Are you wise?

 

“Are you wise?” I wonder what your answer to that question would be. There is a series of books I love by an author called Elizabeth Moon, in which the Dragon – in her world there is only one dragon – has very little to do with people unless there is a crisis in which he needs to intervene, and when he meets a new person, he tends to ask them “Are you wise?”

Dragon, in the books, is not God – I believe that in a forthcoming novel he will make a bad error of judgement, although I don’t yet know what – but he values wisdom in human beings above all other qualities. And wisdom is very highly valued in the Bible, too.

The wise person, in the Bible, is one who worships God. “The fear of the Lord,” we are told, “is the beginning of wisdom”. “The fool has said in his heart ‘There is no God’”.

So, in the Old Testament, at any rate, wisdom is seeking out God, following God, fearing God – not in the sense of being afraid, but in the sense of being aware who God is, how much greater God is than us, and so on. And wisdom is very definitely a quality that is valued.

But Wisdom, with a capital W, is also a person, especially in the book of Proverbs – we heard something of that in our first reading, did we not?

“Wisdom cries out in the street;
   in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner she cries out;
   at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
   and fools hate knowledge?”

There are many other passages about Wisdom in Proverbs, and there is even a whole book, in that section of the Bible we call the Apocrypha, known as the Wisdom of Solomon. The Apocrypha is the collection of books that didn’t make the cut into the Protestant Old Testament, although Catholics see them as canonical, which we are told to study “for example of life and instruction of manners;
but yet not apply them to establish any doctrine.”

I want to quote a bit from the Wisdom of Solomon here, as it was an alternative to the Psalm set for today:

The Spirit of Wisdom is like a polished mirror,
reflecting bright light onto everything God is and does.
In her we see a crystal clear image of God’s goodness.

Although there is only one of her,
there is no limit to what she can do.
Without needing to change, she is always fresh,
and she renews and refreshes everything she touches.

Agelessly passing from one generation to the next,
she embraces those who dedicate themselves to God.
Making a home in their hearts,
she nurtures their friendship with God.
She enables them to pass on God’s word to others,
for God’s greatest delight is in those
who are at home with wisdom.

The beauty of Wisdom outshines the sun,
and the stars in the sky look pale by comparison.
She is more illuminating than light itself,
because light is regularly subdued by the dark of night,
but there is no evil that can ever get the better of Wisdom.
She stretches out her arms and embraces the whole earth.
She uses her strength to set everything right for the benefit of all.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Lovely, isn’t it? And, as in the book of Proverbs, Wisdom is personified. The Greek word for wisdom is Sophia, a woman’s name. You might want to try addressing God as “Lady Sophia” or “Lady Wisdom”; it might do nothing for you, or you might find it really helpful! The titles we use for God, the way we think about God, are apt to change over time and will be different for each one of us. Some weeks we find it helpful to think of God as the Shepherd; then perhaps as Lady Wisdom; then as Love; then as the shadow of a great Rock in a weary land! I’ve been focussed on that one, the shadow of a great Rock, for some months now!

Anyway, to return to wisdom. Are you wise?
What is wisdom, anyway?
It’s not about book-learning. It’s not about education. The most educated person can be incredibly foolish at times; we’ve all seen that in politicians and other leaders. Equally, they can, of course, be very wise. But you don’t need an education to be wise! Remember the psalmist: “Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings….”

I think wisdom is definitely a gift from God.

Humanly speaking, we can all be wise sometimes, and incredibly foolish next minute. Look at Peter, in our Gospel reading.

When Jesus asks “Who do you reckon I am?”, Peter replies that “You are the Messiah!” God’s anointed one. The one they had been expecting for so long. Peter was wise, there, with the wisdom of God.

But then it all went pear-shaped. Jesus started to tell them that he was probably going to have to die, and Peter says “No, I won't let that happen!”

But Jesus mustn't listen.

This was the voice of the tempter, always so near, so insidious, so tempting.... “Get thee behind me Satan!” he says.
“Peter, you're not helping!”

