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The Narrow Well
Sermon by Andrew Plocher August 19, 2007, Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill Proverbs 23:15-26 Luke 9:57-62
There’s something special about Proverbs. It might be that we know some of them by heart: “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (16:18) “a soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” (15:1). Or maybe it’s that there is something different about the Proverbs, about how they are written and what they mean to the people of God. Proverbs is considered part of the Wisdom tradition. In Hebrew the word for wisdom is Sophia. Many scholars cite the wisdom texts as an example of the Holy Spirit, and by reading between the lines many people connect the Holy Spirit to a feminine expression of the Trinity. Many of the different sayings in Proverbs come with the sound of a mother or grandmother, passing on words of wisdom to young men. Whether or not the expression of the Holy Spirit as wisdom is feminine, the words in proverbs are different from words we have heard before. “God: A Biography” author, Jack Miles puts it this way, “In the Psalms, God is the guarantor of justice in a world of karma without samsara—a world, that is, in which the good are rewarded and the evil punished within their own lifetimes or, at most, in the persons of their children or grandchildren. Not quite so in Proverbs, here God appears for the first time as the mysterious being to whom reference must be made and from whom recourse must be had when just the opposite occurs—that is, when the good are seemed to be punished and the wicked rewarded.” Unlike previous books of the Bible, Proverbs does not assume that God shall micromanage the good and evil actions in the world. Instead we are introduced to Sophia (Lady Wisdom) and the belief that wisdom guides human action: that moral order is maintained through wisdom. By paying attention to knowledge we are granted, through the wisdom of God, the ability to follow and be the children of God. However, things get mighty complicated. We have entered into the language of “when bad things happen to good people” The black and white world of karmic reaction, of good being rewarded and evil being punished has turned grey. God is still responsible, but throughout Proverbs, God is a benchwarmer, sitting on the sidelines: the authors, full of love for a good creator God, still see God, but cannot stand to put God front and center with evil and struggle. Sophia is the guide of moral order in Proverbs. This wisdom comes across as gritty and secular, often without the God language that we are so accustomed to in the Psalms. The wisdom in Proverbs is both in contrast to and similar to the story we heard from Luke. In Luke, traditional values are trumped by the theological. Jesus, God, takes precedence over the needs of family, work, and even burying a beloved. Somehow, I don’t think Jesus meant this as an excuse for laziness or tax evasion. How is it, though, that any of us attached to “the plow”, the daily tasks of life, are not fit for the kingdom of heaven? Grace seems a little distant from this assertion by our Lord and Savior. What happened to “honor your father and your mother”? The values of family are shrugged off. What does this mean? I want to share with you a story that William Wilimon shared in a sermon he preached on the Luke text at Duke University many years ago: “In my last congregation we initiated a program of evangelism. Let’s go throughout the neighborhood and win folk to Christ. About six months into the program of visitation and invitation we evaluated our work. A group of us got together and discussed how things were going. By all accounts, things were going quite well. We were growing. A rather amazingly large number of people had responded favorably to our invitation to attend our church. Attendance had grown, so had our membership. “But something bothers me about all this,” said Gladys. “Here we go, knocking on neighbors’ doors, urging them to come to our church, to accept Christ. But what are we inviting them to? We tell them that we have a great youth program, that we will do this or that for their children. We have great summer activities for all ages, a picnic in the fall. We have pastoral counseling, good music in our services, great preaching. In other words, we have all these services to meet your needs, to entertain you, to fix what’s wrong with your life.” What’s wrong with that? we asked. After all, isn’t the church here to meet their needs? “Seems like I remember,” continued Gladys, “somewhere it says, ‘Take up your cross and follow me.’” And we were silent. Remembering that discipleship, Christian discipleship is something else again. How in the world do we call people to Jesus, appealing to their selfishness, their needs, and then end up with the discipleship spoken of in today’s gospel?” The challenge that we are faced with in Luke, and in Proverbs, is that the direction we are asked to go is not necessarily the one we want to go. We know that Jesus is headed to the cross, and on the way he is gaining followers. One says, “Sure I’ll come along, just let me give my father a decent burial.” Jesus replies, “You let the dead bury the dead. Come follow me.” Another says,” I’ll follow you, just let me get things in order at home, make sure the kids are okay.” Jesus replies, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” How awkward this passage is this rainy August morning. We come to church to follow Jesus, but after this story are we really ready to follow this Jesus? Both the Gospel of Luke and Proverbs are real. Following Jesus is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes the choices he asks us to make are tough. Family values are important, right? Maybe it’s the choice between a night at home with the family or spending the night with the homeless at Broad Street Ministry. At other times the costs are very high. There are no simple answers to these questions and the text is not an easy one. I pray that I choose the right decisions in my own life as I wrestle with the words of Christ and the wisdom that I have been given. What I can say is this: We are here this morning because, in one way or another, we are those who have said to Jesus, “I will follow you.” Sometimes we have been faithful and other times we have not. But maybe the good news is that we are, at the very least, trying to follow Jesus. All too often we look at the proverbs, at the actions and instructions of Jesus and write them off as platitudes, yet here in church we seek to be instructed by them, inspired by them, and filled with the good news. This is not easy, and we are warned. The priorities are not simple ones: neither black nor white. Sometimes it is hard to clearly see where the stumbling blocks are or what Christ is asking of us. Yet today I encourage you to pause in this search and do one thing. Look through Proverbs or reread a portion of a gospel. Maybe it’s something that Jesus said: “pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:28b) or maybe it’s a proverb: “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to desist” (Proverbs 23:4a) that rings true to your moral sensibilities. Take it, dwell with it, and try it. Do one thing as sought by Christ, by the Spirit of wisdom, and let it transform you. The adventure that Jesus gives us is the journey of following him. Sometimes it’s scary, sometimes joyous. When we follow Jesus we sometimes do it well and sometimes do terribly, but no matter how we walk we are with God. There is certainty in the presence of our Lord. As we leave this service today and head back out into the challenges and decisions, we take with us Sophia, wisdom, and the way of Christ. We pray for the strength to persevere in the face of the challenge, for strength in times of weakness, for guidance as we try to walk with our Lord to the cross, and for the depth of joy as we go out to share this good news. Amen. |