“Stingy People Make me Wanna Puke!”
Gary Burbank was a local Cincinnati radio celebrity who used to do hilarious routines. One of his characters was “Earl Pitts, American.” Apparently, a lot of things made Earl sick. In fact a lot of things made Earl “wanna puke.”
Well, the Bible talks about puking quite a lot. You didn’t know that? Well, it does!
For example, Proverbs 23:6-8 warns people against a certain brand of hostile hospitality.
“Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
7 for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
8 You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.” (English Standard Version)
I read this, and thought to myself, “Yeah, there are people like that! They wanna make me puke too!”
Lindsay Wilson makes some excellent observations about this passage:
This section echoes verses 1-3, but broadens the concept out to one who offers food begrudgingly. The precise character of this person is not immediately clear. Some versions opt for stingy (ESV, NRSV, HCSB), others for “begrudging” (NIV 1984), while some older versions pick up the more literal sense of ‘him who hath an evil eye’ (KJV). It refers to someone who is the opposite of one who has a good eye, which in 22:9 describes a generous person. . . . Verse 7 indicates that such a person has a façade of being generous, but is not like that on the inside. The only other place where the expression is used in the OT is in 28:22, where it refers to one who chases after wealth. So it describes someone who is greedy and not wanting to share, yet still wanting to have a name for being generous. . . . The meaning of verse 8 is clear (you will vomit up what you have eaten and waste your kind words), but the reason for this is not set out. There may have been something bad about the food, but more likely it is a vivid expression for being revolted when you realize the hypocrisy of the host.[1]
Before I read Wilson’s good comments, I had thought to myself, “Hey! Maybe this stingy guy was serving his poor guest food that had gone way beyond its expiration date.” So, Wilson’s appropriately tentative comment, “There may have been something bad about the food . . .” might be along the same line as my suspicion. (I just love it when other scholars’ suspicions support my own!)
I was, of course, identifying myself with the guest.
And then, the merest bit of doubt intruded: What if I was a little like the stingy host? Perhaps, reading the Scripture is a relatively benign activity. But letting the Scripture read me is another matter altogether. Allowing the Scripture to speak to me is an exceedingly subversive activity. It is likely to reveal my soft underbelly. (For further information, I refer you to The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien. Smaug, the dragon, had a vulnerable place underneath him, near his heart.)
Now, my first reaction to this unwelcome thought was, “Why, of course, I’m not stingy!”
And then I remembered the Girl Scout cookies that I bought from our neighbors. They have two girls in the Girl Scouts, so I had to buy four boxes of Tagalogs. I thought of hiding them in my room, and not sharing them with my sweetheart, my wife. I didn’t, but I thought about it.
Oh my!
Now, don’t get me wrong: I can be very generous with some things. You want the last helping of broccoli? No problem! You don’t want to share your green beans? You can have them all!
So, I am very generous with things that I don’t like.
We Christians just came through the Lenten season. We are often challenged to think of how much God gave up for us, and how much Jesus sacrificed for us. We are also encouraged to give up something during Lent.
And now, we are in the season known as Eastertide, when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection, the surprising sequel to Jesus’ death. Celebrating what God has done for me is also celebrating what God has done for the entire world.
How can I share my Savior with others, when I struggle to share my Tagalogs? Sometimes, vomiting is self-induced.
[1] Lindsay Wilson, Proverbs, TOTC 17 (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018), 252.
“OBEYING WITH ALACRITY”
I love words. They are no substitute for reality, but they can become a wonderful compost in which real deeds can thrive.
Take the word “alacrity”, for example. I used it today in my journal entry.
“God, you have given me so much! I am not sufficiently grateful, loving, or obedient. Please help me to become more so in all those ways. Help me to love you more today, to be more grateful, to obey with alacrity.”
I love words, but I often forget their precise meaning. However, because my friends think I’m smart (and because many of the words I love have Greek or Roman bases), I can get by with using words that I don’t really understand. So, after using the word “alacrity”, I had to go back and look up the durned thing.
My first hit was “brisk and cheerful readiness.”
Well, that sounds pretty good, doesn’t it!?
