Proper 20b: Lady Wisdom
September 19, 2021 Proper 20b
Sept. 19, 2021 St. Paul's, Monroe, NC
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp20_RCL.html
Long fascination with this "Lady"
When I was just a young teenager I had a pretty strong appetite for reading. I read lots of different kinds of things, wherever my interest took me. I was interested in Nikola Tesla because he was a scientist and he had a connection with Colorado Springs where I had an aunt. I was interested in Dr. Lister and Dr. Jenner of the 19th century who were pioneers of modern medicine. My father was a doctor and at that point I still assumed that’s what I would become. One of my fascinations was the Byzantine Empire. I’m not really sure where that interest came from. I wasn’t yet particularly interested in church history or theology; that would come later.
It was at that age that I was especially fascinated by the architectural beauty of the cathedral in Constantinople. It was known as Hagia Sophia, or holy wisdom.
One can still see it in Istanbul which is what Constantinople became. The building itself was one of the grandeurs of the world 1000 years ago; it became a mosque when the Ottoman empire conquered the Byzantine Empire. There was something about, its symmetry, mathematical sort of design, the dome above, the mosaics of Christ the Pantocrator, I'm not sure. But it was attractive to me. Haunting. Exotic. A little bit like holy wisdom itself, I guess.
Later, at the beginning of the 20th century it became a museum. In the last year it has begun the process of becoming a mosque again.
[Hagia Sophia Was a Cathedral, a Mosque and a Museum. It’s Converting Again.]
[Hagia Sophia built in AD 537, during the reign of Justinian]
Holy wisdom. By the time I was 20 I was interested in that grand building because it represented a period of philosophy and theology that was of great interest and concern to me. I was trying to learn about early Christianity, the classical Hellenistic period, and just generally where I might fit into the world.
I learned that holy wisdom had a connection with the logos of the opening of John’s Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 1
I learned that indeed wisdom has a very important role in the Hebrew Scriptures, what Christians called the Old Testament. As I began to teach students the Bible, wisdom was always a main component.
Wisdom & Holy Spirit
When one expands the horizon to Christian theology generally it becomes clear that there is also a connection between wisdom and the Holy Spirit as it developed in later theology.2 It is a foundational concept for a student of Judaism and Christianity and of the Origins of western civilization.
The theme of “wisdom” runs throughout the Bible. Wisdom is the God-given ability to discern between good and evil (wisdom is understanding); Wisdom is spiritual in nature. Friendship with Wisdom is something that should be pursued for its own sake.
Such is an overview of the book of Proverbs in which the entire contents are devoted to wisdom.
Various explanations
In Proverbs 1:20-33, we encounter a female character named Wisdom. She is walking through the streets, crying out in a loud voice for people to follow her. Who is this mysterious figure? Some have come to think of Lady Wisdom as a being, a deity in her own right. Others have come to equate her with the feminine side of God or the Holy Spirit. A closer look at Scripture itself reveals to us that Wisdom is not a deity, nor is it the feminine side of God. The scriptural presentation of Wisdom, as we hear it in today's readings, is evocative rather than explicit, it is metaphorical rather than literal.
Wisdom plays such an important role in the BIble, none more so than Proverbs chapter 8, where “wisdom” is celebrated and is portrayed as almost a physical "thing" that we could touch or see if she stood in front of us. Wisdom is at least an aspect of God that takes on personal characteristics while being distinct from God. 3
The book of Proverbs comes down to us divided into 31 chapters. If for no other reason those 31 parts have contributed to many people over the centuries making a practice of reading one chapter of the book each day as a part of one’s daily devotions. The reading we had today, appearing as it does at the end, is notable for anyone familiar with the book of Proverbs. ### It portrays wisdom as a woman, ostensibly presenting her as a perfect wife, the picture of what a wife should be. She is an expert at all kinds of things, and she makes her husband comfortable and proud.
I think of one scene that’s one of my favorites from the television series Mrs. Maisel. If you haven’t seen it you should it’s funny as could be. But it portrays a woman going to sleep with her husband with her hair perfectly done as it could have been prepared for going out to the country club. After her husband is asleep she gets up and puts her hair into curlers, takes off her makeup, and slathers cold cream on her face. She then make sure with the curtains that she wakes up before dawn and before the alarm clock goes off. All of that so that she can redo her hair and her face so that when her husband wakes, he sees the same vision he had when he fell asleep the night before.
It's easy for me to be humorous about the picture of the perfect wife presented in our reading from Proverbs. The reason is because of what I think the chapter is about.
It looks like what it is about is a wife and her relationship with her husband and related details. On the surface that’s what it is about. But consider that the entire book of Proverbs is about wisdom, it is about holy wisdom, it is about God -- not about the particulars that make up the examples in the text. Another way of putting it is that for very good reasons I choose not to read the text literally. It is a text about our relationship with God.
The idea of the perfect wife in the text is expressed in terms of what was understood to be an ideal wife in the time frame of perhaps 2500 years ago. When we love wisdom there is a harmony in our life that is impossible without holy wisdom. Or perhaps we could substitute without the Holy Spirit. Or perhaps we could substitute God. We might say, "When we love God with our whole heart, there is a peace in our life that cannot be found without that love."
The text concludes with a clearer statement of what it’s really about.
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
The text of Proverbs at the beginning and at the end reminds the listener that wisdom, holy wisdom, is fundamentally "Fear of the Lord".
"Yirath adonai." It is not a cringing sort of fear. it is reverential awe. It is a form of devotion, the consciousness of the sacredness of the mystery of the presence of the living God. Source
When one has that sort of awareness one knows holy wisdom. Psalm one begins with a description of the peace that results from holy wisdom. Our prayer book translation renders it:
Happy are they who [know holy wisdom] ... They are like trees planted by streams of water, bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither."
That is a text not about trees and streams of water. It is a text that evokes the results of bringing reverential awe before the presence of God.
I’m reminded of the ancient Buddhist lesson about the finger and the moon.
My daughter used to regularly see in a particular configuration of clouds, shadows, and beams of sun light -- the presence of God. Driving along Pearl Harbor, she might look to the west and see the clouds forming over the mountains and say, "Daddy, see the presence of God." Now because I was driving 50 miles an hour, I would be tempted to take just a quick glance to see whether she had unbuckled her seatbelt, or opened the window to put her hand out. I was checking on my daughter. I was looking at the finger. But missing entirely the presence of the living God to which her finger pointed.
Today our text encourages us to keep our attention focused on the important things and to let go of the lesser things. Today God speaks to us through an ancient text, but speaks to us in the very world in which we live. It is the Word of God. It is the Spirit breathing life into us through the corridors of time. Holy Wisdom invites us to live with her.
John's Prologue and Jewish wisdom imagery (Ehrman). Some readers over the years have wondered if this celebration of the Logos of God that becomes flesh owes more to Greek philosophy than to biblical Judaism. It’s a good question, and hard to answer. One thing that can be said is that this Logos idea does find very close parallels with other biblical texts – in particular with texts that speak of the Wisdom (Greek: Sophia) of God. Sophia and Logos are related ideas; both have to do in some respect with “reason.” Sophia is reason that is internal to a person; Logos is that reason that gets expressed verbally.↩
Joe Poprocki Wisdom as one of the "gifts of the Holy Spirit"↩
Much of the Christ poem in John 1 has parallels with the paean to Wisdom in Proverbs 8. Consider the following verses, spoken of Wisdom: Bart Ehrman↩
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