Peter was not being wise there! He was only trying to be kind. He had a sword, he could use it, he would protect Jesus with his life. That must have been heartwarming for Jesus, but no.

It’s so easy to do that, isn’t it? To say the wrong thing when you’re only trying to help. It's so not easy to get it right – often, we want to comfort a friend, for instance, but what do you say?
So often, whatever we actually make things worse!
I know sometimes being told that God will never fail me or forsake me really hasn't helped when it's felt that this is exactly what has just happened!
I know, obviously, that God hadn't failed me or forsaken me,
but at the time, it felt like it!
But sometimes people simply won't acknowledge the reality of our feelings:
“Oh no, you don't feel like that”,
or “Oh no, you don't believe that!”
It doesn’t help.
I remember once being told, by someone who really ought to have known better, that if I didn't find God's promises true –
I forget which one I was complaining about –
there was something wrong with me!

Well, quite probably there was –
but it really didn't help for the person to say so.
God doesn't always work in ways that are as straightforward as we would like to believe, does He?
The Holy Spirit is a rushing mighty wind, not an electric fan.
Or, if you like, he is not a tame lion!
God does exactly what God wants, and because God sees round corners in a way that you and I simply can't,
we don't always know what's going on.
And being told that if we believe thus and so,
or pray in these words rather than that,
then our pain will wrap itself up into a nice little ball and go away
really isn't helping! It is not wise of the person who told us that. We are not wise if we try to tell other people that.

But it’s all too easy to let our tongues run away with us unwisely! We didn’t read the passage from James’ letter which is one of the readings for today, but in it, he reminds us that you can’t tame the human tongue. Teachers have a huge responsibility – not just teachers in school, but preachers like me and others, and those responsible for lifelong learning – a huge responsibility to get it right. Those who listen are going to pick up what we said and, if they believe it, may well tell other people, and before you know it, misinformation and fake news has swept round the community, and, in these days of social media, has swept around the planet.

This, of course, means that we all, whether we teach, or learn, or do both, have a responsibility to discern what is true and right from what we read or see on social media, or what our friends tell us, or what our teachers and preachers tell us. And that isn’t easy, although discernment is, or can be, one of God’s many gifts to us. Discernment – wisdom. Are you wise?

Peter wasn’t wise just then. He was thinking in human terms – but then, did he know any others at that stage? For him, Jesus’ death would be the worst possible thing that could happen. But Jesus knew, or was beginning to know, that it had to happen, and being tempted to allow Peter to prevent it, or to try to, would be quite the wrong thing. It would not be wise.

Jesus goes on to say, pretty much, that it is the wise who will stick with him, rather than seeking after human glory and values. Even if this means suffering and death. The wise will continue to acknowledge Jesus, even in this day and age.

In our reading from Proverbs, Wisdom tells us that if we only call on her when disaster strikes, it’s too late! We need to learn to be God’s people all the time, not just on Sundays and when disaster strikes. We need to learn how to trust God all the time. And perhaps more importantly, we need to learn how to listen to those in trouble rather than to try to put things right. We need God’s discernment to know what, if anything, to say.

I’m thankful, as always, that wisdom is a gift of the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to generate it ourselves! Are you wise? Or perhaps the question should be “Are you wise enough to let God give you the gift of wisdom, of discernment?” Amen.

Deuteronomy

 

Once upon a time, long, long ago, in a kingdom far away,
there was trouble in the land.
The King, whose name was Manasseh,
had decided to forsake worshipping the God of his ancestors,
and to worship other, more exciting gods instead.
Not only that, but he put up altars to them in the holy Temple at Jerusalem, and despite all the priests could do,
and despite dire warnings from the prophets,
he carried on like this, even sacrificing one of his children and practising black magic.

The priests in the Temple were scared.
They didn't know how much longer they would be allowed to stay,
or even whether the King would have them killed.
What if no new priests could come?
How would future generations know how to worship God?
Their country had enemies, and it was quite possible that it would be over-run, and God's name might disappear altogether.

So the priests did the only thing they could think of.
They wrote a book to tell future generations all about God,
and how to worship,
and, especially, how to live as God's people.
And then they hid it away in the depths of the Temple,
and carried on as best they could.