Of course, like every other human on the planet, I sometimes struggle with alacrity. Oh yes, I will obey—eventually. But I don’t have to like it.
By the way, do you know what the opposite of alacrity is? Apathy. And apathy is so rampant, so prevalent, that it is mistaken these days for the norm.
Unfortunately, people who do things with alacrity often irritate me. Their enthusiasm their zest for life and living, casts a dreary light on my own apathy. And when I strive for alacrity, I often irritate others as well.
In my google sleuthing, I noticed that the usage of alacrity has radically declined since 1800. I am not surprised. We have elevated apathy to an art form. It isn’t particularly good art form, but we shouldn’t let that stop us, should we? Well, maybe we should stop.
So, Self, what is it going to be today? Are you going to do things with brisk and cheerful readiness, or not?
Your choice! My slogan for today: “Bring back alacrity!”
“Easter: From Cold and Grey, to Warm and Sunny”
Easter weather is all over the map. At least, it is in our part of the map in southern Ohio. Grey clouds and rain are often the reality of our area. Sometimes, there is snow. Sometimes so-called “Sunrise Services” (which churches often try to have outside) end up inside. This move inside often disappoints only very hardy souls. March and April in Jerusalem are often much more pleasant than the same times here.
Today started out cold and grey. I took our little dog for a two-mile walk. She seemed okay with that. I was more than a bit down. I was not feeling all that well physically. The cold and grey seemed to have seeped into my soul.
However, my wife had gotten me some new clothes. I have to admit it: The clothes may not make the man; but they can sometimes make the man feel better. Then too, as worship time neared, a few shards of blue began to poke through the clouds.
The worship was wonderful, as was the sermon. And the Easter bunny was in the lobby on the way out. I’ve never been a big fan of the Easter bunny, but I must admit that I smiled and went over to say “Hi!” I couldn’t find my wife to head on home anyway, so I thought, why not?
And there was my wife chatting with the Easter bunny! I had to practically drag her away. (Well, not really.)
And then, we walked outside. It was much warmer, the sky was a bright blue with only a few fluffy clouds.
I am a Christian, and I do believe that Jesus was raised from the dead. I don’t always act as if I believed that, but I do believe it, nevertheless. Decades ago, when I became an atheist, the first thing to go was the resurrection. I realized that, if the resurrection was true, then atheism wasn’t very tenable. So, I simply said that the disciples just made it all up.
I gradually (and rather reluctantly) came to the conclusion that the resurrection of Jesus was the best explanation for how a bunch of bumbling idiots (the disciples, as they are portrayed in the Gospel accounts) could suddenly begin changing the world. It was also the best explanation for how a man who hated Christians and their faith and persecuted them to the death (Saul of Tarsus) could become the leading proponent of the faith he had tried to destroy.
So, what has this got to do with Easter weather in southern Ohio and with my own proneness to foul moods triggered by foul weather? Nothing, really—except for this: If Jesus really did die for the sins of the entire world (which quite likely includes me), and if Jesus really did come out of the tomb, then perhaps my internal weather is not necessarily dependent upon the outside weather.
Crowded House did a song that I like a lot. Here are the lyrics:
“Walking ’round the room singing Stormy Weather
At Fifty Seven Mount Pleasant Street
Well it’s the same room, but everything’s different
You can fight the sleep, but not the dream
Things ain’t cookin’ in my kitchen
Strange affliction wash over me
Julius Caesar and the Roman Empire
Couldn’t conquer the blue sky
Well, there’s a small boat made of china
It’s going nowhere on the mantlepiece
Well, do I lie like a loungeroom lizard
Or do I sing like a bird released?
Everywhere you go, always take the weather with you
[etc.] . . . .”
Perhaps, in light of Jesus’ resurrection, I can sing like a bird released. Maybe I can take good weather with me.
“Being Torah”
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Good morning, LORD!
But what good does it do to call you “LORD”—even in all caps—if I don’t actually do what you say?
Help me to love you today with my obedience and with my silent clinging. I am hoping that even the desire to love you in obedience and silent clinging pleases you. Perhaps this desire is only the tiniest seed of love, but I will not despise even the tiniest of seeds.
