Homilies

Back to Homilies menu

Wisdom

Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from the throne of thy glory send her,
that she may be with me and toil,
and that I may learn what is pleasing to thee.

Wisdom 9:10

On these last Sundays after Trinity, the first lesson at Morning Prayer comes from the Apocrypha, Old Testament writings which have come down to us in Greek.  You won’t find them in your pew Bible, because Protestants don’t consider them to be part of sacred scripture.  Roman Catholics do, calling them “deuterocanonical,” i.e. belonging to the second, or Greek, canon.  Anglicans, typically, take a middle position, following St. Jerome, who prized “Hebraica veritas” and regarded Greek translations as less worthy. 

In our Articles of Religion Jerome is quoted as saying, “The other books (namely the Apocrypha) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners, but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine.”

Some of these books, such as the one from which today’s first lesson is taken, are wisdom literature.  The Wisdom of Solomon is so called because it is represented as having been written by him, although it was actually written many centuries after his time.  It is Wisdom who instructs in the righteousness that leads to immortality. 

The second part of the book sets forth Solomon’s quest for wisdom as a model for the reader.  The author is aware of the allurements of Greek culture and attempts to show his Jewish audience that they are not barbarians and have no reason to envy the wisdom of the pagans.  For it is the Jews, in fact, who possess true wisdom. 

Today’s reading is part of Solomon’s prayer for wisdom.  He prays that God send wisdom forth from heaven to assist him in his task of governing the people.  Here wisdom seems personified; she sits by God’s throne and was present when God made the world. 

In the second lesson, from Luke’s gospel, Jesus asks his disciples a rhetorical question: “Who, then, is the faithful and wise steward, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?”  (12:42).  Here again wisdom has a central role. 

Jesus’ instruction concerns the abuses which will arise within the Christian community because of the delay in his return,  Jesus, the prince of peace, asks, paradoxically, “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?”  “No,”  he answers, “but rather division,” including divisions within families (vv. 51-53).  

October 24, 2010

back to top