masters of their own destiny; captains of their own fate; oblivious to God’s love and care for them.
Folly is also characterized as living without knowledge. Now this isn’t the same as having a low IQ. It isn’t the same as not having had the benefit of finishing high school or college. My dad, one of the wisest men I’ve ever known, only made it through the 6th grade. You see, foolishness is different in that it has a disdain for knowledge. Foolish people don’t admit that they are wrong. The saying, “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” describes the approach to life that the writer of Proverbs is warning about. I’ve shared with some of you what one of my old statistics professors liked to say: “It’s OK not to know; but it is a tragedy when a person doesn’t know that they don’t know.” A fool doesn’t know that they don’t know and really doesn’t care.
These attitudes toward life cause the foolish person to believe that they are living the high life. They are headlong moving toward destruction, but they don’t know it. In fact, rather than sensing danger, they believe that they are enjoying the best that life has to offer. They even entice other fools to join them. Only one problem, says the writer of Proverbs: “Little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.” (Proverbs 9:18)
“Seek wisdom,” says the writer of Proverbs. Look for it and treasure it. Aspire to wisdom. Let me read you the story of the Lady Wisdom as described by the writer of Proverbs:
Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars. She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city. “Let all who are simple come in here!” she says to those who lack judgment. “Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of understanding.” (Proverbs 9:1-6)
At first blush the invitation of Lady Wisdom sound very much like the previous enticements offered by Lady Folly. But they are substantively different. Lady Wisdom invites people into a strong house supported by seven pillars. She has prepared well to host her guests and offers them a dinner that she has labored and sacrificed to serve. She has sent her servants out to invite people because she knows that what is offered can make the difference between life and death. She invites those who don’t know to come and learn about the Way.
Well, what is Wisdom? How will we know Wisdom when we encounter it? In this collection of inspired wisdom literature called Proverbs in our English Bibles, We see that “Wisdom" was personified - spoken of as if “Wisdom” were a person. Here we find Wisdom described as a fine Lady. But who is Wisdom? Or is it simply a personification of a concept?
Well, there are hints all over Proverbs that Wisdom is someone we all know and love. Some of those hints are in this text. Let’s see: Who invites us to come in to a great banquet? Who sends servants out to call us from the “highest places?” Who invites us to, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of my wine?” Who invites us to “live and walk in the way of insight?”
When you ask the questions that way, the answer is not very difficult to come by. Jesus is the New Testament fulfillment of these Old Testament proverbs about Wisdom. The ultimate wisdom is not found in a concept but in a person. It is Jesus that invites us to the heavenly banquet - and the earthly foretaste of that heavenly banquet, the Lord’s Supper. It is Jesus who invites us from the “highest places” to join Him. It is Jesus who invites us to “live and walk in the way of insight.”
Wisdom is personified for a reason in the Proverbs. It is personified because it points us to the ultimate fulfillment of Wisdom – the Messiah - God’s own Son – Jesus Christ. There beloved, is where we find forgiveness and life. He labored and sacrificed his life on the Cross in order to provide the heavenly food that He offers us at his banquet. Today we enjoyed that heavenly food, Jesus very Body and Blood as we ate at Wisdom’s table. And in that, beloved, we received full forgiveness for our sins and unwise living. There beloved, God gives us the strength to live wise lives that honor and glorify God and serve our neighbor. Amen.
(The last four paragraphs adapted from a devotional topic offered by Bruce Wurdeman in his email newsletter, Mission and Ministry Facilitator of the Texas District - LCMS)
