2nd Sunday before Lent
4th February 2024
Proverbs 8.1, 22-31
John 1.1-14
I did not go to Sunday school: I didn’t like church and told my mother so at 3 years so she would teach me about Jesus from Proverbs.
I would therefore say that I was homeschooled in Jesus
and in critical thinking about justice and mercy.
“Tasha,” my mother would say,
“In life desire wisdom, seek knowledge and get understanding.
All the days of your life….”
“And please try not to embarrass me by becoming an educated fool”
It has made me smile that on this day, my last with you all, for now, this passage has popped up.
It fascinates me: Born in the late 70s and growing up watching reckless wealth in the 80s. My mother’s words and wisdom were so incongruent with what was being communicated in the British culture in which I was born and raised.
By the 90s I recall a popular song penned by Wu Tang Clan and titled ‘C.R.E.A.M’ an acronym that stood for:
‘Cash Rules Everything Around Me, C.R.E.A.M. get the money…’
an catchy tune and insightful title that recorded the very spirit of the age.
Yet Proverbs spoke a different word over my life.
Not riches, but wisdom…
Not property, but wisdom…
Not beauty, but wisdom…
Not a spouse, but wisdom…
All other things can follow wisdom…
But without wisdom all these things are lost…
So, let’s collectively think critically:
What is wisdom?
Who is wisdom?
The scripture has lots of clues
to offer:
Wisdom as first and foremost.
Wisdom as female.
Wisdom as a foundational character within the genesis story.
Wisdom as fundamental in,
& to creation
Wisdom as the order and ordering of nature.
Wisdom as a witness to creation story.
Wisdom as a midwife to creation…
Wisdom in Christ,
though whom
all things were made,
seen and unseen…
Wisdom of Christ,
Seen in every word and deed…
Wisdom is far more than than being smart or clever or even the ‘right’ thing to do. Wisdom is not knowledge nor is it ‘to be educated’…
The singer, Lauryn Hill has a song ‘Oh Jerusalem’ in which she states that often we are – so
‘Focused on the shadow, with our back turned to the light
Too intelligent to see it’s us in the way’
Sometimes our ego and education combine to make us sightless and foolish. Once again, I hear my mother’s warning: Let us not be educated fools.
Wisdom is far from the most expedient or efficient or convenient way…
It may not make you rich but it pays dividens in peace, justice and good relationship for both the individual and the collective.
It is the best thing…
Best for all concerned.
Best for the future
Best of and from the past
It offers insight and order;
It is prophetic and yet practical;
It is just and merciful
whilst being experienced, knowledgable,
Grounded and cognisant of the realities and grit of real life.
It is full of integrity, yet without naivety.
Wisdom has an intimate relationship with God.
It is well known to divine love and divine life …
She says:
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
Wisdom is part of how God does what God does…
yet we see that wisdom worships God…
It is a created thing that has been made available to all, in the world.
I am one of those strange people who likes to ponders tricky questions. Like: What is sin?
I have often thought, what exactly is it?
It’s thrown about in holy books and in theology…
And sometimes by hyper- judgemental souls but who can define it?
We can certainly see the effects of sin in our world.
The basic dictionary definition is:
an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.
In our current cultural moment that which is moral and immoral seems to be arbitrary and opinion based. It appears to be blurred and situational depending on who is saying it or doing it.
And the spin that can be touted to us.
Day by day we see that we are built and have been building on sand.
But who can forget the Rich Young Man () who believes he has followed the divine law to the letter: Yet he too goes away sad, because he is ultimately unwise…
And let’s not forget St Paul’s wisdom who reminds us in his letter to the Corinthians ()that if we have the law but lack love…
We clang in noisy, tuneless ways…
In other spaces I have heard sin described as,
‘To fall short of the glory of God… () or ‘of God’s best for our lives’.
True perhaps but that still does not tell us what sin is. Historically, as a church we seem to have preferred only apophatic way of explaining it.
It can all seem rather vague.
But since we are told that wisdom is so intrinsic to creation,
So much so that it predates ‘the fall’.
Yet is so intrinsic in the laws and natural grain of the universe…
and is so connected to worship…
Is so present and attentive to God…
I wonder – Can wisdom even be wisdom if not formed by love?
So perhaps ‘to sin’ at the very least, is to be intrinsically unwise…
Whether intentionally and wilfully unwise
Or perhaps unwilling to become aware
or unapologetic of one’s lack of wisdom towards oneself…
towards others…
towards creation…
towards God…
Perhaps I will leave that one as my parting gift for you to figure out as ‘homework’….
But the lectionary writer
selects a Gospel that asks us to consider the relationship between the person and nature of Christ…
The word became flesh… (John…)
And the intrinsic wisdom of his incarnation…
The Word Is the fullness of God’s wisdom;
About whom John can be prophetic.
About whom all time and space, all history and culture bends to reveal the truth, the light that lies within him…
Wisdom is the Son’s essence…
Because he is exact representation of the Father.
We come to know the Father, through the Son
By wisdom and that wisdom will walk many roads with us to break bread with us…
And so therefore we can imagine the wisdom of God in The Spirit, calling us and leading us to Christ.
God is far more than just wisdom. But wisdom is always there.
So my parting word to you,
Comes from my mother, a Windrush elder:
It is quite possible to sit in church, amongst all this beauty, community and kudos – And entirely miss out on Jesus.
Remember the parable of the two sons of obedience?
One who agrees to his Father’s will but does not act on it; and the other who declines his Father’s request, but does what has been asked.
Which one did the Father’s will?
Some believe Christianity to be about empire; about ‘them
and us’. Those who are ‘in’ and those who are ‘out’.
It is not so: Rather our faith is about
Who is called by the Spirit to live Christ’s risen life and does the Father’s will.
It is possible to be in a church for decades yet still be supremely immature in Christ.
This is not just an issue for laity but for clergy too, an example being Martin Luther (1483-1546 ) who was already an ordained priest, when he finally ‘came to know Christ’.
There are people who are not professing Christians who live by his Spirit. They know Christ by his Spirit.
There are professing Christians who come to church and know nothing about the love of God and know nothing about Christ or his risen life. They do not abide in him. They do not know him in spirit or truth.
Do not get comfortable or distracted.
Do not allow yourself to be robbed of the most precious, cornerstone.
Desire Christ, first and foremost.
Seek him, chase him, until the very end.
By The Revd Natasha Beckles
February 2024