Wisdom's gifts, God's embrace
Commentary
Object:
We are blessed today with inspiring words from the Wisdom tradition in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. But encountering the Gospel, Jesus invites the disciples and us into a deeper knowledge of God than we can ever achieve by simply living wisely and well.
Proverbs 31:10-31
Today’s passage from Proverbs may provoke diverse reactions in the pews. Some may appreciate the generous praise of women’s work as something that rarely appears in scripture. Others may be offended by an ode that praises a wife from the standpoint of how well she serves her husband. Still others may resist this idealized portrait as yet one more set of unrealistic expectations placed upon women by a patriarchal culture. To grapple with all these reactions, it may help to examine the place of this ode in Proverbs.
Proverbs opens with an attribution to King Solomon, son of David, and purports to provide instruction to young men on how to conduct themselves wisely and well as they venture into the world (Proverbs 1:1-19). The second part of the first chapter contains a remarkable personification of divine Wisdom as a woman calling out in the public places -- the streets and by the city gate -- asking people to follow her teachings, and warning of dire consequences if they do not (Proverbs 1:20-33, read last Sunday for Proper 19). Today’s passage is introduced as the words that the mother of King Lemuel taught him (Proverbs 31:1) -- the attribution to a queen mother is high indeed! The passage itself is an acrostic poem, with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet beginning each verse, effectively offering praise of the capable wife from A to Z. This ode also closes the entire book of Proverbs. As Wisdom in her divine personification calls from the city gates in chapter 1, so Wisdom in her human embodiment is praised at the city gates in the final verse of Proverbs (Proverbs 31:31). If we appreciate the passage as sound advice to a wealthy young prince or king in stylized form, we can move from there to finding what we in our contemporary contexts may appreciate or apply to our own lives from this wisdom poem. Some may also wish to imagine the capable wife praised in the poem as a maternal image of God and God’s attributes. She is clearly an ideal not only to emulate, but also to praise for her embodiment of God’s grace and sustaining care.
James 3:13--4:3, 7-8a
This epistle attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, echoes the Wisdom writings of the Hebrew scriptures and holds a distinctive place in the New Testament canon. Though Martin Luther questioned its authority, most of the Christian church accepts the validity of its distinctive teaching. While Paul emphasized salvation by grace, not works, the writer of James is more concerned with the conduct of the faithful. What we do and how we live matters. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The writer may have been countering some of Paul’s teachings, or misapplications of Paul’s teaching about grace. Both Paul and James are concerned about the conduct of the faithful, and neither of them advocate following Jewish law as necessary to salvation in Christ -- a question that was live for the early followers of Jesus. Instead, both Paul and James wish us to live justly and peaceably with one another, placing our hearts and trust in God, not in the ways of the world.
But the author of James is not concerned only with outward actions. In today’s passage, the writer urges attention to the condition of our hearts. Are we at peace within ourselves, praying for and living by the wisdom of God? Or are we at war within ourselves, with competing desires that spill out into our outward lives in the form of conflicts and disputes? For James, our faith is to be whole-hearted, not riddled with doubt. We cannot belong both to God and the ways of the world. For the writer, being double-minded is the root or essence of sin (James 1:8, 4:8b). Readers are urged to be single-minded and whole-hearted (in the Hebrew understanding, these are one and the same) in their faith. A pure faith manifests itself in a pure life, lived peaceably with others.
Mark 9:30-37
Skipping as we are through the Gospel of Mark, the lectionary omits some important passages between last Sunday’s reading and today’s. In between Mark 8:38 (which concluded last Sunday’s reading) and Mark 9:30 (which begins today’s), Jesus has foretold his crucifixion and death, climbed a high mountain for the events of the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8), and begun his journey toward Jerusalem. His ministry in Galilee is coming to an end, and he is doing his best to prepare his disciples for the Passion to come. This background helps to explain why (in v. 30) Jesus did not want anyone to know of his travels through the region; he has his sights set on Jerusalem and on preparing his disciples to continue his ministry after his death. Even though the author of Mark’s gospel tells us that the disciples did not understand Jesus’ teaching, clearly things have shifted for them. They have had an extraordinary vision of Jesus and he is beginning to tell them confusing things, even saying that he will die. Whatever first drew them to follow Jesus and to continue to accompany him in his ministries of preaching and healing has been thrown into question.
