Faith

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.

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Little knowledge is dangerous, not a little wisdom! Thursday, 32nd week in ordinary time – Wisdom 7:22- 8:1

Our text of today forms part of a larger section of Wisdom 6:22-11:1 and deals with the nature of Wisdom and the author’s quest for her. We know that in reality this book was written by a Jew who desired to caution the Jews of Alexandria in Egypt to follow the wisdom the of the Jewish faith and in Yahweh who is the creator of all things. The author, identifies himself with the wise king Solomon in the Old Testament so as to reach out to his brothers and sisters who were influenced by Hellenism while rapidly giving up their faith. He seeks to praise and celebrate the beauty of Wisdom and describes how he sought her out. In the verses of today and those that follow, the relationship between Solomon and wisdom set forth as a model for all the wise, so that the readers of the book will take the proper steps to become the true rulers of the earth (1:1)

Today’s passage opens with a very long sentence which applauds the venerable qualities of wisdom. If you look at verse 22 it has 21 characteristics of wisdom. For the Jews, seven was a perfect number and multiplied by 3, which is the number of divine persons, gives you the 21 characteristics of wisdom numbering to absolute perfection. The result is a picture showing wisdom as identical with God in all but the most subtle senses, somehow distinct, somehow the same. The remarkable description of wisdom in verses 22-23 is made up of terms borrowed in large part from Greek, especially stoic philosophy. Obviously, the author wishes to show that whatever words might be used to describe such Greek philosophical concepts as the logos or world soul, might also be used to characterize the biblical concept of wisdom.

The author then singles out two of these characteristics for further comment. Wisdom is mobile because of her purity and divine origin. She is omnipotent in producing holiness because she is fairer than the sun and wickedness cannot prevail over her. Much of the terminology used in verses 22-23 is borrowed from Greek philosophy and religion, where these qualities were attributed to Isis, the pagan goddess of wisdom and to a world soul or logos. In using this vocabulary, the author wishes to show that it is really the divine Wisdom that possesses these attributes and not some pagan goddess.

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Trifles and Titles  – Wednesday – 32nd week in ordinary time – Wisdom 6: 1-11

The first part of the book of Wisdom consists of Chapters 1:1- 6:21. Our text finds its self at the tail end of this large section. The entire section is divided into five parts arranged concentrically. The central part is verse 3:1-4:19 and contains the authors teaching on retribution. Today’s text is an exhortation to seek wisdom written specifically to those in power but generically to all of us who read God’s word. The writer takes on the same theme with which he began the book in 1:1 and concludes this section of the book with a warning of impending judgment.

Once again as in 1:1 the Jewish writer calls on judges, rulers and kings to listen to his words of wisdom. Three groups of powerful people; monarchs, civil rulers and judges in a court of law are singled out. Listening is different from hearing. Listening involves the whole of ones being. Listening involves a spirit of openness and perhaps the constant hearing of God’s message has fallen on deaf ears. Now those in power are called to give ear, to learn and understand. Clearly, because one sits in a seat of authority, because one may boast of being in control of nations or may have the power to judge over peoples, does not make one infallible. We have seen governments fall, monarch fail and the high and mighty thrown in jail. Therefore, to those in power is the call to give ear, to listen and to understand.

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Often those that sit in the corridors of power forget that it is God who chose them. King Saul was appointed by God and yet he forgot that dominion and sovereignty was given to him by the Lord. To those who forget, the author has several strong words of caution. God will ‘search out their works and inquire into their plans.” Clearly, accountability will be demanded from those to whom authority over others has been granted and while some may be dazzled with the seat of authority they occupy, that too will one day end. And lest we forget, the reality is that we are but ‘servants of HIS kingdom.’

God is clear, when those who sit in the seats of judgement will themselves be judged, the judgment against them for their failure to rule wisely and work hard will be ‘swift and terrible.’ The higher the authority the greater is the punishment for failure. Each will be punished according to the responsibility that they were given; more for those in ‘high places’

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An introduction to the book of Wisdom – Monday, 32nd week in ordinary time – Wisdom 1:1-7

The books of the Old Testament were written probably between 1000 and 100 BC. The book of Wisdom was probably written somewhere between 250BCE-50CE in the first or second century before Christ and many centuries after the time of Solomon. The author of the book claims to be Solomon. The claim was questioned by Origen, Eusebius, St Augustine and St Jerome and it is clear from the data that the claim is simply a literary device conventional in Old Testament wisdom literature. In the OT, Solomon is known as a most esteemed man of wisdom. It comes as no surprise, then, that someone wanted to credit him with the authorship of this book of wisdom. The very title of this book describes its content and presumed author. Such an attribution simply gave the book more credibility and probably assured its success.

The author of the book remains anonymous and the most we can say is that he is a Jew and probably a teacher. And that he was familiar with Hellenistic (Greek) philosophy, rhetoric and culture. Hence the wisdom of Solomon is more accurately called, the Book of Wisdom. This is the last of the OT books to be written.

This book is one of the seven “deuterocanonical books” — Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and I & II Maccabees. These seven books are found in Catholic Bibles but not in protestant (reformist) Bibles because these books were written in Greek rather than in Hebrew like the rest of the Old Testament. After the Fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, the Jewish rabbis convened the Council of Jamnia (90-100), at which time they established what books would be considered their Sacred Scripture and these seven books were not included and the same was adopted by the Reformist Church.

Scholars think the book was written in Egypt, possibly Alexandria, the great intellectual and scientific centre of the Mediterranean world and one of the largest centres of the Jewish diaspora. The book is a practical appeal that one’s learning should have an impact on one’s moral life.

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Love is thin when faults are thick -Thursday, 31st week in ordinary time – Romans 14:7-12

I have often advocated a text to be read in its context. Today is a classic example. Read by itself, todays text sounds like a pledge of fidelity to God when in fact it is a call to place our beliefs and lives in the larger context of the God we serve rather than our narrow domestic views and agendas.

The pericope of today falls in a larger section of Romans chapters 12-15. These chapters sketch the implications for how the church lives its faith in light of the teaching taught in the prior chapters of Romans. This section of Romans makes it clear that divisions in the church go back to the earliest churches; divisions and discord are a human reality. There was clearly a domestic problem in the Church in Rome which seems to have increased by the time chapter 12-15 were written. To get a complete picture of what that is I suggest you read the whole of chapter 14

In the first half of the letter to the Romans, Paul focuses on God’s love for believers: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Now, in the second half of the letter Paul emphasizes the love that believers must show towards each other because of the love they have received. The exhortations of chapter 14, however, suggest that in this community in Rome, love is thin because faults are thick.

At its core, the issue was that each group was setting itself over and above the other group, claiming the high moral ground for its particular practices and opinions about ceremonial practices that were peripheral to the gospel. On one side are the vegetarians; on the other are people who will eat anything, with each side sneering judgmentally at the other about their behaviour. Some, whom Paul calls the “weak” believe that, according to Jewish tradition, certain foods are to be avoided Similarly, some people celebrate festival days because they judge one day to be better than another, while others do not.

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