A Return to Wisdom :: Proverbs 9:1-10
Give to the wise one, and he will be wiser still. Teach a righteous one, and he will increase in learning. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of YHWH, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (vv 9-10). So concludes our reading from Proverbs.
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Virtually every society and culture of our world uses proverbs. I am sure you know a number of them, in particular: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. ... Better late than never. ... Actions speak louder than words. ... And of course, the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD (v 10). The last of these four is from our reading in the Book of Proverbs. Don’t ask me where the first three came from. ... They aren’t Biblical.
King Solomon is said to have written 3,000 proverbs, including many of those in the book of Proverbs itself. We know that Agur, son of Jakeh, and King Lemuel, which may be a pseudonym for King Hezekiah, wrote chapters 30 and 31. But among mere men, no one was wiser than Solomon.
In 1 Kings 3, we learn that Solomon loved the Lord like few before him and few after him. Solomon was just a boy when he recognized the extraordinary gifts God renders in his Divine Service to us. So one night at Gibeon, which is about six miles northwest of Jerusalem, YHWH appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked him, Ask what I should give to you (vv 3-5).
In wisdom beyond his years, Solomon replied: Give to your servant a heart to hear, [a heart] to judge your people, [a heart] to understand the difference between good and evil.
This word was pleasing in the sight of the Lord (vv 9a, 10a).
So YHWH said, Because you asked for this, and you have not asked for many days for yourself, nor have you asked to enrich yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but you have asked for [the ability] to understand [and] to hear justice, behold, I have accomplished [this] according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, [so] that there has not been [someone like you] before you, and there will not arise one like you after you (vv 11-12).
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And so it came to be ... Solomon gained understanding in Wisdom ... that is, he gained an insight into God Himself. Wisdom is, first and foremost, an attribute of God. Perhaps the clearest statement on Wisdom is found in Proverbs 3:19: YHWH, by Wisdom, founded the earth. He established the heavens by understanding. ... This same Wisdom enabled Job to say, [YHWH] numbered the clouds (Job 38:27). ... And to borrow the language of Saint John, All things have happened through him, and without him nothing has happened that has happened (Jn 1:3). The Wisdom of God is not found in man’s speculation. The Wisdom of God emphasizes what to do, how to do it, and what the consequences will be. Wisdom leads us to true fear of God, which is reverence, not trembling. God alone must provide this wisdom so that man can live by faith.
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Not everyone will listen to this Word of God’s Wisdom. In fact, as Solomon tells us in Proverbs: Most people prefer to listen to Lady Folly, which is the wisdom of the world.
Lady Folly is extremely seductive. Solomon says she is simple, but knows nothing. She clamors to those who pass on the streets, offering sweet water and pleasant bread (9:13-16). She entices the world to delight in ourselves ... to please ourselves ... to protect ourselves ... to guard OUR way of life. She entices us the world secretly to fill our land, our loves with our possessions and to do your own thing (1:13-19). But she disdains the Wisdom of God. She mocks the Wisdom of God. She refuses to listen to the invitation of true Wisdom. She shuns God’s Word. She says we don’t need to heed God’s Word ... or to listen to God’s Word.
She has no reverence for God. Of the Law, she says ... well, we don’t have to dot every I, do we? We don’t need to cross every T, do we? ... In her rejection, Folly quite literally forgets the covenant of God (1:24-25, 2:17) and then sows discord among the brothers, isolating herself.
This would be why Jesus told us his parable today about how we invariably love our land more than the Lord ... Love our labor more than the Lord ... and love our lovers more than the Lord. Immediately after our Gospel reading, Jesus even adds, If anyone comes toward me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes even also his own being, is not able to be my disciple (Lk 14:26).
Hear this wisdom: We love ourselves so much that when the invitation to the Great Feast actually sounds forth ... we, in turn, spurn the gifts, deny our faith, and lose our seat at the king’s table (Lk 14:15-24).
Do you understand what the Wisdom of God is telling you?
Whereas Folly desires that you do your own thing ... in your own way ... at your own pace ... on your own terms, the Wisdom of God is calling every one of you to repent ... that is, to mourn what Saint James calls bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts [which leads you to] boast in yourselves and [to speak] against the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. Instead, rest in the Word of Wisdom from Above, which is ... first pure, then peaceful, gentle, well-persuaded, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, sincere (Jas 3:13-17) ... you know, the fruit of faith.
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Please now turn to page 323 in your [Lutheran Service Book] and join me in confessing our faithful doctrine on the Third Commandment. ... As the head of the household should teach it in a simple way to his family ... What is the Third Commandment? ... What does this mean?
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Now hear the Gospel of the Word of Wisdom in Proverbs 9.
Wisdom has built her house. She has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her [sacrifice]. She has mixed her wine. She has arranged her kingly table. She has sent out her female servants. She calls from the only high place ... which I will tell you, is the temple of God ... and she bids you to turn in here.
To him lacking heart, she says, Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I mixed. Abandon your simple ways and live, and be blessed in the way of understanding (vv 1-6).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, Wisdom here is describing a feast, just like the parable of Jesus from our Gospel reading. Those who have faith understand that this feast is the Sacrament of the Altar. Our Lord Jesus, who is the embodiment of Wisdom, has prepared this feast that has no end. He has established this feast ... in his house ... on the confession that He is The Christ, the son of the Living God (Mt 16:16). On the night he was betrayed, Jesus mixed the best wine of heaven for you, and arranged his table for you. Jesus then went to the cross to be slaughtered for you. After he was raised from the dead ... Yes, he is now risen! ... Jesus sent his servants ... your pastors ... to call you to this feast from the only high place in the temple. Here, in the breaking of the bread, we come to understand he is actually with us (Lk 24:31).
In giving his body and blood to eat and to drink he always enables us to remember the Wisdom of God, how he loved us. Jesus was born to live without sin, to bear your sin, and to be crucified for your sin so that your sin would die with him. Jesus gave his body and shed his blood specifically for the forgiveness of your sins. And he shares that with you, so that you will share it with each other in the Sacrament.
Why God would do this for us in this way is beyond our wisdom or understanding. But ...
THAT PERSON IS CERTAINLY WORTHY AND WELL PREPARED WHO RETURNS THROUGH FAITH TO THE WORD OF WISDOM
As Saint Paul says so elegantly. You who were once far off have become near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace. [He has made] us one. He has destroyed the dividing wall, the hostility. ... So then, you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, having been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the cornerstone being Christ himself (Eph 2:13-14a, 19-20).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, receive the Wisdom of God. He has called you to this place, not so much so that you can worship, he has called you here to enlighten you in a return to wisdom that this is the place where he gives you the good things of life ... Forgiveness, life and salvation, which come through preaching, and confession and absolution, and baptism, and the Lord’s supper. Wisdom says these are the reasons we gather.
Wisdom says it is ready. So come. Leave your simple ways and live ... in Jesus’ name.