Text: Proverbs 8:22-36
Let the words of my
mouth and the mediation of my heart be always acceptable in thy sight, O Lord
my strength and my redeemer. Amen
The Old
Testament lesson today is taken from the book of Proverbs. I don’t know that we
spend very much time reading or thinking about this book, and that truly is a
shame. For though it is not a tremendously poetic book, or a book filled with
vivid and delightful stories, it is nonetheless filled with meaningful little
sayings. These sayings lay a foundation of wisdom that acts as a guide for us
to live a good life. This is a life
ordered after the way and the will of God.
The book of
Proverbs begins with what is in fact a very poetic section where a father gives
advice to his son on how to live the good life.
The father explains to his son, who will soon be going out into the
world, the meaning of wisdom. He contrasts wisdom with folly. Wisdom and folly
are presented as two women. One is promiscuous and seeks to ruin people, while the
other is like a rare gem, more difficult to search out, but who brings good and
well-being to those with whom she interacts. Wisdom is personified in the
second woman. While she may not be the
easier path, she is the better path.
If we can remember
back to the sermon series of about a year ago, you will remember that we spent
a day talking about the “Fear of the Lord”. The “Fear of the Lord” is the beginning of Wisdom.
The “Fear of the Lord” is not a tyrannical over-lording, but rather a right
perspective on how we are to approach the Creator of all things. While God
desires us to approach him, it is not as we might approach our buddy, and not
even as we would approach a king or a president, but rather as we would
approach someone even grander than the grandest person we can imagine. We
approach Him with a heart that is willing to submit to his will. Too, we
understand him as a just judge who can either dole out a penalty or grant mercy
to us. We know this penalty is death. If we chose to live in His mercy, it is a life
with Him. For the Lord does not wish to rule over us in tyranny, but rather as
a loving king over his faithful people. It is in the next chapter of proverbs
that we are reminded of this very fact, that if we wish to have wisdom it
starts with the “Fear of the Lord” (Proverbs
9:10).
Wisdom,
though it starts at the Fear of the Lord, leads to life. When we talk about biblical wisdom we are not
talking about scientific knowledge or literary insight, though in reality these
aspects of knowledge are subsets and submissive to the wisdom of the Lord.
Instead wisdom is that which leads to a good life. It’s the life filled with
God. For when we chose wisdom we chose life. When we flee from wisdom we bring death upon
ourselves, for sin and folly lead to the deterioration of both the body and the
soul.
The
statement that the “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom”, is prefaced
by the section which we read today. Today
we see that Wisdom is linked strongly to the Lord and to creation. The Lord is the source of all wisdom and in
wisdom the heaven and the earth were created. Whether we believe in theistic
evolution, intelligent design or look to the bible as a defense of a six day
creation, it is nearly impossible to deny that there is order in creation, that
there is a pattern in which things came into being. In being a part of the
church and the covenant, we see this pattern as both wise and good.
From the
beginning, Wisdom was with the Lord. In some translations, Wisdom is stated as
being created, not simply possessed, by the Lord. For it seems that in order for Wisdom to be
possessed by us, it must be a thing that the Lord created. It is His to pass on
as he choses.
There are
some that confuse Wisdom for Christ. In some ways this passage seems to
parallel passages such as the beginning of St. John’s Gospel. But here wisdom is not a creator, but rather a
part of creation, a guiding aspect. The whole earth was created in wisdom. Wisdom
was not the creator but a part of creation. It was in wisdom that the Lord
created; however Christ was the very word that He uttered and it was through
that uttering that the heavens and the earth to come into being. The Logos was
the creative force in the action of creation. So while Christ- who is God- is linked
definitively with wisdom. He is not the person named Wisdom in proverbs.
It is wise
for us to seek after Wisdom; for Wisdom builds us up and draws us nearer to
God. For wisdom teaches us to approach Him and all of creation; it protects us
from folly and sin, and instead directs our hearts towards God down the good
road. Wisdom teaches us to discern good from bad; as we grow in Christ we grow
in wisdom; in fact Wisdom is a part of the recreating process, which we partake
in as we are continually being made anew by the spirit of God.
We learn at
the end of the passage that Wisdom leads to life and the favor of the Lord.
Wisdom is the very backbone of the Lord’s covenant with his faithful people. It
trains and disciplines men and women in His way. Folly on the other hand is the
rejection of this. In rejecting wisdom we bring death upon ourselves. We seek
after things that destroy our souls and our lives. Instead of delighting in the
Lord’s goodness we delight in the things that will eventually lead to death.
What then
does this have to do with the Epiphany of our Lord? It is at Epiphany that we
remember the wise men coming to the Lord. It is here that we first see that the new
covenant will be open to all people. It is in the wisdom of the Lord that we
come to understand that the Jesus who was born of a humble origin some two
thousand years ago was not only some special child or a good teacher, rather He
was the Lord himself, the King of Kings. It was in Him that the covenant was
opened to all people and it was in Him that we were invited to join into this
bond.
The first
covenant with Abraham promised that through his offspring he would bless all
the nations. Christ is this blessing, promised long before. For Christ, being
both God and a Jewish man, was a descendant from Abraham. He was the blessing
for the whole world. In His life and death lies the source of life for all of
humanity. So it is that we see that in
the feast and the season of Epiphany, the gates to the Source of Life are blown
open for all people. We are all invited to know this.
We are
invited to partake in the great paschal feast. Jews and gentiles, rich and
poor, all of the people of all nations are invited in. It is in the true Wisdom
that comes from God that we see Christ not only as a good teacher, rather as
Lord and Savior. It is in Wisdom that we grow to know Him better. We are
invited to drink the cup of salvation and to rejoice in the joy that comes from
it. The choices are simple, do we seek the Lord, seek wisdom and seek life, or
do we reject Him and descend towards death. Life and wisdom are found when we seek and
rejoice in the Lord. It is in the season of Epiphany that we learn that wisdom
and salvation become available to all.
In the name of the
Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.
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