Preacher: Nathan Hosler

Scripture Readings: Proverbs 9:1-6, Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58

The stories we tell are usually more action/adventure than “wisdom.” Christian Peacemaker Team’s Art Gish, with bushy white brethren beard and red CPT hat standing arms wide in front a tank in an attempt stop the destruction of a vegetable market in the city of Hebron, West Bank, Palestine. The radical witness of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Workers who have houses of hospitality and live communally. Dietrich Bonhoeffer a resisting pastor killed by Nazis. Brethren Volunteer Service. Seagoing cowboys. Jacob quitting his job and moving to DC after I gave him a surprise call one afternoon 4 years ago. We tell these because they embody deep commitment and courageous steps to follow the way of Jesus.

These have their own Spirit leading, reasoning, purpose, and call but—they hardly fit the conventional picture of wisdom. As part of a graduation gift this spring, my parents gave me a cute little stone owl lawn ornament. As my mother gave it to me she commented on wisdom…connecting completing studies with increase of wisdom. My immediate response was that I’m not sure that doing the program was wise. She asked if I wished I hadn’t done it and I said…well, that’s not really the case. While I’m not sure that it was wise in terms of impact on our family, church work, stress level, and general well-being I felt- and still feel—that it was what I should have done to faithfully follow God’s call to working for a church that is better equipped for Jesus’ way of peacemaking. Wisdom is a tricky notion. For the Apostle Paul, Christ crucified is the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God unsettles.

Writing on the Gospels, a scholar notes the wide view of wisdom in the Bible., “Wisdom can mean simply the practical skills and qualities which humans can acquire in order to live successfully, or wisdom can refer to God’s knowledge and creative power which transcend human scrutiny. (F.W. Burnett, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels, 874).

The Bible includes Wisdom Literature: Proverbs, some Psalms, Ecclesiastes and other examples sprinkled throughout. In our Proverbs passage, Wisdom is personified as a woman inviting us to learn.

Wisdom has built her house,
   she has hewn her seven pillars…
4 “You that are simple, turn in here!”
   To those without sense she says,
5 “Come, eat of my bread
   and drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Lay aside immaturity, and live,
   and walk in the way of insight.”

Later on, we read
A wise child makes a glad father,
   but a foolish child is a mother’s grief.
2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
   but righteousness delivers from death.
3 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
   but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
4 A slack hand causes poverty,
   but the hand of the diligent makes rich.

These are generally true, but we can all think of ways that these wouldn’t play out. For example—A wise child makes the father glad—unless the father is evil and wants the child to do something dangerous or nefarious.

Or—the Lord does not let the righteous go hungry—except there are many cases where righteous people go hungry, in fact, there are probably righteous people every place of widespread hunger —one very immediate example is the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria or say Venezuela or Haiti or…

These do not prove that the scriptures are wrong. The style and intent are different. However, it still is the case that “wisdom” is not a category or framing that I am quick to overtly reference. But this may also be because there are many points in the Bible that appear to directly counter conventional wisdom. For example, 1 Corinthians upends and drastically reworks conventional wisdom, Paul writes—almost taunts,

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1:20)
For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. (1:21)

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”  (3:19)

Additionally, many of Jesus’ teachings feel distinctly not wise—or at least not the level-headed and pragmatic we associate with wisdom.

Jesus said–

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” 52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55 for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 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.

Jesus said –“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

Jesus said—”Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” Luke 18:22

Wisdom would seem to say, live carefully. Jesus seems to say, live with abandon. Not abandon for self-pleasure and fulfillment or apathy but abandon in the power and the leading of the Spirit. The life Jesus calls us to is not of calculating self-preservation. Not calculating self-interest of nationalism or our own group’s domination.

The Ephesians passage begins to link wisdom with the radical way of Christ through the Spirit.
Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not live as unwise but as wise. The time is short, the day is evil. The situation is extreme so there can be no wasting time. Consume Christ. Be filled with the Spirit. Live in gratitude to God.
Be wise—(ish)….or rather be wise in a peculiar way. Be wise in the way that God calls us to be wise. For this wisdom of surpasses.

Let’s return for a moment to my earlier examples of the action or adventure stories we tell. We tell them because they radically embody the calling of Jesus. They are not, however, “heroes,”—courageous perhaps. They are part of communities that, together, follow the Spirit’s leading. Art Gish, for example, was part of the Church of the Brethren. A community that has gathered together to read the scriptures and prayerful follow the Spirit’s leading in both mundane and surprising ways. Art was part of Christian Peacemaker Teams ( http://www.cpt.org ). CPT is an organization that has been building relationships in communities around the world for years. CPT has an organizational structure and support from people around the world.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was formed by his time with Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem from within the rich spiritual life of the African American church in the US which has lived courageously and creatively in the face of deep injustice. (Bonhoeffer’s Black Jesus: Harlem Renaissance Theology and an Ethic of Resistance http://www.baylorpress.com/Book/16/398/Bonhoeffer’s_Black_Jesus.html )

Do not live as unwise but as wise. The time is short, the day is evil. The situation is extreme so there can be no wasting time. Consume Christ. Be filled with the Spirit. Live in gratitude to God.