The wisdom of Solomon is legendary. It’s hard to forget the story of the two women who came to him each wanting him to give each of them a disputed child. It is a wonderful testimony to his wisdom. He told them that he would cut the child in two and give each of them half of it. This aroused the true mother to great grief and she relinquished her claim to the child. Solomon then gave her the child because of her obvious love. In First Kings, we get the story of the conversation that Solomon had with God about what he needed. He didn’t ask for great riches, or anything for himself . He asked for wisdom and God gave it to him.
Wisdom is a remarkable gift. Paul asks the Ephesians to live not as unwise people, but as wise, because the days are evil; so he tells them not to be foolish, but to understand what the will of the Lord is. It is certainly also necessary for us, like the Ephesians to live as wise people, because these also are evil days. Read the newspaper or listen to television and you certainly get the sense that there is little cooperation among the politicians to remedy the things that are so desperately wrong in this society. The rich will certainly get richer and the poor poorer. That is almost a given. Wisdom is of the greatest necessity to get us through these times.
Paying attention to the outcast, the poor, the neglected, the unemployed, the homeless is what you and I are called to do by our Lord Jesus. Understanding the will of the Lord is what we are called to use our wisdom to determine. The problem is, that goes against the grain of the desires of those who regulate our commerce and determine the rules of the culture in which we live. Making our way through that maze requires the utmost wisdom. It isn’t easy. Being an advocate for the impoverished calls down the wrath of wealth on us. When we talk about tax loopholes or anything that seems to call for the regulation of commerce, we can get into powerful trouble. That is why Martin Luther King was chased all of his life by people of power. I don’t really want to challenge any of them. They can hurt me.
Jesus was speaking to power when he talked to what John’s Gospel calls “the Jews” about himself being the bread from God. He said to them: This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. The powerful people disputed about this saying, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But Jesus told them that his flesh is the bread that comes down from heaven and that whoever eats of it will live forever.
We continue to talk about that to this day. Every time that we celebrate the Eucharist, we create again that moment in Jesus’ life. I don’t think for me that there is a more powerful moment in our liturgy than when I hold the bread of the Eucharist before you and say, “The body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven”. If that is true, it binds us all together as one and also to the commandments that our Lord gave to us: to love God and to love one another absolutely. That sets the tone for how it is that we treat the poor and the outcast in our community and it sets the bounds for how it is that we use the wealth that we have been given by our God for the good of all of us. Remembering that we are not the author of goodness is an important step to keep us in tune with the needs of those around us. What our God has given to us, we need to use for the comfort of everyone. As we do that, we increase the welfare of all.
Wisdom is a remarkable gift. Paul asks the Ephesians to live not as unwise people, but as wise, because the days are evil; so he tells them not to be foolish, but to understand what the will of the Lord is. It is certainly also necessary for us, like the Ephesians to live as wise people, because these also are evil days. Read the newspaper or listen to television and you certainly get the sense that there is little cooperation among the politicians to remedy the things that are so desperately wrong in this society. The rich will certainly get richer and the poor poorer. That is almost a given. Wisdom is of the greatest necessity to get us through these times.
Paying attention to the outcast, the poor, the neglected, the unemployed, the homeless is what you and I are called to do by our Lord Jesus. Understanding the will of the Lord is what we are called to use our wisdom to determine. The problem is, that goes against the grain of the desires of those who regulate our commerce and determine the rules of the culture in which we live. Making our way through that maze requires the utmost wisdom. It isn’t easy. Being an advocate for the impoverished calls down the wrath of wealth on us. When we talk about tax loopholes or anything that seems to call for the regulation of commerce, we can get into powerful trouble. That is why Martin Luther King was chased all of his life by people of power. I don’t really want to challenge any of them. They can hurt me.
Jesus was speaking to power when he talked to what John’s Gospel calls “the Jews” about himself being the bread from God. He said to them: This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever. The powerful people disputed about this saying, “how can this man give us his flesh to eat?” But Jesus told them that his flesh is the bread that comes down from heaven and that whoever eats of it will live forever.
We continue to talk about that to this day. Every time that we celebrate the Eucharist, we create again that moment in Jesus’ life. I don’t think for me that there is a more powerful moment in our liturgy than when I hold the bread of the Eucharist before you and say, “The body of Christ, the Bread of Heaven”. If that is true, it binds us all together as one and also to the commandments that our Lord gave to us: to love God and to love one another absolutely. That sets the tone for how it is that we treat the poor and the outcast in our community and it sets the bounds for how it is that we use the wealth that we have been given by our God for the good of all of us. Remembering that we are not the author of goodness is an important step to keep us in tune with the needs of those around us. What our God has given to us, we need to use for the comfort of everyone. As we do that, we increase the welfare of all.
It is clear where Heather gets her great compassion from! She has taught me to look at the unfortunate members of our society in a completely different light. Thank you!
ReplyDelete