Roughly fifty years later, there was a new king on the throne,
the grandson of King Manasseh, and his name was King Josiah.
King Josiah did worship God, and one day he decided that it was high time the Temple in Jerusalem was refurbished:
painted, cleaned, the stonework repointed, all that sort of thing.
And while that was happening, the priests found this book that had been hidden away for so long –
either that, or they decided that now was a good moment to produce it –
and they brought it to the King.

And that book was at least part of, and perhaps all of, the book of Deuteronomy which our reading came from.
I'll tell you more about what it said in a bit,
but when Josiah read it, he was horrified and realised that he and his people had been doing things all wrong,
and he made them all listen to it and do what it said.
And God was pleased.
The doom that had been prophesied did come on the land,
but not in Josiah's lifetime.
You can read all the story in 2 Kings chapters 21 to 23, if you've got a good modern English translation.
Not now, though.
(Now you younger ones are going to go to your own classes, while the rest of us sing….)

---oo0oo---

The book of Deuteronomy turned out to be like nothing Josiah had ever heard before.
The central theme of the book,
how God wants his people to be,
is of course that famous passage that begins
"Hear, O Israel, The Lord is God, the Lord is One".
We are to love God with all of our being,
and to keep all the commandments, decrees and ordinances,
says the book of Deuteronomy.
And, as Moses is alleged to have said in the passage we heard read, you must remember them, and observe them, and show all the nations round about that God is God!

The rest of the book is an expansion of that theme.
You look after your neighbour, especially if your neighbour is an Israelite.
Refugees or "sojourners" who have settled among you are also to be treated with kindness and compassion,
since you were once sojourners in Egypt.
If you have slaves or servants,
you must give them the opportunity to go free at the end of six years,
and give them some capital to help them make a new start.
You mustn't give it grudgingly, either,
since you've had work from the slave for six years,
and no way could you have got a hired servant so cheap.
If your slave runs away,
people are to assume that you were a cruel owner,
and the slave won't be returned to you.
If your paid servants need it, you must pay them daily,
and don't you dare cheat them!

You don't fancy military service?
Well, you don't have to go if you are about to get married,
or have just got married,
or if you've just built yourself a house or planted a vineyard,
or even if you are afraid.
Fighting is the Lord's work, and we don't want anyone who isn't whole-hearted about it.
If you do go to war, the camp must be kept clean and hygienic at all times - please go right outside the perimeter when you need to "go",
and use your trowel afterwards.
And when you fight, give your enemy every chance to surrender first.

Above all else, the book of Deuteronomy is concerned with rooting out idolatry,
forcefully if necessary.
Because of this the whole system of worship is being changed.
From now on, you can't sacrifice to God where you please,
but only in the Temple in Jerusalem.
No more popping into the local shrine;
it's too difficult to police it and to make sure it is only God that sacrifices have been made to.
Now, obviously, this is going to cause some upheavals,
and the authors have made provision for this.

Firstly, you ask, what about your dinner?
If you've been in the habit of eating your share of the sacrifice, what do you do if you can't sacrifice any more?
Have you really got to go hunting every time you fancy some meat?
No.
From now on you may butcher your own meat,
or have it butchered for you,
so long as it is done in a certain way.
It doesn't have to have been sacrificed first.
Secular meat is quite OK.

Bur what about me?
I'm a Levite, a descendent of Levi.
I've been used to working in the shrines
and keeping myself on part of the meat brought as sacrifice.
What am I going to do now?
Well, you get given charitable status, along with widows, orphans and sojourners.
Henceforth it is the duty of all religious Jews to support you.

Well, OK, that's fine, you say.
But how am I going to worship God?
It's three days' journey to Jerusalem;
I can't go gallivanting up and down each week.
What am I to do?

