April 4 ▪ Day 94

Scripture Readings

Proverbs 14:29
Jeremiah 17–18
Luke 23
Psalms 94

Verse Focus (Proverbs 14:29)

Whoever is patient has great understanding,
     but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.

Meditation

Happy Easter (to those of us reading this in 2021)! 🙂

Today’s proverb teaches the importance of self-control, particularly in terms of keeping your temper. As Proverbs 14:29 says in the NIV, “Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.” The NRSV is similar, saying, “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” In fact, the NRSV is fairly close to the transliterated Hebrew words, which say, “[He who is] slow to wrath great has understanding but [he who is] impulsive of spirit exalts folly.”

We recognize that patience is often paired with wisdom; in fact, one of the aspects we most laud about teachers is their ability to be patient with their students. But it’s not just patience, per se, but the quality of being slow to anger that is praised as possessing great understanding. And I remember that this is often how God describes Himself: as One who is slow to anger.

By giving in to temper, the fool adds fire to a situation, making things worse than they were before. It is easy for us to understand how those who have hasty tempers may cause strife, ruining relationships, and generally self-destructing — yes, that’s folly.

I especially like how the NRSV and the Hebrew says that the quick-tempered person “exalts” folly. Not just that they demonstrate folly, but they make folly seem praiseworthy — as if anger and wrath is the appropriate response to the situation. The fool makes his feelings take center stage, positioning himself as the most important element in the conflict.

Father God, please help us to have and display patience in all our relationships. May we develop great understanding by your grace in Christ Jesus, Amen.

Jeremiah 17 begins by saying that Judah’s sin is engraved on the tablet of their hearts “with a diamond point.” And I recognize the implication: the sin is written with an iron tool using a diamond point because their hearts are stone. These hearts are no longer responsive to God. They are completely hardened. Indeed, in verse 9, Scripture tells us, “The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse — who can understand it?”

In a passage that echoes Psalm 1, the LORD contrasts those who trust in mortals versus those who trust in the LORD by using the images of a desert shrub in an uninhabited salt land compared to an evergreen tree planted next to a stream (v. 5-8). The evergreen tree is not fearful of heat or anxious during a drought; it remains fruitful.

Jeremiah’s prayer in verse 14 resonates: “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved; for you are my praise.”

I am also struck by God’s words in verse 21. He directs Jeremiah to go warn the people about keeping the Sabbath. And His message begins with the words, “For the sake of your lives.” And yet they do not realize that obeying God’s law is literally a matter of life and death for them.

In Jeremiah 18, the prophet is directed to visit the potter’s house to hear a message from the LORD. And as Jeremiah watches the potter, the potter takes a vessel that was marred as it was being formed and changes it to become something else. We understand the analogy — God is the Potter; we are the clay. And God has the right to mold individuals and nations as He sees fit. But the point of this analogy is to communicate to Judah that God may change His mind about the disaster He is planning to bring upon them. If they repent, God will not bring about evil. But if they do evil, relying on past promises that God will plant their nation, then God will change His mind about protecting them.

In the second half of Jeremiah 18, the prophet prays to God concerning his persecutors. They are plotting evil against him, even though Jeremiah has been prophesying to them in order to save them from the coming disaster. Because of this, Jeremiah prays that God will punish them. “May their men meet death by pestilence, their youths be slain by the sword in battle,” Jeremiah prays in verse 21. In verse 23 he says, “Do not forgive their iniquity, do not blot out their sin from your sight. Let them be tripped up before you; deal with them while you are angry.”

I find these types of prayers to be very alienating. Is this the God of love and mercy? I understand God’s need to punish the wicked and I understand how — after many warnings — He will move nations to cause the downfall of His disobedient people. But to have a prophet praying for vengeance seems wrong. And maybe it is wrong. Or maybe it’s valid that he feels this way and shares his feelings openly with God. We don’t have editorial notes here to tell us how we’re supposed to respond to these passages. We must interpret Scripture within its own context; however, we must also interpret this passage within the context of all of Scripture. And since Jesus taught us to love and pray for our enemies, I think that must be how God feels about Jeremiah’s persecutors.

However, I also acknowledge that feelings of wrath and anger over terrible injustice are also alien to me. I have been blessed and have lived a protected life. Perhaps if I lived during war, or in a country that actively persecuted me for my faith, I might feel very differently about praying for God to kill people by the sword or by pestilence. Since I haven’t been the victim of injustice or suffered under terrible wickedness, I will reserve judgment about Jeremiah’s prayers regarding his persecutors.

