Sept. 6 Prov. 22, mark 7, James 2
When I was in seminary, Proverbs were given short shrift. Maybe we have moved back into a time of appreciation for them, as we have grown more distrustful of large answers to the big questions and are used to getting small bytes of information. . Look before you leap-one who hesitates is lost-absence makes the heart grow fonder-out of sight out of mind- A friend had a bumper sticker: question authority. I planned to make one: accept complexity.The entire SC view of campaign finance can be summed up in the phrase, money talks.This is a bit inside baseball. One of the reasons Proverbs fell in attention was its seeming assumption that it projected a simple good is rewarded and bad is punished model. We read here of a more nuanced understanding of the human condition. Sometimes poverty is the result of poor choices. sometimes it is the result of poor conditions. Sometimes it is unpredictable and so is wealth. the poor should not be ill-treated by those better off. Wisdom literature in the bible tries to look at human experience and make some sense of it, an early form of social science, seemingly unconcerned with prophetic oracles and grand schemes. Proverbs was also unpopular, as it does not have a clear linear progression, point to point. it skips around a lot, as if someone with ADD was composing quickly. We live in a perfect time w to reclaim Proverbs in the age of tweets, 140 character brief blurbs on everything under the sun. In trivia contests, they sometimes have advertising slogans and it is incredible how they leap to mind. Proverbs have some punch as they ask us to consider if we see the hand of God in everyday life. do we perceive patterns in our lives that can give us some guidance instead of constantly making it up as we go along, or re-inventing the wheel.Proverbs speaks of the good person as having a good eye as opposed to the evil eye-it speaks of sharing not being generous per se
mark 7 healing and prejudice-Jesus and the woman have a bit of a contest of proverbs, and the woman wins.Note that Jesus almost always bests his religious opponents in a word battle. not only does prejudice pre-judge but it inhibits our field of vision-James uses a biblical passage as more than a proverb but a rule, a royal decree: love your neighbor as yourself.
“No one wants to look into the true mirror and see a scarred face which hardship has scribed with the seams and wrinkles graven by years of endurance. Yet James insists that this face of one who has known sorrows, who is acquainted with grief, is our birthright...: the royal law obliges us to love our neighbor as ourself, and the destitute have been chosen to inherit God’s kingdom. James sees in the faces of beggars the resplendent visages of celestial queens and kings;”(AKM Adam) -”One might wonder, "Where is the good news in a passage like this one?"... He wonders, "Where is the good news for your neighbor?" James wants the good news to be experienced--by each believer and through each believer to the many others who need a tangible expression of grace.” Craig Koester
Class bias is an issue entangled in racial stereotypes. We have permitted it as acceptable where blacks equate whites with privilege and a whole set of assumptions that whites make of blacks. Class cuts across racial lines and exacerbates some of the tensions and discrimination felt by people of any race. This Includes what President Bush memorably called the soft bigotry of reduced or low expectations.”
Wisdom material often gives human scaled answers to normal encounters. It’s a humble approach that builds on experiences, step by step.God watches over us in ways large and small.
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