April 1 ▪ Day 91

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 14:23
Jeremiah 11–12
Luke 20
Psalms 91

Verse Focus (Proverbs 14:23)

All hard work brings a profit,
     but mere talk leads only to poverty.

Meditation

Ha! It just so happens that for April Fools’ Day (for those of you who started reading on January 1st), we will not be talking about fools. 🙂

Proverbs 14:23 has long been a favorite proverb of mine. “All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty.” As a procrastinator, and as someone who can be more talk than action, this proverb reminds me that I need to buckle down and simply work.

I was thinking that perhaps the fact that it’s hard work makes a difference (as opposed to just work), so I started looking at what other English translations say and at what the Hebrew actually says. To my surprise, “hard work” was the translation for only one Hebrew word — a word that means labor, toil, hurt, or sorrow. In fact, it’s the same word used in Genesis when the woman is told that she will bear children in pain or with painful labor (Genesis 3:16). Okay. Well then. That certainly changes my perspective on what kind of work it is that brings a profit! All toil brings a profit. All sorrow brings a profit.

So, what about mere talk? It’s not like talk is bad. We need communication. But talk needs to transition into action. God speaks and therefore He acts. For us, it’s more of a two-part process. We speak, and then we need to act. Unless we start doing, start working, start laboring, there’s no “profit” in that talking — it only leads to poverty. Of course, this is assuming the talk is beneficial. Not all our ideas are good ideas. So, it’s probably just as well that we have that two-part process. 🙂

Father God, please help us to cheerfully labor at those things that we should be doing. Help us to remember that our plans need to transition from idea into action. Help us also to persevere when the work is painful or difficult. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

In Jeremiah 11, the LORD directs Jeremiah to proclaim His message “in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem (v. 6).” It is a story of a broken covenant. The LORD had brought them out of the “iron-smelter (v. 4)” of Egypt and made a covenant with the people, but they did not obey — “everyone walked in the stubbornness of an evil will (v. 8).”

God directs Jeremiah not to pray for the people, because He has determined not to listen to them (v. 14). This is the second or third time we’ve heard the LORD tell Jeremiah not to pray for the people. And it makes me wonder if perhaps God told Jeremiah this because He might have listened to Jeremiah had he prayed for the people anyway. Or perhaps the directive was meant to comfort Jeremiah in his distress at what he knew was coming.

In the second half of Jeremiah 11, the prophet learns that his kinsfolk and the people from his hometown of Anathoth are plotting against him. The LORD reveals the conspiracy to Jeremiah, but promises that He will punish the people of Anathoth. Until the LORD warned him, Jeremiah had been unaware of the scheming. He describes his innocence as that of “a gentle lamb led to the slaughter (v. 19).” The language is similar to the Suffering Servant psalm in Isaiah 53, and I wonder if Jeremiah has been given a bit of Messianic prophecy. One commentator, however, believes that every patriarch and prophet each shares in a bit of the suffering of the Messiah — for Jeremiah, this is his portion of sharing in the experiences of Christ.

In Jeremiah 12, the prophet asks God why he allows the wicked to prosper and live at ease. I love the way he starts out his complaint in verse 1: “You are always in the right, O LORD… but let me put my case to you.” This is a good lesson for us. When we question God’s ways, it is useful to remember that God knows what He is doing.

And I am struck by God’s response to Jeremiah. In verse 5, He says, “If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses?” That last question echoes in my mind: How can you compete with horses? Most commentators see Jeremiah as complaining about the men of Anathoth. This seems borne out by God’s comment to Jeremiah in verse 6 that he should not trust his own relatives since they have betrayed him. These commentators interpret verse 5 as a warning that worse is still to come. His townsfolk and kinsmen are like the foot-runners; however, when people from Jerusalem start plotting against Jeremiah, then he will be contending against the “horses.”

As the prophecy continues in Jeremiah 12, the LORD says that He will abandon His inheritance and forsake the house of Judah. The land and the people will be desolate, or a wasteland — the word is repeated several times throughout verses 10 through 12. And yet God promises in verse 15 that once He has “plucked them up,” He “will again have compassion on them.” The chapter ends with a sober warning that “if any nation will not listen” that nation will be uprooted and destroyed. The phrasing is curious — by saying “any nation” rather than referring to Judah or Israel, it is a prophecy for us today.

