Eucharistic exhortation

1 Corinthians 1:23-24: We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

From beginning to end, James’ letter is a call to perseverance. “Be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord,” he writes, and he points to the prophets as “an example of suffering and patience.” “We count those blessed who endured” with the endurance of Job.

To endure, James’s readers need wisdom, the kingly wisdom of a Solomon, but kingly wisdom of a particular kind.

They need the wisdom of the cross, the Wisdom that is Jesus, the Power and Wisdom of God. Jews trip over the cross and Greeks regard it as folly, because neither can conceive of a king on a cross.

This Supper embodies the kingly wisdom of the crucified. Here we sit enthroned as kings, and here too we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Here we see again and again that the cross is Jesus’ throne, His death is His ascension to the Father, and ours. Here we rejoice in God’s triumph over death by the death and resurrection of Jesus.

To all who seek wisdom, Jesus the Wisdom and Righteousness and Redemption of God invites you: “Come, eat of my food, and drink of the wine I have mixed.” Come to Wisdom’s banquet.