Considering all this, it is not surprising that the disciples started to question their status with each other. If Jesus is talking about dying, who would be the best among them to take his place as leader? It’s a reasonable question to ask. Ancient Palestine was also a culture in which social status was extremely important, directing much of the interactions among individual members of a group, from where one sat at a meal to how one person spoke (or not) to another. Jesus’ teaching and actions are throwing the group into turmoil; they are doing their best to figure things out according to the mores of their day. Note that when Jesus talks with the twelve, he does not show disapproval of their question of who is the greatest; he understands the question and why they are asking it. In response to the question of who is the greatest, he gives them a teaching to expand their understanding of greatness. The truly great are those who embrace the powerless and vulnerable, for it is in doing this that they embrace God. Later (in Mark 10:13-16), Jesus expands his teaching on children to say that his hearers must become like little children to enter the kingdom of God. From embracing the poor and the vulnerable in today’s reading, Jesus, with time, deepens his teaching to encourage the disciples to become poor and vulnerable themselves -- to remove all barriers between themselves and God’s mercy and sustaining love.
Application
Most mornings before my daughter awakes and I get busy preparing her for school and myself for the work of the day, I sit down with a cup of coffee and the Boston Globe to scan the headlines and catch up on the news of the day. Though I may flip quickly through some sections of the paper, almost every day I wind up spending some time with the obituary page -- not because I know the people remembered there, but because I find comfort and inspiration in the life stories the obituaries tell. In a region as big as the area served by the Globe, most of the obituaries are in small print and difficult to read for any but the most devoted. But on the last page each day, a small sampling of larger print obituaries appear of people who in their own way have done remarkable things. Some are local; some are national or international. Many of them, as remembered in these short accounts, have lived lives of great compassion. They have founded charities, fostered children, sought to transform their own suffering into relief or grace for others. They have shared their lives generously and uniquely with their families and the wider world. Sometimes personal quirks and faults are acknowledged, other times not; but in general, unlike much of the rest of the newspaper, the obituary page is about good people doing their best to live faithfully by their deepest beliefs and loves. It gives me hope for the world, and a chance to offer thanks and blessings for the lives recounted there and for the many people touched by these passings.
In its own way, the obituary page is a form of wisdom literature, praising lives well and generously lived. In the writeups I read, some society matriarchs and philanthropists come close to embodying the qualities of the capable wife praised in Proverbs today. Good works are a good thing. Ministering to the suffering and the poor, challenging unjust laws and practices, making medical and scientific breakthroughs, raising children and grandchildren, creating art, and appreciating nature -- all these are wonderful things. We learn how to live well by watching (and reading about) others who have learned how to live well.
And yet, I wonder what Jesus’ obituary would have been. His death might have made a news article, but I doubt he would have been lauded on the obituary pages. Maybe he would have gotten a small death notice in fine print, with no photo. Jesus did not live wisely or beneficently, like some Lady Bountiful. He passed people by; in Mark’s telling he kept his identity a secret, and he died in shame on a cross. Jesus did not simply embrace the poor and the powerless; he became poor and powerless, and invites us to this life so that all barriers that separate us from God may be removed. Yes, he calls us to care for the poor, but he also calls us to know our own absolute poverty before God, which is so much deeper than the substance of worldly possessions. Looking ahead in Mark’s gospel, after Jesus embraces and blesses the children (Mark 10:13-16) he encounters the rich young man who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ answer is stark. He must not simply do good and give to the poor, but must give away all that he owns and become poor himself (Mark 10:17-22).
It is good to be good and to do good works. But it is far better to know the boundless and surpassing love of God, which when it fills us flows out to bless the wider world. We know this love in our poverty and by trusting in God, not in our wealth and by trusting in our own abilities. Wisdom has its place and is greatly to be praised. But the God of heaven and earth encompasses far more than what is wise. The vulnerable child, still learning to judge right and wrong, safety and folly, is held closest to God’s heart.