The answer to that one has repercussions to this day!
What they did was, they set up a system of praying with psalms and readings that gradually developed into the synagogue worship that persists right up until today.
What's more, we Christians adapted it,
and in various forms it became the Benedictine Daily Office,
the Anglican Matins and Evensong,
and even has echoes in a Methodist preaching service such as this one!
All because those who wrote Deuteronomy felt it would be better,
or that God was saying, if you prefer it said that way,
to have sacrifices made only in the Temple in Jerusalem
so that an eye could be kept on what happened.
There was too much worshipping of other gods going on.

The other thing that shows God's hand in all this, of course, is that the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD.
Suppose the Jews hadn't had an alternative form of worship to fall back on?
And what would we have done without it?
Jesus rendered Temple worship obsolete, because he was, as the old Prayer Book has it, "a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world."
God is clever sometimes!

But that is all detail –
I find it fascinating, and suggest you sit down and have a good read of the book of Deuteronomy in a modern paraphrase sometime.
All sorts of fascinating rules and regulations....

But that's the point.
They could so easily become just dry rules and regulations.

But it got too easy to follow God just by keeping the rules, and by the time Jesus came along, that, all too often, is what was happening.
And all the rules were getting hedged around with “Well, what if....” and “In this case, you should...” until they had become a real burden.
It is clearly said that you mustn’t add or subtract to any of the commandments, and I don’t think they meant to. It was just clarifying, but they went too far.

Jesus cuts through this, as we heard in our second reading.
“Look,” he says to the Pharisees, “Outward observance really doesn’t mean anything if you’re just going through the motions! It’s not what goes into a person that matters; after all, eventually that just goes down the drain. It’s what is in your heart that matters!” He pointed out that they have abandoned God’s commandments in favour of human rules.

And he told the crowd that they can’t be defiled by anything external, but it is from the heart that come things like sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.

In the collections of Jesus’ teachings that we call the Sermon on the Mount, he gives a description of what God’s people will be like – they won’t be angry with anybody in a destructive way, far less murder them;
they will always be the first to try to put things right if they have had an upset with someone;
they won’t use or abuse people sexually;
they won’t get divorced for trivial reasons;
they will be honest to a fault;
in short, they will treat other people with the greatest possible respect for who they are.

Jesus is giving this picture of what his followers would be like,
and it's really hard to live up to.
I'm pretty sure I don't, and I'm pretty sure you don't, either.

But then, of course, we don't have to.
I mean, not like that.
It's not about our trying and struggling and failing to make ourselves into better people.
It never has been.
In our own strength, we are always going to fail.
It's about a reciprocal relationship with God.
It's about allowing ourselves to be transformed.
About saying to the Holy Spirit, okay, here I am, You do it.
He will!
Probably not in ways you'd expect,
and quite possibly not in ways you'd like, given a choice,
but you will be transformed, more and more,
into the kind of person God created you to be.

Josiah could have just listened to the book of the Law, and nodded, and said "Oh yes, how very interesting", and let it flow over him.
But he didn't.
Josiah really wanted to worship God properly –
his cousin Zephaniah was a prophet, and quite possibly influenced him to follow God –
so he rooted out all the shrines to God that were sometimes used to worship other gods,
and he required his subjects to worship God alone,
and to celebrate the Passover.
The Bible tells us that that first Passover, in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign, so in about 621 BC by our reckoning, was unique:
"No such Passover," it says, "had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or during all the days of the kings of Israel or of the kings of Judah."

The point is that Josiah really meant it about worshipping God, and when he was confronted with the Scriptures, the book of the Law, he chose to obey that law, and by doing so, he met with God.

The Scriptures don’t tell us, but I imagine Josiah also instituted laws to look after refugees, widows, and orphans, and those whose income had been upset by the new worship systems.

The passage from Deuteronomy that we heard read asks: “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?”

We don’t think of God as the God of a particular nation,
but perhaps we should wonder whether those of other belief systems know that God is near us whenever they pray to him!
We know.
Jesus said that nobody can know God as Father except through him –
we discussed this last week, you will remember.

So we, too, need to learn to listen to God’s commandments and obey them.
And sometimes that will be hard.
Being God’s person isn’t always easy, as those priests so long ago found, and as Josiah found a couple of generations later.
But it is oh, so very worth while! Amen.