The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 15 - 19 August 2012
Proverbs
9:1-6
Psalm
34:9-14
Ephesians
5:15-20
St.
John 6:51-58
Background: Wisdom
In the Hebrew Scriptures, particularly in the Book of Proverbs, the
Wisdom of Solomon, and other apocryphal books, wisdom is personified as a righteous woman. The role of wisdom in ancient literature is
ubiquitous, being found in most ancient near eastern cultures. She is often present at creation, and serves
as focus and reimagining of God’s work with humankind. In Christianity, the concept becomes an icon
of Jesus, the Savior – Jesus being wisdom.
The central church of Constantinople was dedicated to Hagia Sophia, or Holy Wisdom – Jesus
being the reality of the Wisdom that God has revealed to us.
Proverbs 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her
house,
she has hewn her seven
pillars.
She has slaughtered her
animals, she has mixed her wine,
she has also set her
table.
She has sent out her
servant girls, she calls
from the highest places
in the town,
"You that are
simple, turn in here!"
To those without sense
she says,
"Come, eat of my
bread
and drink of the wine I
have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity,
and live,
and walk in the way of
insight."
In this text, Wisdom as a woman builds not only a house, but sets a
table for who would “walk in the way of insight”. In a section of Proverbs called “The Banquets
of Wisdom and Folly” we are given insights into the gifts that Wisdom offers to
the faithful. The seven pillars
mentioned in the first verse are the number of perfection and
completeness. This is a metaphorical
statement, rather than a comment on actual architectural practice. The foods mentioned comprise a feast, a celebrative
meal. Spices would have been mixed with
the wine so as to make it more flavorful.
The meal is suggestive to the various groups reading about it. It is intended for “the simple”, the audience
of the Proverbs. Israelites saw in the
meal the messianic banquet with Abraham and Sarah, Christians saw the wedding
feast, or Christ’s messianic banquet. A
pointing to the Eucharist is not out of hand either. Christ, as Christians would read these
verses, is the Wisdom – the Holy Wisdom.
Breaking
open Proverbs:
- What is wisdom to you?
- Is there a wisdom that transcends all knowledge? How would you describe it?
- How is Jesus wisdom?
Psalm 34:9-14 Benedicam Dominum
Fear the LORD, you that
are his saints, *
for those who fear him
lack nothing.
The young lions lack
and suffer hunger, *
but those who seek the
LORD lack nothing that is good.
Come, children, and
listen to me; *
I will teach you the
fear of the LORD.
Who among you loves
life *
and desires long life
to enjoy prosperity?
Keep your tongue from
evil-speaking *
and your lips from
lying words.
Turn from evil and do
good; *
seek peace and pursue
it.
Linked again to the Bread from Heaven (Taste and see the Lord is good)
the psalmist sets a table for us. The
food is redolent of God’s good favor toward the people – God’s protection and
justice given to all. Warnings are given
so that we might not be separated from this goodness. Evil, seen in the behaviors of speaking no
good, and of lying, is something to be repented of. The image is of turning away from such deeds
and looking a God instead.
Breaking
open Psalm 34
- What does a feast mean to you?
Have you ever had one?
- How is the Eucharist a feast?
- Where does hunger fit into these themes?
Ephesians 5:15-20
Be careful then how you
live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because
the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the
Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with
the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves,
singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the
Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul continues with his lecture on the Principles of Spiritual
Renewal. The central focus for such
renewal is the wisdom that comes from God, thus making the whole body
wise. The wisdom here is one that is
cognizant of the times in which the church is living. Paul is candid in his pronouncement that the
times are evil. What follows is a
warning against drunkenness, and we should not misunderstand his intent
here. The comment has more to do with
the temple than the tavern. In the
mystery religions that were popular at the time, and that served as a constant
temptation to the faithful, wine was used in abundance. Perhaps a state of drunkenness heightened the
initiates’ experience of the “mystery.”
Some of this experience influenced the celebrations of the Eucharist,
and thus Paul warns them about maintaining a strict understanding of and use of
the Eucharist. He suggests a substitute,
namely being filled with the Spirit,
and in this state there would be song and prayer.
Breaking
open Ephesians;
- Are our times evil?
- What do you try to avoid in our culture?
- What does it mean to you to be filled with the Spirit?
John 6:51-58
Jesus said, "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."
The Jews then disputed
among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to
eat?" 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. Those
who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up
on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those
who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the
living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me
will live because of me. 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 continues with the series on the Bread of Life. In this pericope, the statements of Jesus are
unabashedly Eucharistic, which has caused some commentators to see this as a
later interpolation. What is interesting
about this text is the vocabulary assigned to Jesus. The word “flesh” is used rather than the word
“body.” This usage actually approximates
the Semitic vocabulary that Jesus would have used. It is even more interesting, and perhaps a
bit confusing in that Paul contrasts “flesh” sarx, with “spirit” pneuma
in his writings. Flesh represented to
him the way of the world, and the Christian was to be caught up into the
Spirit. The usage of this term also has
other complications, especially for the Jews for whom the notion of eating the
flesh of a human being was an abomination, as well as drinking blood, i.e.
drinking the life source of a person
or animal. A further complication is
that “to eat another’s flesh” was a Semitic term that signified “slander.” Thus there are many roadblocks here, but
Jesus’ focus is pronounced. He is the
bread of life. He is the Eucharist.
Breaking open the Gospel:
- How do you understand Christ to be present in the Eucharist?
- How is he food for you?
After
breaking open the Word, you might want to pray the Collect for Sunday:
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for
sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the
fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his
most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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