April Fools

It's April 1st -- April Fool's Day. As if April 1st had a corner on the fools market. There are varying explanations as to the origin of the day. One version says that at some point when the New Year's celebration was declared to be January 1, those who continued to recognize April 1 as the New Year were ridiculed as "April fools." In the Netherlands the story is that the Dutch defeated the Spanish on April 1st (as if that explains the "April fools" connection). Some have even argued that it goes all the way back to Noah who foolishly sent the dove out of the ark before the water had abated. "That," this version claims, "occurred on April 1st." Noah, apparently, sent the dove on a fool's errand on the first of April. Umm, okay.

In our language, a fool is someone who acts foolishly. Sorry, I just had to say that. It is someone who acts unwisely, someone who is deficient in judgment or sense. We carry that over to a jester -- a "court fool" -- or a joker because their humor is obtained by at least acting like they have no sense. In biblical language, it's something ... else.

Job says that the fool is vexed (Job 5:2). David wrote, "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God'" (Psa 14:1). The Book of Proverbs has lists of comparisons, contrasting the fool with the wise. The fool does what is right in his own eyes, but the wise listens to advice (Pro 12:15). The wise heed reproof, but the fool despises instruction (Pro 15:5). One who is wise is cautious; the fool is reckless (Pro 14:16). And so on.

Solomon takes our version of "fool" a bit farther than just someone lacking sense. He says, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion" (Pro 18:2). Well, that's a little close to home, isn't it? In fact, a lot of the proverbs in Proverbs speak in reference to the fool and his mouth (e.g., Pro 10:14; 14:3; 17:7; 18:6-7; 20:3.) The key problem for a fool in Scripture is that he decides what's right based on his own opinion (Pro 12:15; 17:24). "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered" (Pro 28:26). The biblical fool is a bad thing.

We are called to something better. We're called to place our trust in Christ rather than our own opinion. We're warned that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer 17:9), so clearly trusting our own hearts and minds is a foolish mode of operation. Paul wrote,

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. (Titus 3:3)

Here "foolish" is described as disobedient, led astray, slaves to passions and pleasures, being filled with malice and envy, hating and being hated. That kind of fool isn't funny. Let's not be the biblical kind of fool any day.