The Rev. Dr. Hilary B. Smith
The Wisdom of God
On this Homecoming Sunday, we
have come home to our church family and we claim and proclaim the importance of
our faith as central even as the school year starts to put competing demands on
our time. As Christians, as those who
seek to live a faith-filled and faith-centered life, we want to walk in the way
of Jesus. We desire to be guided by the Spirit in all our decisions, knowing
that when we are following God, we are headed in the right direction.
But following Jesus requires
an openness to new wisdom. Being around Jesus was confusing for his friends because
he often challenged the generally accepted thinking of the day. And he still
does. “Those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their
life for my sake, and the sake of the gospel, will save it.” What does mean?
How can losing be gaining? What
sort of wisdom is this?
The idea that the Messiah
would die on the cross did not make sense to Peter…so much so that he
criticizes Jesus for saying such things. But Jesus reacts to Peter’s lack of
understanding with strong words: “Get behind me Satan.” Peter’s lack of
understanding on this matter could not be ignored, and Jesus states plainly
that Peter must “set his mind on divine things” rather than on “human things”
in order to understand. Often when following the wisdom of the world – more is
always better for example – we can find it hard to understand the wisdom of our
Christian faith.
Jesus was a teacher of wisdom
in the Jewish tradition. Jesus himself is also referred to as the Wisdom of
God. So the wisdom Jesus shares with his disciples is the sort gained by life
experience, but also the divine wisdom given as revelation in the person of
Jesus. Revelation can teach new things
about God and the ways of God that are new to human experience.
The wisdom literature of the
Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures is found in the Books of Job, Psalms,
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon – and in other places and mixed
in with other types of writing found in the Bible. Today we have a reading from
Proverbs. When you think of the book of Proverbs, you may think of catchy
sayings designed to provide guidance for life, such as
No harm happens to the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble. 12:21
Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. 12: 25
"Where there is no vision, the people perish" 29:18
"Pride goes before a fall" 16:19
The wisdom of the Bible is
known in two interrelated ways. The first way is exemplified by sayings, which
developed through human experience of God and the world. In this way, as Ellen
Davis states, having wisdom meant, “to live day by day, even moment by moment
in a way that honors and glorifies God…living in the world in such a way that
God, and God’s intentions for the world, are acknowledged in all that we do. (Ellen F. Davis, Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, Westminster John Knox Press,
Louisville: 2000, p. 1).”
But wisdom is more than
knowledge, Wisdom is also an agent of God at work in the world. In Proverbs
that we meet Wisdom personified…personified as a woman, Lady Wisdom, Sophia. Wisdom
stands in the market place and cries out to the passersby. She is active and
seeks to advise all who turn to her, and she also pursues those who ignore her.
Everyone is busy with their worldly pursuits and none heed her counsel. While
she does not punish, she is clear that their choices will have consequences:
Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices. (Proverbs 1:29-31)
But the main characteristic
of Sophia is that she desires to help us and to teach us the ways of the Lord. She
is our ally, our friend. Lady Wisdom is one of the primary feminine images of the
divine in the Bible and Wisdom provides a particular and rarely considered way
to connect with God. Coming to know the Wisdom of God, personified as Sophia
can be deeply meaningful and helpful in connecting with God in new ways.
I attended a retreat once,
the theme of which was coming to know the Wisdom of God.
All twenty of us on the
retreat were women…and there were some who had not felt close to God for some
time, if ever, before that retreat experience. How we imagine God and the
images or lack of images given to us is something to consider, for both women
and men. One of my seminary professors, a man, for a Lenten spiritual practice
started the Lord’s Prayer during all of Lent, “Our Mother, who art in heaven…” As
strange as that might sound to some, God is our Mother as much as our Father.
There are many, many who do
not come to church, for whom thinking of God as male is difficult and
connecting with God “Our Father” is impossible because of negative personal
experiences with male clergy, or family, or institutional patriarchy that has
at times minimized the gifts women bring. This is actually a big problem in
evangelizing, bring into the faith community,
a certain segment of the population who do not go to church.
How sad that images for God
can become stumbling blocks because our God is so much more than we can even
know. Our God is so much greater, and God’s love for us is so much more intense
than we can understand. God wants to reach everyone where they are.
Jesus, who is sometimes
called the Sophia of God, the Wisdom of God, God in Christ became human to reach
everyone.
Knowing that Wisdom is on our
side can be a great help in following the ways of God.
In the first instruction give in the Book of
Proverbs states that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools
despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs
1:7).” Fear used here refers to
reverence. Those who have reverence for God are those who are aware of God and
respect God’s moral authority, and choose the wisdom of God rather than what
others may tell us is the right thing to do.
In our adult education class
today at 9:00am, our lesson asked us to consider:
“How have you heard Wisdom calling you?”
“How did you respond?”
and
“What difficulties have you
faced in pursuing wisdom?”
(Scripture
Journal for Adults, RCL, Living the Good News, Morehouse Education
Resources, Denver: 2009, pp. 10-11.)
It can be difficult to pursue
wisdom; it takes practice; it takes making mistakes and learning from them; it
takes prayer; it takes the grace of God. Ellen Davis writes that: “Those with
long and deep experience in the spiritual life habitually choose what God
prefers, not because they are goody goodies or without a will of their own, but
because…they have the grace…to see that the consequences of choosing otherwise
are inevitably bad (Proverbs,…p.29).” This is
tricky of course because new situation always come up, which can demand new
realizations from us about God’s Wisdom – it was true for Peter, it is true for
us.
Even though it can be
difficult at times to choose what God prefers, we can rejoice that the Wisdom
of God is our ally. In her prayer “Calling on Sophia” Joyce Rupp describes the
faithfulness of Wisdom to us and how we can respond:
Radiant and Unfading Wisdom,
your deep love calls to me.
I seek you with all my heart.
Hasten to make yourself known to me.
Sit at the gate of my heart.
Teach me your ways.
Meet me in my every thought.
Attune my mind to your perceptions.
Open all that is closed within me.
I desire your instruction.
I long to receive and to share your love.
Dance on the path of my life.
Free me from all that hinders.
Deepen all that attracts me to you.
As the mystery of my life unfolds
through the quickly passing years,
draw my love ever nearer to you.
I promise to be awake and vigilant,
attentive to your voice,
receptive to your guidance.
I will hide no secrets from you.
Come, reveal yourself to me. (Joyce Rupp, Prayers to Sophia, Ave Maria Press,
Notre Dame: 2004, p. 30.)
Amen.