Today’s Scripture Reading (April 19,
2013): Proverbs 26
There was a
bit of a running gag in the old M*A*S*H show about firing off cannons and guns
(and dropping bombs) on the wrong thing. The situations ran from being bombed
by friendly fire coming from ships off shore, to a canon shooting a bugle out
of Radar’s hands, to firing an anti-aircraft gun and accidentally (on purpose)
destroying an ammunition dump that the army had decided to place beside the
hospital. In each of these situations there was some fool who did not seem to
understand what was happening but who had access to powerful weaponry – much to
the despair and amazement of Hawkeye and the “intelligent” group at the 4077
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. The gags summed up the series’ irreverent look
at the things that armies do. And for years we laughed right along with the
show.
And so Solomon
gives us his own sight gags in the describing of a fool. And the image that he
gives us here is of the tying of a stone into a sling, which of course makes
the sling unusable. But the part of the problem is that there is actually some
logic to the idea. For the amateur trying to use an ancient sling shot, where
the stone would have been placed in its seat in the sling and then whole
instrument needed to be swung over the head until the release of one side of
the sling causes the rock comes shooting out, the problem in using the sling
was often keeping the stone in the sling – especially at the very beginning of
the process. If the stone came out prematurely, it could not fulfill its
purpose. So tying the stone into the sling actually solves a problem – it keeps
the stone from falling out at the beginning of the process. The problem is that
it, of course, also keeps the stone from coming out at the end of the process
when the stone is supposed to come out.
So the
proverb says that giving honor to a fool is like tying a stone into a sling -there
is a point where giving honor to a fool seems like the right thing to do, but
in the end it is not. A number of years ago I was given the advice (which at
the time I rebelled against, and still do rebel against although now I understand
the advice better) that as a pastor I should take care of the church and do the
work of God on my own time and with a small group of people who might want to
come with me. It was as if the care of the church and the work of God were two
separate items. But the meaning behind the advice is that people who have been
in the church too long seem to somehow lose the capability to do the work of
God. Inside the church we become so protectionist of things of God that we lose
sight of the work that needs to be done in the world. The attempt to include
the church in the work of God is like giving honor to a fool – or tying a stone
into a sling. The church has no idea what to do with the task they have been
given.
Of course,
we serve a God that can transform fools into the wise. But maybe what we take
out of this passage is that that transformation has to happen first to us,
before we will be able to make use of the honor that we crave.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading:
Proverbs 27
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