Proverbs 31:10-31
Today’s passage from Proverbs may provoke diverse reactions in the pews. Some may appreciate the generous praise of women’s work as something that rarely appears in scripture. Others may be offended by an ode that praises a wife from the standpoint of how well she serves her husband. Still others may resist this idealized portrait as yet one more set of unrealistic expectations placed upon women by a patriarchal culture. To grapple with all these reactions, it may help to examine the place of this ode in Proverbs.
Proverbs opens with an attribution to King Solomon, son of David, and purports to provide instruction to young men on how to conduct themselves wisely and well as they venture into the world (Proverbs 1:1-19). The second part of the first chapter contains a remarkable personification of divine Wisdom as a woman calling out in the public places -- the streets and by the city gate -- asking people to follow her teachings, and warning of dire consequences if they do not (Proverbs 1:20-33, read last Sunday for Proper 19). Today’s passage is introduced as the words that the mother of King Lemuel taught him (Proverbs 31:1) -- the attribution to a queen mother is high indeed! The passage itself is an acrostic poem, with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet beginning each verse, effectively offering praise of the capable wife from A to Z. This ode also closes the entire book of Proverbs. As Wisdom in her divine personification calls from the city gates in chapter 1, so Wisdom in her human embodiment is praised at the city gates in the final verse of Proverbs (Proverbs 31:31). If we appreciate the passage as sound advice to a wealthy young prince or king in stylized form, we can move from there to finding what we in our contemporary contexts may appreciate or apply to our own lives from this wisdom poem. Some may also wish to imagine the capable wife praised in the poem as a maternal image of God and God’s attributes. She is clearly an ideal not only to emulate, but also to praise for her embodiment of God’s grace and sustaining care.
James 3:13--4:3, 7-8a
This epistle attributed to James, the brother of Jesus, echoes the Wisdom writings of the Hebrew scriptures and holds a distinctive place in the New Testament canon. Though Martin Luther questioned its authority, most of the Christian church accepts the validity of its distinctive teaching. While Paul emphasized salvation by grace, not works, the writer of James is more concerned with the conduct of the faithful. What we do and how we live matters. Faith without works is dead (James 2:26). The writer may have been countering some of Paul’s teachings, or misapplications of Paul’s teaching about grace. Both Paul and James are concerned about the conduct of the faithful, and neither of them advocate following Jewish law as necessary to salvation in Christ -- a question that was live for the early followers of Jesus. Instead, both Paul and James wish us to live justly and peaceably with one another, placing our hearts and trust in God, not in the ways of the world.
But the author of James is not concerned only with outward actions. In today’s passage, the writer urges attention to the condition of our hearts. Are we at peace within ourselves, praying for and living by the wisdom of God? Or are we at war within ourselves, with competing desires that spill out into our outward lives in the form of conflicts and disputes? For James, our faith is to be whole-hearted, not riddled with doubt. We cannot belong both to God and the ways of the world. For the writer, being double-minded is the root or essence of sin (James 1:8, 4:8b). Readers are urged to be single-minded and whole-hearted (in the Hebrew understanding, these are one and the same) in their faith. A pure faith manifests itself in a pure life, lived peaceably with others.
Mark 9:30-37
Skipping as we are through the Gospel of Mark, the lectionary omits some important passages between last Sunday’s reading and today’s. In between Mark 8:38 (which concluded last Sunday’s reading) and Mark 9:30 (which begins today’s), Jesus has foretold his crucifixion and death, climbed a high mountain for the events of the Transfiguration (Mark 9:2-8), and begun his journey toward Jerusalem. His ministry in Galilee is coming to an end, and he is doing his best to prepare his disciples for the Passion to come. This background helps to explain why (in v. 30) Jesus did not want anyone to know of his travels through the region; he has his sights set on Jerusalem and on preparing his disciples to continue his ministry after his death. Even though the author of Mark’s gospel tells us that the disciples did not understand Jesus’ teaching, clearly things have shifted for them. They have had an extraordinary vision of Jesus and he is beginning to tell them confusing things, even saying that he will die. Whatever first drew them to follow Jesus and to continue to accompany him in his ministries of preaching and healing has been thrown into question.
