Aunt Margaret, everything in moderation, including moderation and I wish I had cleaned less. And the wonderful wisdom of Paul McCartney has been an inspiration during some hard times…Let it Be. This morning, we are invited to consider the importance of Wisdom and what we may yet learn about Wisdom from Scripture. ”For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of God’s goodness.” In the book of Proverbs, Wisdom is calling out in the streets, inviting people to listen. Holy Wisdom in Scripture is always referred to in the feminine…and in the Wisdom of Solomon, we read, “Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things; in every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets, for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.” And so how does one attain Wisdom; how do we live with wisdom as it comes to us from God? And what is the role of wisdom in such complicated times as our modern day? Who in your lives has been a person of wisdom? Who are the people you have sought out for wise counsel and why? Does it always come with age or can someone young still be wise? And where is wisdom in a time of the Internet and AI and fake news? Let us pray, O gracious God, be our wisdom each day. May we listen to the holy wisdom that you send to us through trusted and faithful people who grace our lives. Amen.
There is a story from the Greek Philosopher, Plato in The Phaedrus, believed to have been composed around 370BCE… in other words, a very long time ago. In this one section, Socrates shares an ancient Egyptian legend about a king named Thamus and a god named Theuth. Theuth, it seems, was an inventor of useful tools and new technologies. One day he showed King Thamus manyof his inventions, and ultimately reveals his most recent innovation: writing. The inventor proudly told Thamus, “Here is an accomplishment, my lord and king, which will improve both the wisdom and the memory of the Egyptians.”
The king, however, believed it would have the opposite effect.
“Those who acquire this skill of writing,” King Thamus said, “will cease to exercise their memory and become forgetful; they will rely on writing to bring things to their remembrance by external signs instead of by their own internal resources. What you have discovered is a receipt for recollection, not for memory. And as for wisdom, your pupils will have the reputation for it without the reality; they will be thought very knowledgeable when they are for the most part quite ignorant. And because they are filled with the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom, they will be a burden to society.”
There have been many great writings throughout history, of that I’m sure we can all agree; however, we might consider the warning of the King about how the conceit of wisdom vs real wisdom is played out our own times. And has this indeed become a burden to society? Our ability to Google anything—or look up facts quickly on Wikipedia or through some other source—is not exactly the same as having a well-rounded education, much less knowing how to use knowledge in wise ways. Just because something has been shared in writing does not make it true or based in fact sadly and too many people have lost their ability to discern what is valid and true, what can be believed, and what is propaganda or outright lies. We have watched this happen and we have seen how this disinformation has led to incredible divisions within our own society, because opinion is not the same as truth and fake news is not news at all. How is our God calling out to us to live with wisdom?
Wisdom in Scripture is both a characteristic or charism of/from God and a Divine One herself, part of and an extension of God. The book of Proverbs is not a theological treatise on the nature of God but rather a poetic reflection on that nature with no need to clarify or even explain its claims and assumptions. To most people, Wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment; the quality of being wise and having wisdom often provides us with the ability to navigate many of the things we encounter in life. What then is Holy Wisdom, what is the Wisdom we hear about in our readings this morning? I would offer that it is the inspired knowledge and experience that comes to us from a deep relationship with God through Scripture as well as our lived experiences in relationship to creation and others who reflect to us who God is in the world.
The Book of Proverbs in the Bible speaks about many different situations in life, because wisdom provides the gift of having achieved a kind of knowledge drawn from the experiences of life itself. A wise person surveys the patterns in life and then is able to consider the best ways to respond to a given situation. Our belief in a God who has created a universe that is governed by order allows us to then somehow make coherent sense out of life. As one writer said, “If the “jigsaw” pieces of life in a fragmented world did not all come from a single picture in the first place, then there would be no sense in trying to put those pieces back together.”
Hence the wise learn to pay close attention to life. The wise pay close attention to what works and what doesn’t work. As Proverbs 1 makes clear, a central way in which we gain wisdom is to receive instruction from older and wiser people. When wisdom calls, we have to listen. And what Wisdom has to say is not always pleasant.
Fools, it is said, are often in error but never in doubt. Sometimes, someone older and wiser may help guide us by pointing out our mistaken judgements or behavior. Hopefully, wise ones in our lives help serve as a guide to a better, healthier, and happier way of living, a way guided by Divine truth and love.
The conceit of wisdom is everywhere today. Real wisdom is rare. The conceit of wisdom without the reality of wisdom is perhaps nowhere better seen than in our society’s inability to believe in a common set of facts or to see those who are so easily swayed by opinion that has no basis in reality. Most of us are aware of the tragic consequences of the lies that were spread this past week about Haitian immigrants in Ohio. A rumor started by white supremacists and was spread by politicians caused incredible suffering to this community in recent days. How do we recognize the wisdom that comes from God, how do we embrace the wisdom that comes from those who humbly and try to live lives grounded in spiritual truths of love, compassion, justice and peace? We need true wisdom and its substantive inner depths. We are invited to continue to nurture the gift of holy wisdom in our lives, to look and listen with a heart open to the understanding and knowledge that comes from a deep connection to one’s inner self and the divine. If we have a sense of this wisdom, it allows us to see beyond the material world and to understand the interconnectedness of all living beings. And if we have wisdom, we have a precious guide to live in right relationship with our Creator and with one another and with all of God’s precious creation. If we live in right relationship, we will be able to model ourselves in the ways of Christ to reach out to the lost and lonely, the suffering and the sick, and to know that we are part of something much, much bigger than even we may fully comprehend.
Some familiar proverbs that may bring wisdom:
“Spare the rod . . . spoil the child.”
“When the going gets tough . . . the tough get going.”
“What goes up . . . must come down.”
“A fool and his money . . . are soon parted.”
“If you give him an inch . . . he’ll take half a mile.”
“The grass is always greener . . . on the other side of the fence.”
“With friends like that . . . who needs enemies.”
“People who live in glass houses . . . should not throw stones.”
Those of us who have been around in life know these sayings well. Proverbs, someone once said, are easy to say but hard to forget.
Even today, then, we live off the font of proverbs and proverbial wisdom perhaps more than we know!
Resources: Commentary by Stan Mast, Center for Excellence in Preaching