Today we have an Old Testament reading from Proverbs 9. It seems to be chosen to correlate with the
“Bread of Life” discourse we’ve been hearing from John 6 these last few
weeks. Proverbs paints a picture of two
women with very different kinds of bread, and with two very different
approaches to doing things.
In our reading we have the example of Wisdom, personified as
a woman. And for all you women elbowing
your husbands, and saying, “see, wisdom is a woman!” I’m sorry I must point out, just a few verses
later, we have the contrasting picture of Folly, also personified as a woman.
Here's what we hear about her:
13 The woman Folly is loud; she is seductive and
knows nothing. 14 She sits at the door of her house; she takes a seat on
the highest places of the town, 15 calling to those who pass by, who are
going straight on their way, 16 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in
here!” And to him who lacks sense she says, 17 “Stolen water is sweet,
and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
She’s loud and kind of obnoxious. It’s foolish to think that just by being loud
you will be heard, but we see it all the time, don’t we? You get into a heated argument, and you raise
your voice. You have a group of
teenagers, and they get louder and louder competing for attention. Or the television gets louder when the
commercials come on. Doesn’t that just
end up annoying everyone?
But she targets the fool.
“whoever is simple, come my way!” Fools are easy targets for
foolishness.
Folly says that stolen water is sweet. Taking the shortcut or the easy way out, even
the dishonest way, cutting corners if needed.
But it doesn’t matter that it’s not right. And it certainly isn’t wise.
And she claims that bread eaten in secret is pleasant. The illegitimate and dishonest ways of the
world love the darkness, sin loves to hide in the shadows. And so eating bread in secret is a poetic
depiction of evil things done under cloak of darkness.
And now we can better see the contrast with Wisdom, a woman
who acts just the opposite.
She’s done the hard work.
She’s even built the house where a feast is given, a feast of her own
making. She’s not stealing bread and
water, she’s mixing wine and serving it freely, and out in the open. She’s even slaughtered beasts for the
banquet.
She, too, invites the simple. But unlike Folly, her call to the simple is
to leave behind foolish ways, and to walk in wisdom, and live.
Now, of course, anyone with any sense would choose Lady
Wisdom over Lady Folly. And also, just
as obviously, we don’t always act in good sense. Sin doesn’t make sense. It is nonsensical. Who would choose to die, instead of
live? Who would choose to reject the
giver of all good things, and try to be like God himself? Who thinks he can get away with evil deeds
done in secret, when nothing can be hidden from the one who knows all?
But sin is foolish.
It is brash. It is selfish. It doesn’t care about who it hurts, what it
destroys. It is a perversion of what is
good, and can only corrupt and lay waste.
How can we, then, be wise, and not foolish? How can we answer the call of Lady Wisdom,
and spurn the call of Lady Folly? Or are
we simply doomed to our own sinful foolishness?
Proverbs points us in the right direction. Sandwiched here between the depiction of Lady
Wisdom and Lady Folly is perhaps the best know verse in the whole book of
Proverbs, verse 10:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and the
knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
And here is where we really come to Jesus, the Holy One of
God. The Lord, Yahweh, the one who
embodies perfect wisdom, the very Word of God, made flesh.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. Faith is the foundation. And that faith in Jesus Christ.
And just as Lady Wisdom and Lady Folly couldn’t be more
different, so the Wisdom of Christ couldn’t be any more divergent from the
wisdom of this world.
Paul adds some very helpful interpretation here, with his
words in 1 Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 1:18–25
[18] For the word of the cross is folly to those who are
perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is
written,
“I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and
the discernment of the discerning I will thwart
[20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe?
Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the
world? [21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who
believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, [23] but we preach
Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, [24] but to
those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the
wisdom of God. [25] For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men. (ESV)
Salvation by Christ the crucified is foolishness to the
world, but for us it is the power of God.
Christ crucified for sinners is a scandal to Jews and nonsense to
Gentiles, but to Christians it is the wisdom of God.
And just as Lady Wisdom built a house and prepared a feast,
and invited the simple to come and join the party… so does Christ build his house, the
church. So does Christ prepare for us a
rich feast – of his own body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. So does Christ invite the simple, the
foolish, the sinner, to come to him and eat and drink and live!
Sometimes people come to their pastor for advice or
direction, and we are happy to help where we can. Like any Christian, we gladly bear one
another’s burdens, to the extent we can.
But my friends, I’m no therapist.
I have no other, no better wisdom for you than this.
Believe in Jesus Christ for the salvation of your souls, and
you will live eternally. I’m no engineer
or financial analyst. I’ve got no books
published under my name, and I’ve not discovered some great advance in science
or technology. But I have, and I offer
to you today the wisdom of God. That
wisdom that has come to all of us in His word, the word of the cross, the good
news of Jesus. The fear of the Lord that
is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One that is insight.
Like Paul, I would profess to know nothing among you except
Christ and him crucified. At that is
enough. It is the wisdom of God, that is
wiser than the foolishness of man. It is
the wisdom of God, and that wisdom unto eternal life. And it washes away all the folly of sin, the
blood of Christ covering all.
So come now, to the feast.
Everything is ready. Come in
repentance and faith and the fear of the Lord, and receive Jesus himself. What could be better? What wisdom there is, in him!
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