Proverbs 1: 20-26, 32-33 Be Wise As far back as I can remember, every time I left the house where I grew up, my mother would say to me, Be good. I remember hearing that into my forties and fifties. So, it wasn t the worried counsel of a mother to her teen-aged boy or a order to a young, sometimes rebellious son- well, maybe it started that way- but it became a declaration of her desire for positive things for me, and a word of blessing to me. Be good. I heard it for decades, and I had never really thought about it, it had never seemed strange to me at all, until one day I brought a friend down from Dallas who had never once her whole life ridden a horse. And so, we came to where there were horses, and we rode and had fun. And when it was time to return to Dallas, Mother gave me a hug and said, Be good. As we were in the car driving back, my friend started laughing. I asked her what was so funny, and she said, Your mom, telling you to be good. I replied that Mother always said that to me, and she answered, But you re a grown man! and besides that, you are already the nicest man I know. Of course, my friend didn t mean to be critical of my mother- she just wanted to make fun of me, I think. And it was funny, I guess. But looking back, I think that I always felt a little extra cared for whenever my mother repeated that phrase to me.
Some of you have heard that story already, but in the context of the book of Proverbs, it bears repeating. Because my mother was acting the part of the wise parent, speaking words of wisdom to me- like the father in the book giving instruction to his son. Now, that phrase, be good, is certainly not profound, but then neither is so much of what we read in Proverbs. Much of it is just sensible and practical. But what the verses of Proverbs do, and what my mother s admonition does, is that they point to the meaning of what life is. This is a big thing to understand about Proverbs. It is not all earth-shattering insight, not filled with life-changing statements like you might expect to hear when you go to the costly weekend seminar; or like the deep teachings you think to learn on pilgrimages or religious retreats. But more often, wisdom is not discovered in beautiful quotations or quiet surroundings, but found somewhere, somehow, else. Think of the great teachers who found eternal wisdom in the most mundane places: Solomon, who told his readers to ponder the workings of the ant; Plato, who saw the reality beyond the shadows cast onto a stone wall; Jeremiah, who saw God at work in a basket of figs; Jesus, who shows the mystery of life s meaning in lilies of the field and sparrows of the air, in seeds of grain and the soil of Palestine. And think how your own understanding has grown as you learned to face the world
every day, and as you confronted the sorrows of your life. That s what makes the getting of wisdom a lifelong journey- we have to go through so much to begin to see what life is. Wisdom isn t just handed to us. Though it is all around us: it is in the noise on the street- as verse 20 has it- and wherever the crowds gather; it s in the teachings of Proverbs from father to son, and the parents who still speak wise words to their children. It is passed on, but it is up to us to see it. And if wisdom is in the little things even more than the big ones, it doesn t mean the answers are easy or simple; and if we run from the difficulties and the hurts, we will never find wisdom at all. This is another important thing about the teachings of wisdom, in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and other writings, and even in the advice your parents gave: that they are not complete- because they are not simple; that they point us to the deeper meanings of life and of relationships, and how to live in community, how to do good and be good. So in my mother s humble phrase, Be good, is the meaning of my life, and everyone s life. It isn t about being holy or perfect or getting saved; it is about being what I am made to be. The teachings of wisdom show us that life is a journey, and that we re never finished. Until we are finished.
And so, we can t read wisdom literature like we read the other parts of the Bible: these proverbs and parables and aphorisms are not commandments; we can t read them with the idea that if we do them we will become perfect. Rather, they are the starting point for our journey along the path of wisdom. Even now, after so many years of belief and faithfulness, don t we sometimes still get lost, don t we fall down; aren t we still trying to find our purpose, trying to find the deeper meanings of who God is, and what God wants of us; trying to find the truth of things- and the God who is truth? Wisdom is the willingness to take that long road to get to the truth. And there is no short road. It s why we must listen to our teachers and elders and parents, to those around us; and look for it in the street and in the marketplace; and to face it with humility. Because it is a long road and we need help as we go. For some people, Proverbs is basically meaningless, we could gain as much reading Bartlett s Book of Quotations, or Poor Richard s Almanac ; just practical stuff and funny quotes with no real theology or spirituality in it. And, mainly, on the surface that is true. But the sayings of Proverbs are just the beginning, and if we will, they can direct us along the way, to a better realization of our place among the other people and things in the world; if we begin there,
with the seeking of wisdom, then the road will take us to the truth about ourselves and God. Here, the little things, the practical things, become wisdom as we apply them in order to build a grateful relationship with God, and peaceable, caring relationships with the world of people and all creation, and with our own spirits. That is the meaning of the search for wisdom. Being good, being wise, makes me a better human, more what God wants me to be. And more a part of the family of all creatures. The words of wisdom in Proverbs are not commandments, but guideposts that point the way, lessons handed down to show us how to make better lives; not doctrine, not teachings on salvation and the afterlife, but wise hints on how to create gracious, merciful lives, and how to build compassionate communities. Some of the sayings in Proverbs don t make a lot of sense from a religious viewpoint, except that they can help open our eyes to what God s world is; they can guide us in being the kind of people who get along, and who learn to care for one another, who try to make life more hopeful for others. In that regard, wisdom literature is powerful religious teaching that helps us see the sometimes hidden places where God s heart is.
I should give my dad equal time. My favorite quote from him is this exquisitely practical saying, Son, oil is the life of your engine. It has absolutely nothing to do with religion. But everything to do with taking care of the things I possess, and the things I use. It has nothing to do with my relationship with God or with you as my friends in faith. Except that sometimes I use my vehicle to come to see you, to come to church, to carry items we use in our fellowship. When I take care of my pickup, I am a better steward of God s gifts. Thus, in my father s simple and obvious proclamation, is the wise understanding that everything is connected; it is a profound word about my relation to the world of things and how they work; my relation to the good news of Jesus and how I can use what I have to be God s servant to others; and a word that instructs me in the right attitude of thankfulness even for a ten year old pickup- that isn t a Jaguar- and for all the other things: things that are mine, but truly are not for me alone, but for sharing. If we will hear it, oil is the life of the engine is God s wisdom to us: perhaps as we consider the amazing facts of the physical world, of chemistry and physics and the nature of things; as a demand laid upon us to care for things and not to destroy; and as the humble knowledge that what we are and what we have may never attain to what others might possess, but so what? it is what God has
provided. And it is enough. Isn t that wisdom? To be content, or as verse 32 has it, to dwell secure, and to be at ease. Let us be wise then, finding happiness as God s children- with so many other sisters and brothers.