Considering all this, it is not surprising that the disciples started to question their status with each other. If Jesus is talking about dying, who would be the best among them to take his place as leader? It’s a reasonable question to ask. Ancient Palestine was also a culture in which social status was extremely important, directing much of the interactions among individual members of a group, from where one sat at a meal to how one person spoke (or not) to another. Jesus’ teaching and actions are throwing the group into turmoil; they are doing their best to figure things out according to the mores of their day. Note that when Jesus talks with the twelve, he does not show disapproval of their question of who is the greatest; he understands the question and why they are asking it. In response to the question of who is the greatest, he gives them a teaching to expand their understanding of greatness. The truly great are those who embrace the powerless and vulnerable, for it is in doing this that they embrace God. Later (in Mark 10:13-16), Jesus expands his teaching on children to say that his hearers must become like little children to enter the kingdom of God. From embracing the poor and the vulnerable in today’s reading, Jesus, with time, deepens his teaching to encourage the disciples to become poor and vulnerable themselves -- to remove all barriers between themselves and God’s mercy and sustaining love.
Application
Most mornings before my daughter awakes and I get busy preparing her for school and myself for the work of the day, I sit down with a cup of coffee and the Boston Globe to scan the headlines and catch up on the news of the day. Though I may flip quickly through some sections of the paper, almost every day I wind up spending some time with the obituary page -- not because I know the people remembered there, but because I find comfort and inspiration in the life stories the obituaries tell. In a region as big as the area served by the Globe, most of the obituaries are in small print and difficult to read for any but the most devoted. But on the last page each day, a small sampling of larger print obituaries appear of people who in their own way have done remarkable things. Some are local; some are national or international. Many of them, as remembered in these short accounts, have lived lives of great compassion. They have founded charities, fostered children, sought to transform their own suffering into relief or grace for others. They have shared their lives generously and uniquely with their families and the wider world. Sometimes personal quirks and faults are acknowledged, other times not; but in general, unlike much of the rest of the newspaper, the obituary page is about good people doing their best to live faithfully by their deepest beliefs and loves. It gives me hope for the world, and a chance to offer thanks and blessings for the lives recounted there and for the many people touched by these passings.
In its own way, the obituary page is a form of wisdom literature, praising lives well and generously lived. In the writeups I read, some society matriarchs and philanthropists come close to embodying the qualities of the capable wife praised in Proverbs today. Good works are a good thing. Ministering to the suffering and the poor, challenging unjust laws and practices, making medical and scientific breakthroughs, raising children and grandchildren, creating art, and appreciating nature -- all these are wonderful things. We learn how to live well by watching (and reading about) others who have learned how to live well.
And yet, I wonder what Jesus’ obituary would have been. His death might have made a news article, but I doubt he would have been lauded on the obituary pages. Maybe he would have gotten a small death notice in fine print, with no photo. Jesus did not live wisely or beneficently, like some Lady Bountiful. He passed people by; in Mark’s telling he kept his identity a secret, and he died in shame on a cross. Jesus did not simply embrace the poor and the powerless; he became poor and powerless, and invites us to this life so that all barriers that separate us from God may be removed. Yes, he calls us to care for the poor, but he also calls us to know our own absolute poverty before God, which is so much deeper than the substance of worldly possessions. Looking ahead in Mark’s gospel, after Jesus embraces and blesses the children (Mark 10:13-16) he encounters the rich young man who asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus’ answer is stark. He must not simply do good and give to the poor, but must give away all that he owns and become poor himself (Mark 10:17-22).
It is good to be good and to do good works. But it is far better to know the boundless and surpassing love of God, which when it fills us flows out to bless the wider world. We know this love in our poverty and by trusting in God, not in our wealth and by trusting in our own abilities. Wisdom has its place and is greatly to be praised. But the God of heaven and earth encompasses far more than what is wise. The vulnerable child, still learning to judge right and wrong, safety and folly, is held closest to God’s heart.