To Expound Torah and to Be Torah
This is what Rabbi Leib, son of Sarah, used to say about those rabbis who expound the Torah: “What does it amount to—that they expound the Torah! A man should see to it that all his actions are a Torah and that he himself becomes so entirely a Torah that one can learn from his habits and his motions, and his motionless clinging to God, that he has become like Heaven itself, of which it is said: ‘There is no speech, there are no words, nether is their voice heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.’” (Martin Buber, Tale of the Hasidim, vol. 1, p. 169)
“Carried by God”
Sunday, March 31, 2019
“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all the remnant of the house of Israel,
who have been borne by me from before your birth,
carried from the womb;
even to your old age I am he,
and to gray hairs I will carry you.
I have made, and I will bear;
I will carry and will save.” (Isaiah 46:3-4, English Standard Version)
My 12-step affirmation for today is as follows: “Today, by God’s grace, I am allowing myself to be carried in God’s arms. This enables me to walk when and where and how I need to walk.”
I remember when I was little falling asleep in my dad’s car on the way back home from a late night trip. (“Late night” was anytime after sunset for me when I was little. Still is.) It would be hard for me to wake up. Sometimes, I didn’t. I would simply go to sleep in the car, and wake up in my bed the next morning.
At other times, I would half wake up, but my dad would still carry me in the house. Mom would tuck me into bed. And sometimes, I would pretend to be asleep, so that Dad could carry me in.
Sorry, Dad. I hope that wasn’t too much of a bother. Who knows? Perhaps you enjoyed it. I was (and am) a lot less of a dill pickle when I’m asleep.
Today, I have a nasty cold. I’m not going to church today, and I’m having to rest more. I’ve got a lot of important-to-me work to do. It isn’t getting done. And I am not a very good patient.
So, today God is challenging me to let myself be carried in his arms. Hence today’s 12-step affirmation, which I pasted above.
Certainly the Bible, both the Old and New Testament, speak of the importance of walking. Sometimes biblical language speaks of literal walking. At other times, it talks about how we “walk” through life, how we conduct ourselves (Deuteronomy 8:6; Micah 6:8; Colossians 1:10-11; and 1 John 2:6, plus many others. Often, modern translations obscure this very mundane, physical metaphor.) Putting one foot in front of the other for God, people and creation is very important.
But the Bible also speaks of God carrying us, even when were old and gray. And that is important too. Sometimes the best way to walk with God is to let ourselves be carried. God will put us down and let us walk whenever the time is right.
“Gnawing Hungers”
One of my recent online readings challenged me in the following manner: “List your gnawing hungers. How can they best be satisfied?” https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/are-you-hungry-start-retreat, accessed 03-17-2019.
So I did list them—or at least the ones I could identify! I will not embarrass you or myself by printing my entire list. Some of my “gnawing hungers” neither can nor should be satisfied. Addictive, sinful hungers will never be fulfilled until the addict/sinner is completely consumed. I think that is another name for “Hell.”
Jesus, according to the Sermon on the Mount, said that those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will be filled. Indeed, they will be blessed (Matthew 5:6). So, it would appear that not all hungers gnaw on us. There are blessed, fulfilling hungers too.
But what is the meaning of this “righteousness” for which we are to hunger?
Righteousness means many things in the Bible. Here is a partial list:
- Right behavior, which includes treating other people with fairness and generosity.
- Right relationships with God and other people.
- God declaring us righteous, because of Christ.
- God making us righteous, once we have been declared righteous.
All of that seems to be a worthy form of hunger.
It is interesting that, in the Greek, the word “hungering” is in the present tense, which may suggest that this hunger is a continual or ongoing hunger. This is hunger that satisfies, just by being there. It does not cease, but it is filled, even as it continues. A strange hunger, this!
I like sweets and other junk food. I like them a lot, and I like a lot of them. Perhaps my gnawing “hungers” (or, more accurately, “appetites”) would gnaw less if I were to have a continual hunger for righteousness.
Let the Hunger Game begin in earnest!
DTEB, “Refined by Praise”
Often, Christians think that they are not allowed to be praised or to praise anyone but God. This is true in some measure. However, the
“The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and a man is tested by his praise.”
