Lady Wisdom and the Blueberry Festival

Lady Wisdom and the Blueberry Festival

Presented at County Line Brethren Church on September 13, 2009.
Year B, Proper 19
Scripture passages: Proverbs 1:20-33; James 3:1-12

I would like to thank those of you who have contributed to my little private fund raiser for the Neighborhood Center. I did run in the 5K Blueberry Stomp and was able to chop about 6 minutes off of my time from last year. One of my friends even noticed that I was running a bit faster than last year.

Our passage in Proverbs paints an intriguing picture for us. I would like for you to imagine a busy marketplace. Perhaps something like the Blueberry Festival.

How many of you went to the Blueberry Festival this year? I was only there on three occasions. The first was to see the balloon glow on Sunday night, prior to the fireworks display. Wow, what a crowd! It was a mass of humanity. I actually skipped out on the fireworks because I was not as interested in them this year and because someone needed to bring my youngest grandson, Wyatt, back to the house to avoid being traumatized by the incredible blow-your-hair-back explosions. Which is funny because Wyatt doesn't have much hair to be blown back. Nevertheless, we all agreed that it would not be best for Wyatt to attend the fireworks. I was then able to put Wyatt down all by myself that night. And, I don't mind saying, that I believe grandpa passed the test.

The next time was for the 5K Stomp. At the beginning, I enjoyed running with the mass of runners down the empty streets with another mass of humanity on both sides. Coming back was a bit different as the mass of runners had thinned to a small stream – still being watched by the mass of humanity on both sides of the street.

The third time I went in was with Beth on Monday afternoon. We wanted to walk among the sea of humanity just to see if there was anything we needed or wanted to buy. Again, it was wall-to-wall people.

For those of you who went this year, or have ever gone to the Blueberry Festival, I would like you to imagine yourselves in the midst of the throng. Bumping elbows with someone you don't know while checking out the latest in sweatshirt sayings and toys made out of wood and fair food.

All of a sudden you hear someone shouting – LOUDLY. It is a lady that is shouting, trying to be heard above all the noise and music and fireworks and airplanes flying overhead. The lady is crying out excitedly, HEY, HOW LONG ARE YOU SIMPLETONS GOING TO KEEP EMBRACING YOUR LACK OF WISDOM? HOW LONG ARE YOU MOCKERS GOING TO DELIGHT IN YOUR MOCKERY? AND HOW LONG ARE YOU FOOLS GOING TO DESPISE KNOWLEDGE?

The funny thing is that despite all the yelling, there are very few of the thousands in the crowd that are actually listening.

This is the kind of scene being described in Proverbs, chapter 1. It is like Lady Wisdom is trying to yell above the crowd and the noise of the Blueberry Festival.

So, there are three different types of people that are here being addressed in the passage from Proverbs. The first is the simpleton. This is one who is easily influenced by either wisdom or folly. They are easily enticed and misled. They tend to believe everything, including bad counsel. They are also sometimes described as being gullible. This is a person who does not know where they stand. In other words, this is the person who because they don't stand for something, will fall for anything. The simpleton will agree with wisdom on one day, and agree with folly on another.

The second type of person being addressed here is the scoffer, or the mocker. They tend to be defiant and ridicule righteous people. This person is ordinarily quite proud and convinced of their own opinions. Proverbs talks a lot about the proud. This person is so convinced in their own 'right-ness' that they would not be open to the voice of wisdom.

And the last type of person is the morally insensitive fool. This person has no moral compass. They reject any form of knowledge or truth. Proverbs talks a lot about the foolish person, the one who has no comprehension of right or wrong. Indeed, this person would reject any instruction about what is right or wrong. In the end, the guidance followed by the fool is what seems right at the moment.

So, back to the Blueberry Festival. We hear Lady Wisdom crying out excitedly, wanting to be heard above the clamor. She is speaking to the simpleton, the mocker and the fool. She is offering assistance. She is offering life. She is offering herself.

She makes this plea, sending out a life ring to any who would accept it.

She says, “If only you will respond to my rebuke, then I will pour out my thoughts to you and I will make my words known to you.” (v. 23) Wisdom is offering this as a gift. Indeed, she will “pour out” these words of wisdom to the hearer. We are given the picture that Wisdom will be generous in the pouring out of wisdom – if her gift is only accepted.

Nevertheless, we are thereupon told that the simpleton, the mocker and the fool summarily reject this gift. It is as if they did not even hear Wisdom screaming out the message. They keep walking, actively ignoring the message. Again and again, they continue to ignore the offer. Scripture says that they actively neglected the gift.

As a result of their disregard for the truth, they inevitably fall into ruin. Disaster strikes and trouble destroys everything.

Let us try to picture this another way. Imagine you are standing on the edge of a cliff. If you take one step, you will fall, sustaining serious, even life-threatening injuries.

