March 28 ▪ Day 87

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 14:9
Jeremiah 3–4
Luke 16
Psalms 87

Verse Focus (Proverbs 14:9)

Fools mock at making amends for sin,
     but goodwill is found among the upright.

Meditation

As Proverbs 14:9 is translated into English, it appears in a number of different permutations. The NIV says, “Fools mock at making amends for sin, but goodwill is found among the upright.” The NRSV says, “Fools mock at the guilt offering, but the upright enjoy God’s favor.” The NLT says, “Fools make fun of guilt, but the godly acknowledge it and seek reconciliation.” The NIRV says, “Foolish people laugh at making things right when they sin. But honest people try to do the right thing.”

The transliterated Hebrew for this proverb says, “Fools mock at guilt offering but among the upright [there is] favor.” This last word can mean acceptance, goodwill, or favor; or even delight, desire, or will (as in determination or resolve). The word transliterated as guilt offering typically refers to the Old Testament sacrifice called a guilt offering, but it can also mean offense or guilt. Now, not to confuse things too much, but in the Old Testament system of sacrifices, there were both sin offerings and guilt offerings. Sin offerings related to unintentional offenses against God; whereas guilt offerings related to offenses against other people (whether intentional or unintentional). The guilt offering was intended as a way to make reparations for the offense to the offended party. English translations have not always kept the Old Testament distinction between sin versus guilt, and in our language today we tend to use the words interchangeably.

The reason I mention all this is because we should understand this proverb primarily in terms of relationships between people, rather than in terms of our individual relationships with God. The “sin” or the “guilt” or the “guilt offering” that fools are contemptuous and scornful about is an offense that they have committed against another person. But the upright have “favor” or “goodwill” — or even the delight or the resolve to do what is right in terms of guilt offerings. The upright choose to make amends or to make reparations when they have offended someone else.

Father God, thank you for this proverb and what it teaches us about relationships. Please give us the desire and the goodwill to make things right with other people when we have caused offense. Don’t let us laugh it off when we have hurt someone else; keep us from mocking or dismissing another person’s hurt, especially when we may be the source of that pain. May your Holy Spirit always lead us in paths of righteousness. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Jeremiah calls to Judah in chapter 4, verse 18, “This is your doom; how bitter it is!” As we read Jeremiah 3 and 4, we hear God’s charges against Judah. The people call upon God to forget His anger at them, but it is mere talk of repentance. They continue to do evil and do not change their ways. Indeed, in verse 11, Jeremiah shocks us by saying that Faithless Israel had less guilt than False Judah has. God pleas for the people to return to Him. “Only acknowledge your guilt,” He says in verse 13. Verse 22 is just as poignant: “Return, O faithless children, I will heal your faithlessness.”

Chapter 4 continues with the call to repentance. “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns,” the prophet says in verse 3. This reminds me of Jesus’ parable about the good soil. We need to till our soil so that it will not be rocky, or overrun by thorns. Verse 4 calls for the people to circumcise their hearts — or else they will experience God’s wrath. And Jeremiah prophesies of that disaster from the north: a besieging army, the land in ruins. As Jeremiah describes his vision, it sounds like the Apocalypse — the entire world devastated, formless, and without light (v. 23).

The prophet cries in verse 14, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart clean of wickedness so that you may be saved.” To me this echoes Jesus’ own cries about Jerusalem — how he longed to gather them together as a hen gathers chicks under her wings, but they were not willing (Matthew 23:37).

I don’t know what will come next in history. But Jeremiah’s words resonate with me. It’s easy for us to look back and say, oh, yes, the prophet was speaking of the coming Fall of Jerusalem — we know when Jeremiah started prophesying and when the kingdom later fell. But what happens when we look forward? What will have happened 40 or 50 or 100 years from now? Will Christ have returned? Or will we see that our country was humiliated and devastated by foreign powers because of our own sins? If Jeremiah’s words are so relevant to us today, surely we must be in equal danger of judgment.

In Luke chapter 16, Jesus tells two parables — the parable of the dishonest manager, and the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Both of these parables only appear in this gospel.

The parable of the dishonest manager has a lot to say about wealth, or money, and how believers should handle it. In verse 8, Jesus says the dishonest manager is to be commended for his shrewdness, “for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.” Shrewdness is a kind of intelligence and understanding that is astute, perceptive, and very practical. Unlike the English word “cunning,” which implies a deceitfulness to the practical intelligence, someone who is “shrewd” is seen in a positive light. After praising the man’s shrewdness, however, Jesus goes on to say that believers should “make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.”

Depending upon what translation you read, you may have seen “dishonest wealth” translated as “worldly wealth” or “unrighteous mammon.” According to the Greek, the adjective is “unrighteous” — so there is a clear sense of the unholiness of money and possessions. “Worldly” is not a positive attribute in the New Testament; however, I think it has lost most of its punch in today’s parlance. Yet Jesus wants us to use the resources we have at our disposal to win friends. It’s less clear what being welcomed into eternal homes by “them” means. Most believe “they” refers to the friends that you make. If they are welcoming you into eternal homes, it is presumably because — through your friendship and influence — they were saved and brought into the kingdom of God. However, “they” might also be referring to those within the kingdom of heaven — and you are welcomed because of how you used your wealth to help others, regardless of how it may have affected their eternal destiny.

Verse 10 is the gem that I highlight time and again: “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much.” But today it was verse 11 that struck me. Jesus mentions that if we are unable to be faithful with “dishonest money,” then how can we be trusted to handle true riches? And I see that our stewardship of finances is a test. It’s not just about how we handle things in this life, it’s about what we will be asked to do in the next life. Jesus sums up this discussion of wealth by reminding us that no one can serve two masters.

In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, I am always struck by Jesus’ comment in verse 26 about the “chasm” that is fixed between heaven and hell. There is no way to travel from one realm to the other: death is the doorway and from that point on you have one of two possible destinations.

I find myself also continually struck by Jesus’ punchline to this particular parable. In verse 31, Abraham says to the rich man, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” This is particularly poignant because we know that Jesus himself will soon be killed. And even though Jesus rises from the dead, people are not convinced.

The parable has a pleasing resonance with the miracle recorded in John’s gospel where Jesus raises his friend Lazarus from the dead. We do not know exactly how the timing works between these two different events, but I imagine that Jesus chose the name “Lazarus” for the poor man in this parable because he knew that he would soon raise Lazarus from the dead.

Psalm 87 was written by the Sons of Korah. It is a short, sweet song about the joy of living in Zion, the city of God. In some ways, it is a little alienating to read this psalm because I wasn’t born in Jerusalem or Israel. Nor was I born in any of the countries mentioned in verse 4. But this is, of course, not meant to be just a literal psalm of praise.

Zion is a metaphor for Jerusalem, for the land of Israel, for the city of God, for the kingdom of God, and the heavenly city of God. And we do have citizenship in the kingdom of God and will one day reside in the heavenly city of God. Because of this, I take great comfort in verse 6 as the LORD registers me as one born in Zion.

Father God, we look forward to the day when we will live in the Zion above. We too will declare that “all my springs are in you.” Thank you for adopting us into your family, and for securing our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Father, I am troubled by the parallels between Jeremiah’s world and the world we live in today. There is so much wickedness in our society. Enable us to heed Jeremiah’s warnings. Help us to repent. Soften our hearts, let us break up the fallow ground. Help us also to be wise stewards of your blessings. May we be shrewd in our relationships, using worldly resources to make friends. And may you use us to bring more people into your kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.