Derik Kidner, in his commentary on Proverbs, writes concerning 7:21(which he labels “The crucible”)“[t]he second line in 17:3 runs ‘But the Lord trieth the hearts’. The present proverb shows one of his processes (and a man is (tried) by his praise, RV), possibly the most searching of all. The proportions of praise meted out to Saul and David in 1 Samuel 18:7 threw both men into the crucible. Cf. John 12:42, 43.
Alternative interpretations are: (a) that we stand revealed by what we praise (RV mg.); (b) that reputation is a fair guide to worth. But the crucible is for refining and preparing the metal, not for mere analysis.” (pp. 160-161)
So which way is it? Does this proverb mean that, when we are praised, that praise tests who we really are? Or is this verse saying that what we praise tests and refines who we are?
Both perhaps? I can certainly see some validity to both approaches. And I have trouble with both of them.
I can’t speak for others, but for myself, when someone praises me, I have a difficult time with it. I know my own heart and my past, and sometimes that can get in the way of me graciously accepting praise or encouragement. My wife and friends frequently point this out. They’re right.
Sometimes, it is helpful if I think in terms of living up to the praise others give me. I may or may not think that I deserve praise. I may or may not actually deserve such praise. But I can say, “Thank you!” and then try to live up to the praise I have already been given.
It is also helpful for recognizing that, whenever people are praising me or something I’ve done, they are really praising everyone who has ever helped me. I am far from a self-made man. In fact, I subscribe to the saying, “A self-made man is a poorly made man.”
Above all, I owe any goodness in me to God. James says that “Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of Lights, in whom there is no shifting shadow.” (James 1:17, my translation) I don’t necessarily have to say it every time someone thanks me, but I do need to remember that any goodness in me ultimately has a divine source.
But then, there is the second approach. What (or whom) do I praise? This also both reveals and helps to purify the person that I am. What I praise is what I value. And what I value both reveals and forms who I am.
So, what or whom do I praise? Let me make a partial listing.
- I praise my wife.
- I praise my wife’s cooking, loveliness, creativity, sense of humor, etc., etc.
- I praise my friends.
- I praise my church.
- I praise my 12-step friends, as well as the program itself.
- I praise music that I like.
- I praise God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
- But, unfortunately, I often praise things that absolutely do not deserve praise.
So, today, I am going to go through the day asking myself two questions:
- How can I handle properly any praise or encouragement I receive?
- What am I praising in thought, word, and deed today?
“Transformed by the Goodness of the Lord”
Today’s “3-Minute Retreat” from Loyola Publishing was wonderful. (You can access it for yourself at https://www.loyolapress.com/retreats/enjoy-gods-goodness-start-retreat, accessed 03-04-2019). It was a meditation on Psalm 27:13.
“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living!” (English Standard Version)
The retreat master writes,
“What a wonderful mantra the psalmist offers! Try repeating this belief statement as you go through a typical day. We most often see what we expect to see. Do you expect to see the Lord’s goodness as you go through the day? It takes many forms: a surprise phone call, a random act of kindness, some unexpected good news, or the daisy growing through the concrete. We are invited to go one step further, however. After we see the Lord’s goodness, we are challenged to enjoy it. That means slowing down to take notice. In this way, we are changed by what we see. Give yourself the gift of being transformed by the goodness of the Lord.”
Indeed, Psalm 27 has many beautiful things in it, but it also acknowledges that the world is a dangerous, scary place. In fact, in the verse that immediately precedes the one about seeing the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living, the psalmist pleads, “Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations.” (Psalm 27:12 English Standard Version) Affirming the LORD’s goodness does not mean that we are blind to the obvious badness in the world.
The sun is coming up just now, lighting up the snow-covered pines in my neighbor’s yard. There is incredible goodness and beauty in the world, even when a polar vortex invades the month of March. I’m not sure polar vortexes are actually evil, but they may seem so when we are all looking for spring and new life.
Nevertheless, we can see the goodness of God, if we choose to do so. And we are all capable “. . . of being transformed by the goodness of the Lord.” But such transformation is a gift you give yourself, a gift that I give myself. And if I give myself the gift, I can also be transformed to the point where I can give the gift of God’s transforming goodness to others that I meet along the way today.
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