Do you remember the final episode of the Lord of the Rings trilogy? It is called The Return of the King. One moment of suspense is near the end when the creature, Gollum, frames Sam and accuses him of taking the last of the special Elven bread. Frodo insists that Sam leave their presence and go back down the treacherous trail. Frodo proceeds alone with Gollum, who encourages Frodo to enter into a cave with a confusing maze of passages. If you were watching this with other people, either the first time or for the 20th time, everyone is telling Frodo, “DON'T GO IN THE CAVE!!!! THERE'S SOMETHING BAD IN THERE. IT'S A TRICK. DON'T GO IN THE CAVE!!!!” Fortunately, Sam comes back to rescue Frodo and the quest continues. But it's like that with Wisdom. We're standing at the mouth of the cave. Gollum is motioning for us to enter. Wisdom is SCREAMING, DON'T GO IN THE CAVE!!

Wisdom is like the audience watching Frodo about to enter the cave. Wisdom can see the danger. Wisdom wants Frodo to avoid disaster. Wisdom wants us to avoid destruction. Nevertheless, we walk right into the cave, do we not?

At this juncture the observant modern-day reader is somewhat taken aback by Wisdom's reaction to this destruction. Wisdom actually begins to laugh and mock at the one in trouble. She is making fun of the one who is suffering. We wonder about this apparently crass response. But Wisdom says that she tried desperately to help them avoid the pit of devastation. She offered them a pathway which would not lead to this desolation. And yet, the simpleton, the mocker and the fool CHOOSE to walk right in. We choose to step over the cliff. We choose to to walk into the cave with the giant spider in it.

As a result, Wisdom is saying that those who choose destruction shall taste its rottenness fully. Those who choose their own way shall reap what they sow. In fact, the scripture says that they will be stuffed full of their own worthless counsel. Can you imagine being stuffed full of your own rotten counsel? Now that's NOT a pretty picture.

To go one step further, Wisdom, being offended at being previously rejected, will not even answer the fool's call for help when they are suffering. “Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but will not find me” (vs. 28).

What can we learn from all of this?

I think the first thing we must do is to consider the ways in which we may be similar to the simpleton, the mocker and/or the fool. Are you more like the simpleton who discovers that you are agreeing with what most people say, even those who offer opposite views? Are you easily swayed by a strong argument?

Are you more like the mocker, who proudly asserts they are right. Do you look down on those who have different views than yourself? Do you only ever find truth in what you already believe? Do you privately put down those who don't think like you? Are you quick to assert your own opinion?

Or, are you more like the fool who has no sense of right or wrong? You either follow the group you are with or you hold to the philosophies of the 60's where you “love the one you're with” and “if it feels good, do it.”

In light of what we discussed two weeks ago, I can look at my own life and see where I've spent time in each category. But mostly, I've been a mocker, the proud one. I have struggled with this my whole life and it periodically brings me to the edge of the precipice. Fortunately, Wisdom arrived in time, SCREAMING “DANGER, DANGER, WILL ROBINSON, DANGER, DANGER, STEVE. LISTEN TO WISDOM. I'M TRYING TO GET YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!!!! By the way, I saw an episode of Lost in Space recently. It was a real hoot! I heartily recommend it.

So, the first thing is to examine yourself to see if you have any characteristics of the simpleton, the mocker or the fool.

The second thing we can learn from this is that Lady Wisdom is available to us and stands ready to give us her precious treasure. All we need to do is to accept this Wisdom. Now that's easier said than done. Let's consider this for a moment. And since I've already disclosed my own frailty, pride, let's take a look at that. If I am full of pride, believing that I have the truth in a package, that is, MY PACKAGE, am I easily going to admit that I don't have a lock on the truth?? I don't think so. Not in my experience anyway. What I have experienced with Wisdom, is that she sometimes slaps me (figuratively) while yelling at me to get my attention. I know the scripture passage doesn't say that, but I'm telling you that I've been slapped (figuratively) into realizing that I was about ready to walk off the cliff. It's like Wisdom is talking to me like in an episode of Bernie Mac or Big Momma's Family. All of a sudden you wake up and see the cliff and think, “what the heck was I thinking?” – And step back from the edge of that cliff.

With the simpleton who is swayed by every opinion, it can be incredibly difficult to convince they are living on shifting sand, until the flood washes the house downstream.

With the fool, who does not have any sense of right or wrong, how do you convince them that 'right' even exists?

Our clue to receiving this gift of Lady Wisdom is also found in vs. 23, that I referred to a moment ago. “If only you will respond to my rebuke.”

Here's my question: When does “rebuke” come? Does not rebuke come after some type of failure? Does it not come after a fall? Does not rebuke come because my action, my choice as a simpleton, a mocker or a fool, has finally provoked someone to chastise me. Is that not the warning that disaster is near? Is that not the sound of the pebbles falling as I step closer to the edge of destruction? Is it not in suffering the due consequences of my actions that this rebuke is brought to my attention and the 2x4 appropriately brought to bear upon my stubborn noggin'? Yes indeed, it is this disturbing, distasteful, bitter, and disgusting pill of rebuke that saves us from the pit of our own demise. It is the newly wisened who heed this precious treasure of rebuke.

One of the things I learned from taking CPR is that there are times that in the performance of CPR, bones in the chest will sometimes break. While not desirable, if it takes a couple of broken bones to get the heart beating again, it is definitely worth it.

Rebuke is very painful, sometimes as bad as broken bones. But like CPR, it just might save your life.

(Resources: The NET Bible and the Expositor's Bible Commentary)