Lost with the creature? Seek the creator! – Friday, 32nd week in ordinary time – Wisdom 13:1-9

This text of today forms part of a larger section of the book of Wisdom ranging from 13:1 –17:17 and can be divided into two parts. Our text for today is the first part on nature worship and 13:10 -15:17 on idol worship. When we read the text of today, we realize that the mind of the author shows itself as more ‘understanding’ in 13:1-9 where he distinguishes one form of paganism, namely the worship of the elements, nature and heavenly bodies from the more condemnable sin of idolatry. The theme of today’s text is seen in verse one and nine, namely; God’s human creatures (which obviously includes us) should be able to see God’s power at work in the world. So, if we were to describe what is going on in today’s text, we could well describe it in the phrase, ‘missing the woods for the trees.

The first part of the text of today is directed against the ‘cult of nature’ and the nature worshippers in Alexandria. These may have included several Jews who are now influenced by the Hellenistic way of thought and life. The text begins by calling out the foolish and is directed primarily at the Hellenist (the Greek speaking people). They who were struck by the overpowering beauty of nature were fascinated by the energy displayed in natural forces, and stopped en route in their search of God. They thought that nature in itself was god.

The author calls such men out for their foolishness because they who have studied God’s creation and works now considered the works themselves as gods. They began to get distracted by the beauty and energy of created things and have failed to arrive at the knowledge of Him who created these things. They worshipped the creature instead of the creator. The works of nature are great and mighty but he who made them is exceedingly so and he can be known through these works.

Even so, the writer of the book of wisdom seems to have a ‘softer corner’ for nature lovers than the idolators. He certainly does not condone the mistaken beliefs of the nature worshippers but still has a soft corner for them. The writer of the book of wisdom feels that such nature worshippers are well intentioned and look in the right direction; therefore, they are less blameworthy than others, like the idolators. For him, these nature worshippers worship things which are a part of God’s creation and are by nature beautiful and storing and so he can understand why they are moved by a such a misguided impulses to worship nature. While there is no condonation of such a erroneous beliefs and clearly such nature worshippers are blameworthy, their actions are relatively forgivable because they have superficially used their intelligence. Yet clearly, they are not to be completely excused.

By writing this text, the author who is a Hebrew does not seek to convince the misguided Hellenist or the misguided Jew that God exists; that is not the purpose of today’s text. That God existed was accepted even by those who opposed his thought or belief; it is in their ability to identify the true God that poses a problem. In short, the author is saying that the God of Israel has the better claim to divinity over the other gods that they have been worshipping because Yahweh is the artisan of those things worshipped by these very pagans.

The section is unique to the OT. Israel’s knowledge of God was derived not from rational arguments but from its experience of God’s saving acts in Israel’s behalf. The Greeks on the other hand strove to know God in a philosophical manner and here our author acknowledges this approach too as a valid way to know the true God of Israel.

The brilliant St Thomas Aquinas used a simple argument to explain one of his most impressive reason for the existence of God. It is known as the “order of the universe theory” and it finds inspiration in this passage from the book of wisdom. When you see and elegantly designed watch, consistently displaying the correct time, you know that somewhere there is a very intelligent watchmaker. An impressive painting of the human face or of a multi coloured autumn scene tells you that somewhere there is a very talented artist. When we observe the stupendous clock work of the planetary system, we should be moved to look beyond to see the responsible maker. The same is true of all that is. All the beauty about us in the rich ambience of nature and the radiant vitality which shines forth from a million human faces makes us look beyond the creature for the divine artist. Wisdom reminds us in 13:5 that “from the greatness of beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.