Luke 23 tells the story of Jesus as he was brought before the civil authorities, Pilate and Herod, and how he was sentenced to death even though the civil authorities did not find him guilty of any wrongdoing. We read of the crucifixion; we read of Jesus’ death and his burial.

The first thing I noted was the false charges the Sanhedrin brought against Jesus when they took him to Pilate. Jesus was “forbidding us to pay taxes to the emperor,” was he? Since we just read about how he had cleverly told them to render unto Caesar the things that were Caesar’s, I find this lie to be particularly galling. When Pilate asked him if he was the king of the Jews, Jesus answers in verse 3, “You say so.” This is very similar to the way he answered the council’s earlier question as to whether or not he was the Son of God: You say that I am.

One of the notable things about Jesus’ various trials is that he did not make a defense for himself when accused. But he also made no claims about who he was. Even when Jesus made a comment about the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God, he didn’t say that he was the Son of Man. Of course that was the implication since he had referred to himself that way in much of his earlier teaching. But “Son of Man” wasn’t a well-known title that meant he was the Messiah.

Verse 9 tells us that when Jesus stood before Herod he didn’t give him any answers. Herod had been eagerly wanting a chance to see Jesus because of all the commotion about him. Herod wanted to see a sign or a miracle. Meanwhile, the chief priests and scribes continue to accuse him vehemently. But Herod gets frustrated at this lack of answers. And so Herod and his soldiers also mock Jesus and treat him with contempt before sending him back to Pilate. The Scripture tells us that that very day Pilate and Herod became friends.

I am struck by Herod’s transformation. From eagerness and excitement and great desire to see this man he’d heard about for so long, Herod instead turns into one who mocks and physically abuses him. Why? Because Jesus didn’t do what Herod wanted him to do. He didn’t speak, he didn’t heal someone, he didn’t do anything miraculous at all.

I also ponder Jesus’ comment in verse 31. He tells the women in the crowd at the crucifixion not to weep for him, but to weep for themselves. “For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?” I interpret this question to mean that Christ’s incarnation and his presence is the “green wood.” But I find myself surprised as I had not thought that his presence was restraining wickedness and evil. Are we in the season of dry wood now? Or does the Holy Spirit somehow prevent that?

The crowd around the cross was mostly there for the “spectacle” according to verse 48. Once Jesus died, they returned home — grieving. But his disciples and acquaintances “stood at a distance, watching these things (v. 49).” The phrase “stood at a distance” was highlighted to me today. The disciples, women, and acquaintances of Jesus stood apart from the others. They weren’t joining in to the spectacle; they weren’t part of the crowd. “Stood at a distance” is both literal and metaphorical. And when everyone else left, they remained — at a distance, watching. Holding vigil, perhaps. Or was this a distancing meant to protect their hearts? Did they stand apart originally as a way of saying to the crowd that we don’t have anything to do with this man? Or was their distance meant to communicate their disapproval of the crucifixion? Perhaps it was a bit of both.

Psalm 94 fits very well with the second half of Jeremiah 18. The psalmist begins by addressing this prayer to the LORD, the “God of vengeance.” When the psalmist refers to God as the judge of all the earth, that is a bit more palatable to my ears. I understand justice, but vengeance make me uncomfortable.

According to the dictionary, vengeance is punishment or retribution for an injury or for wrongdoing. And, in fact, vengeance implies a righteousness to that punishment. I still feel uncomfortable with the concept, but I suppose this is one of those things that would be wrong for me, but is not wrong for God.

The psalmist prays for God to act because the proud, the wicked, and the evildoers are crushing God’s people. He exhorts fools and those without sense to realize that God created everything, sees everything, and disciplines the nations as He sees fit. But even as the psalmist asks for God to judge and discipline those who are doing wrong, he exclaims in verse 12, “Happy are those whom you discipline, O LORD.”

The psalmist speaks of the LORD as his refuge and rock. “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul,” he says in verse 19. Even though the wicked condemn the innocent, the LORD will make things right.

Father God, thank you that you do rule over the heavens and the earth. You are a God of justice and righteousness. You care about all the injustices in the world. But the problem is bigger than the wicked acts people do because our hearts are desperately wicked and treacherous. Thank you that you devised a solution for this problem. You sent Jesus to cleanse us from our sins and to make a right relationship with you possible. Thank you for forgiving me my sins. Thank you for giving me a new heart and for giving me the Holy Spirit to live within me. May I become part of the solution instead of contributing to the problem. In Jesus’ name, Amen.