As I reflect on today’s reading in Jeremiah, I am still pondering what God’s question means. How can you compete with horses? My first reaction is absolute: I cannot. But the question is much like a more modern phrase where we ask, “How will you compete in the Big Leagues?” And we are content to stay in our little realm. We do get worn out by the little races that are part of our rather small lives. I have no desire to compete in a larger realm. But sometimes God asks us to do so. And if God should ask me to race against horses, then I will have to trust that he will give me my own steed to carry me through. My own strength is insufficient. But God is able to equip us for whatever lies ahead.

In Luke 20 we read again Jesus’ parable about the wicked tenants. This parable also appears in Matthew and Mark, but there is a slight difference in the way that Luke records the parable. According to both Matthew and Mark, when the vineyard owner decides to send his son to collect his share of the fruit, he does so because he reasons that the tenants will respect his son. Luke, however, has the vineyard owner saying, “Perhaps they will respect him (v. 13).” Perhaps. That the vineyard owner wasn’t sure whether or not the tenants would beat or kill his son or whether they would give him the respect he was due makes it all the more remarkable that vineyard owner did indeed send his son to them. As a metaphor for our Father in heaven, there was no “perhaps” about it: the people would mistreat and kill his Son.

I also particularly noted verse 20 today. Luke, more than the other gospel writers, tells us a bit about the motivations behind what people are doing and saying. And when the teachers of the law and chief priests asked whether or not it was right to pay taxes to Caesar, they were doing so to try and trap Jesus. Both Matthew and Mark tell us this, that they were trying to trap Jesus. And I suppose I just thought that they were trying to make Jesus look foolish when I heard that they wanted to trap him. It wasn’t until I read Luke 20:20 that I realized they were trying to trap Jesus specifically so that he could be given over to the civil authorities as a dangerous revolutionary.

The chapter ends with Jesus telling the people to beware the teachers of the law. He describes them as walking around in flowing robes, and loving to be greeted with respect in the market places and to be given the seat of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. And who doesn’t enjoy receiving honor? But the way Jesus describes them, we see people who are motivated solely by receiving that honor. We remember his earlier parable rebuking those who claim the places of honor at a banquet. Jesus goes on to say in verse 47 that the scribes “devour widows’ houses and for a show make lengthy prayers.” With this phrase Jesus has revealed their avarice and their hypocrisy.

I find this image of the scribes very powerful today. On the surface, so mundane and so very ordinary. Respected men, being granted respect. Proper. It seems like this is the way things should be. But then we see the pride. And deeper than the pride is the lack of genuine character. Even the prayers are only done for appearances — to keep their reputation intact. We see this same theater that the scribes played in many other arenas. In church, certainly. But also in business. In academia. It is not wrong to offer respect. But when you start being motivated by the desire to receive that respect, then you are getting on shaky ground.

Psalm 91 is a beloved psalm — assurance of God’s protection. Whatever the trouble, whatever the danger, we are assured that God is our refuge and fortress.

Verse 3 speaks of the “deadly pestilence.” Surely believers in ages past relied on God’s protection for all manner of plagues and illnesses. In our world of modern medicine, in a “first-world” country, we have not had to worry about such contagious health threats — until the recent pandemic, that is. Now, we are all too happy to identify with the verse’s promise that we will be saved from the deadly pestilence.

Verse 7 is one of those gems that you must highlight or memorize: “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” We are offered this protection “because you have made the LORD your refuge (v. 9).” Because. An important little word there.

When I read verses 11 and 12, I suddenly realize that this is a Messianic psalm. “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” This is the very Scripture that the devil quoted when he was tempting Jesus in Luke 4.
Because I recognize that this is a Messianic psalm, I also realize that the version I’m reading has pluralized the text to make it more inclusive. Verse 16 in the NRSV reads, “With long life I will satisfy them, and show them my salvation.” That’s lovely if I’m thinking of the promise in reference to myself. But when the verse reads, “I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation” then I understand more quickly that “he” is the Messiah. I’m kind of irritated that, in the NRSV’s attempt to be more welcoming, the most important meaning of this Scripture is being disguised (although no translation is perfect and I do appreciate how the NRSV will often add a word to more clearly translate some of those weird Greek verb tenses).

This psalm is, in fact, about Easter. Jesus is the one who is delivered and honored and satisfied with long life. Jesus is saved and saves us in return. Hallelujah!

Father God, thank you for Jesus, thank you for the promise of protection. Thank you for this beautiful psalm. Help us to make you our refuge and fortress. Keep us always close to you. Keep us from pride and from desiring praise from humans. Give us the strength we need when we need it. If you call us to compete with horses, may we be ready to ride. In Jesus’ name, Amen.