Scripture Readings
Proverbs 18:13
Amos 4–5
John 13
Psalms 150
Verse Focus (Proverbs 18:13)
To answer before listening —
that is folly and shame.
Meditation
Day 150! Congratulations, everyone. 🙂
Proverbs 18:13 is piercing. “To answer before listening — that is folly and shame.” There are different reasons why we might do this, but most of them boil down to us being self-centered, sinful people. We care more about ourselves, and what we think, and what’s important to us than we care about anyone else. And so we interrupt. Or we don’t have the patience to listen all the way. Or we try to finish someone else’s sentences for them.
Or perhaps we are just so arrogant that it doesn’t occur to us that we need more information, that we need to listen. (Did you ever have a doctor that you felt was too quick to offer a diagnosis? He or she didn’t take the time to actually listen to you?)
Sometimes we are the culprit; and sometimes we are the person who was not heard. We have all been guilty of answering before listening. Some of us struggle more than others in this respect. (Or, perhaps some of us are just more aware of the struggle than others are?)
But I think about the second half of the proverb — folly and shame. I think we actually need to be told this. We need to learn how dishonorable it actually is to speak before we’ve fully heard. Otherwise, we might categorize it as no big deal. It’s just eagerness to express yourself — not disrespect of the other person. So your conversational skills need some improvement — we all have to grow in social interaction, right? But, no. The Bible tells us this is folly and shame. The terrible outcome of foolishness. Disgraceful behavior.
Father God, please help us to understand how serious of an offense it is when we answer before listening. Help us to recognize when we do it; then please help us to stop. Give us patience and the desire to listen. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Amos chapter 4 begins with an address to the women of Samaria — the “cows of Bashan (v. 1).” We get a word picture of selfish and indulgent creatures, comfortable and affluent. They love to boast of their religious offerings and apparent piety and generosity, even though they oppress the poor and crush the needy.
The LORD sent troubles: hunger, drought, poor harvests, and disease. Yet Israel did not return to the LORD. Verse 12 ends with the ominous words: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
Chapter 5 begins with a lament for how the people will be decimated. The prophet issues a call to repentance. “Seek me and live,” God says in verse 4. In verse 15, He says, “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate; it may be that the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”
As I read this chapter today, I am struck by verses 18 and 19:
18Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, and not light,
19as if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
Of course I also am struck by verse 24. It is a well-known, but extremely powerful verse — quoted by Martin Luther King in one of his speeches:
But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Wow!
Scholars believe that Amos used fragments of an ancient hymn within his prophecy. We find one verse at the end of chapter 4 (verse 13), and a second verse in chapter 5 (verse 8 and 9). Other verses believed to be from this ancient hymn are in chapters 8 (verse 8) and 9 (verse 5 and 6). The poetry of the hymn is striking. Also striking is that this hymn celebrates God both as Creator and as Judge. Pulled together from the different chapters and quoted below are the verses of the Amos hymn:
13He who forms the mountains,
who creates the wind,
and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth —
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land —
the LORD is his name.
9With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.
8“Will not the land tremble for this,
and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
it will be stirred up and then sink
like the river of Egypt.
5The Lord, the LORD Almighty —
he touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt;
6he builds his lofty palace in the heavens
and sets its foundation on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land —
the LORD is his name.
In John chapter 13 we read of the Last Supper where Jesus washes his disciples feet. He predicts Judas’ betrayal, gives a new commandment, and also speaks of how Peter will deny him three times before the rooster crows.
Verse 3 is particularly interesting as John gives Jesus’ motives for washing the disciples feet. The verse says, in the CSB, “Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God.” I like how the ESV translates the verse. Even though the construction is a bit more awkward in English, it is more faithful to Greek verb tenses. “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper.” Just think about that for a moment. Jesus knows that he has the Father’s authority. He knows that he is the Son of God. He knows that he is about to return to heaven (albeit through the painful road of crucifixion). And because he is mindful of all these things, he decides he must wash the disciples feet. He only has a few hours left with them, and this is the most important thing he can think to do — to be a servant and to demonstrate love and service. To show them that it’s not how high you are, but how low you go. Humility. Service. Love.
After the demonstration, Jesus does talk to them some more and he gives them a new commandment. But having the Son of God wash their feet is the perfect example of the kind of behavior Jesus models and that he wants his disciples to model. He tells them in verse 16, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” Jesus speaks of himself as God’s servant and God’s messenger; he also speaks of us as his servants, and as his messengers. Jesus knew who he was. He knew his identity as the Son of God. He understood his place and his role in the universe. In a similar manner, we need to understand who we are — servants and messengers, not greater than Jesus, and not greater than God. We must have that identity and that humility in mind at all times.
When we read the gospel of Matthew, I noticed how frequently Matthew would point out the fulfillment of Scripture. Here, I see he must have picked that up from Jesus. In verse 18 Jesus speaks of the fulfillment of Psalm 41:9 — “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.”
Verse 20 strikes me. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” Whoever receives the Holy Spirit receives Jesus, and whoever receives Jesus receives the Father. Amen to that! Of course, sometimes we are the ones that Jesus sends. May we be mindful of this calling!
Jesus says, in verse 34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” I don’t think I realized before today why Jesus said this was a new commandment. I always thought of the “new” as if it were in quotes. It wasn’t really a new law; it was just a new way of stating something that was in the law. Or so I thought. I’m so familiar with Jesus’ command to love one another that I didn’t realize that it really is new. This command does not exist in the Old Testament. The command to love your neighbor as yourself is there, but not the command to love one another. Isn’t that completely mind-blowing?
Psalm 150, the concluding psalm in the Book of Psalms, is perhaps my very favorite of all the praise songs. (Granted, I do tend to have a lot of favorites, but — really, truly — this one is special.)
We are to praise God in our places of worship, just as He is praised in the heavenly realms. We praise Him for what He has done, as we praise Him for who He is. We praise Him with music, with all kinds of musical instruments (even if we are untalented and sing off-key or are only able to make loud, clashing noises). Indeed, as verse 6 proclaims, “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!”
It is a fitting doxology for the Psalter.
Father God, I worship you for your majesty and greatness. I bless you for your wisdom and steadfast love. I thank you for your Word. I honor you for your kindness and tenderness. I exalt your holiness. I adore your creativity. I celebrate your goodness. I magnify your name and the name of Jesus. Thank you.
As Jesus knew this was His last meal, and time alone, with His disciples before His death, I wonder if His mind turned to their futures and all the places their feet would carry them in the years ahead. Perhaps, by washing their feet, He was not only demonstrating for them a humbling act of servitude, but also a tangible blessing on their future journeys, carrying His message to people’s around the world.