Proper 15(B) – Psalm 111

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111, v10a)

I remember as a child having overheard an interesting conversation between my grand mother and my Dad. I can’t recall the context, if it was on my Grand mother’s birthday or on another occasion. I heard my grand mother say: Well, aging is not easy, but at least we become wiser. To which my dad replied something surprising (as the son in law, he was the only one among her children who dared contradict her). My dad replied: I don’t know, for me the older I get, the more ignorant I feel. To which my grand mother replied: Still, we become wiser. And that was the end of the debate.

Well, at the time I heard that, I was probably ten, so it made me very curious about this whole “aging/ becoming wiser or not” thing, I wondered how I would feel about it for myself when the time would come. For sure, I felt that my grand mother was probably right, and most of us can agree on that. Try to close your eyes and imagine a wise person in your mind, there are many chances that you will picture an elder. We quite naturally tend to associate wisdom with age: When by chance a young person seems to be wise, don’t we say that they are “wise beyond their years” or even that they are “old souls”? Isn’t it true that as we accumulate some life experience, it seems that our understanding of things grow larger? For example, most agree that we become more forgiving with time, probably because when we reach a certain age we realize we have made our own share of mistakes and we know that life is complicated. One of you at Bible study also said: We have more time and we start noticing things. We see a depth in little things that we didn’t see before when we were so busy. We become more patient, less selfish perhaps. Or at least we’re supposed to get there. We can tolerate whiny and self centered twenty something, but when they’re in their eighties this kind of temper really doesn’t look good on people, does it?

And so, for all these reasons, I tend to agree with my grand mother. And yet, even as a child, I was so intrigued my Dad’s answer. The more we age, the more we realize that we have no wisdom. There seems to have so much wisdom in acknowledging that, and maybe that’s the beginning of the true wisdom. I learned later when I studied philosophy that the great Socrates said himself: The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t know anything for sure. I think my grand mother and my dad were actually talking about two kind of wisdom: There is a practical and even moral wisdom, that indeed often comes with age, we get better at being people if you will, and then there is the existential or theological wisdom, this wisdom that as we age comes because we feel humbled before life, death and all that happens in between. I remember my Dad saying later in life that as he was getting older, he was more confused. He even used to say he felt defenseless. But he didn’t mean it in a bad way, rather he felt like he was defeated by a beautiful mystery he could only participate in but neither control nor understand.

Defeated by a beautiful mystery he could only participate in but neither control nor understand, that how the psalmist sounds to me today as well. And his song invites us in, invites us to contemplation, invites us to taste this very unique kind of wisdom, the wisdom of letting ourselves be blown away by God’s works. As often in Hebraic poetry, (but we can also find this pattern in our Eucharistic Prayer) God is praised for creating the world, sustaining it and redeeming it. Not only God has created a world full of majesty and splendor out of his own goodness (v2-3), God sees his people and understand their sufferings (v4: The Lord is gracious and full of compassion), God provides for their everyday needs (v5-6: He gives food, he gives land) and moreover he gives to his people the ability to live with righteousness and he forgives them when they do wrong (v9: He sent redemption to his people;he commanded his covenant for ever). These observations are certainly related to the experience the people had in the wilderness after they left Egypt: God freed them from slavery, God gave them food, God gave them the commandments and forgave them when they broke the covenant, God gave them a new land to start again. This pattern invites us to acknowledge who is God and what God still does and wants to do for us. It’s an invitation to look at our lives and to be thankful and to praise God. In this context, “fearing the Lord” has nothing or very little with “being afraid”of God. It’s an invitation to be in awe. And that’s the beginning of wisdom, that’s maybe even the only wisdom we can access to. To let ourselves be defeated by the beautiful and terrifying mystery of life, death and resurrection, to let ourselves be humbled by God’s deeds and love and to open our hands and hearts to receive it.

In our first reading, we have heard this famous passage of King Solomon asking for wisdom. But if you pay attention he actually ask for a “discerning mind” which in Hebrew is actually “a listening heart”, Solomon acknowledges that he feels like a little child, literally not knowing what he is doing (I don’t know how to go out or come in) and so he puts himself into God’s hands and into God’s guidance. Solomon is seen in Jewish theology as the Master of wisdom, according to the tradition he wrote the Books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs and the Wisdom of Solomon. But it all started here, when he is defeated by the mystery. Paul does not have a different understanding when he calls the Ephesians to live as wise people. It has to do with understanding God’s will, to let God guide them and to live in this guidance being filled with the Spirit, singing whether together (v19a: sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves) or even singing silently in themselves (v19b: making melody to the Lord in your hearts) and giving thanks. I don’t know how it looks like for you, but for me I often picture wisdom as the art of knowing exactly what to do and what to say, not being emotional about things and be in control, well it may be the culture of self help or the human wisdom, the practical wisdom, bu it’s not the wisdom of the Bible. It’s not God’s wisdom. God’s wisdom is about awe, letting go and thankfulness and it translates in our lives by acknowledging our limitations, becoming joyful and trusting people.There is no wisdom for us except the beginning of wisdom because wisdom is the Lord’s.

Now you may know what Solomon wrote in Proverbs (8:22-31) about wisdom:

“GOD sovereignly made me—the first, the basic— before he did anything else. I was brought into being a long time ago, well before Earth got its start. I arrived on the scene before Ocean, yes, even before Springs and Rivers and Lakes. Before Mountains were sculpted and Hills took shape, I was already there, newborn; Long before GOD stretched out Earth’s Horizons, and tended to the minute details of Soil and Weather, And set Sky firmly in place, I was there. When he mapped and gave borders to wild Ocean, built the vast vault of Heaven, and installed the fountains that fed Ocean, When he drew a boundary for Sea (…) And then staked out Earth’s Foundations, I was right there with him, making sure everything fit. Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause, always enjoying his company, Delighted with the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family. (Translation: Msg)

Because of this passage, Christian tradition has often identified Christ with wisdom, God’s word (in John’s Gospel Prelude) or the bread that comes down from heaven (In our Gospel today). Another one of you noticed at Bible study that it was good that we spend so much time in our lectionary on this Gospel where Jesus talks about the importance of what we have called the Eucharist. Because she said: “We’re so used to it, sometimes we don‘t think anymore about what we are doing“. Well, we don’t really know what we are doing when we eat his flesh and drink his blood anyway. But this we need to understand: We do not have eternal life within us (John 6:53) and so by coming to the altar we acknowledge our ignorance, we humble ourselves, we receive him as our life and we praise him, we give thanks, we rejoice and share the grace with others. Christ invites us to participate in his own wisdom, in his own life, and those who act accordingly have a good understanding, his praise endures for ever (Psalm 111, v10b-c)