The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 13, 2015

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 13, 2015 September 5, 2015

The Adventurous Lectionary – The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 13, 2015

Proverbs 1:20-33
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Mark 8:27-38

Wisdom is at the heart of today’s readings. We are challenged to align ourselves with God’s wisdom in our daily lives and let divine wisdom motivate our words and actions. There are times, however, when divine wisdom contrasts with worldly values, especially as it relates to suffering and sacrifice, both divine and human.

The words of Proverbs proclaim the value of divine wisdom. For the author of Proverbs, Wisdom/Hokmah/Sophia joins the metaphysical, ethical, and personal. Divine wisdom is embedded in the nature of things. It is God’s voice crying out on the street corners and speaking through the ordinary, calling us to act with wisdom and care. Those who align with God’s vision of reality will flourish, regardless of their circumstances. Those who turn from divine wisdom will struggle and eventually fail despite their prosperity and success. The gifts of wisdom are spiritual not necessarily material. There is no one-to-one acts-consequences theology, in which the wise will be healthy and wealthy. Rather, wise ordering of life brings happiness and contentment, and the willingness to choose God’s way rather than the ways of the world.

The wisdom embedded in human life is also at the heart of the universe. The universe reflects creative wisdom at every level. The heavens are telling the glory of God. God’s wisdom is proclaimed in all creation, and those who open their senses will experience wisdom in every encounter. God has also implanted wisdom in the human heart. When we align with the law of the universe, the wisdom at the heart of things, we will flourish. Wisdom is everywhere but experiencing wisdom in daily life is the result of our spiritual commitments. We must guard our thoughts, emotions, and words that they are aligned with God’s vision for our lives.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable to you, O God, my strength and redeemer. That could be the message of today’s passage from James. The tongue can be trouble. Words can hurt. In bridling the tongue, we also guard the inner lives, since our words often reveal our deepest thoughts. Words can join or separate. James counsels us to use words that deepen our love with others. Words of gratitude, reconciliation, and affirmation can transform peoples’ lives.

Jesus uses some tough words in today’s scriptures. He begins by asking his followers, “Who do people say that I am?” in general and then asks the more personal question, “Who do you say that I am?” This is the question that many seekers ask of the church. They know what they don’t like about Jesus and his church – judgment, homophobia, intolerance, opposition to science, and persons of other faiths. They are looking for a Jesus who can be good news. They are looking for a loving savior who embraces seekers as well as believers.

Then come Jesus’ tough words, “The son of man must suffer.” How can the Messiah suffer? Isn’t the Messiah defined by power and victory, not suffering and loss? Yet, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer asserts, only a suffering God can save. Moreover, the God present in Jesus is, as Alfred North Whitehead affirms, “the fellow sufferer who understands.” Jesus’ saving love is suffering love, love that takes on the sin and pain of the world. Love sacrifices that we might find wholeness.

Divine wisdom is ever-present, inspiring us to awe and wonder, and to see divinity in the quotidian adventures of life.
(For more on today’s scriptures, see Bruce Epperly, Holistic Spirituality: Life-giving Wisdom from the Letter of James)


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