You came
this morning expecting to hear about the men who visited the stable where Jesus
and his parents were staying? Of course, since this Sunday is closest to the
date on which we celebrate their coming.
O.K., help me out here: tell us why we call them "wise
men?" Yes, you got it--they stopped
and asked for directions.
Today I
want to consider for a little while the nature of wisdom and how that ties in
to receiving a revelation--particularly a revelation from God.
The
idea of wisdom as both a gift from God and a goal for humankind appears in the
Hebrew scripture. We said this verse verses our psalm today: "No good
thing will the Lord withhold from those who walk with integrity." Wisdom is a good thing in a theological
sense, as we learn from the book of Proverbs--written to help young people
become wise. Chapter 3, beginning at
verse 6, says: "For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge
and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield
for those who those who walk blamelessly, guarding the paths of justice and
preserving the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand righteousness
and justice and equity every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; prudence will watch over you and
understanding will guard you."
From
this passage you can see how being a wise person meant being a just and a righteous
person. Yet more than that, God gives us this wisdom that will reside within us
and give us pleasure. We are told that
Jesus was already studying scripture as a very young man and could discuss it
with much older and more experienced religious scholars--but he
"forgot" to check in with his parents to tell them he was staying in
the temple with those scholars. I'm sure
his parents did not see this a prudent behavior, no matter how wise Jesus was
in understanding scripture!
So
from a theological perspective we see that wisdom involves gaining knowledge of
God and living in a way that reflects the goodness of God. So who in our
readings today shows such wisdom?
Magi,
whom we also call wise men and sometimes kings, appear in Matthew's gospel to
be astrologers who read signs in the stars and planets that pointed to the
birth of a king of the Jewish people.
These non-Jews from "the east" had a certain type of wisdom
already, but they were open to receiving more knowledge and to pursuing the
information they gained--living in a way that reflects what they believed they
were called to do. Their call was to pay
homage--a type of behavior that shows respect and adoration--good behavior when
the ruler is worthy.
Although
King Herod gathered those who had knowledge of the scriptures to supply the
knowledge the wise men needed, Matthew depicts him as an evil manipulator,
unworthy of the title of King of the Jews, and not a wise person!
The
magi exemplified people possessing wisdom--even though they were foreigners,
not among those who considered themselves a people chosen by God. Which is
where the importance of revelation comes in.
Being a person possessing wisdom allows one to be ready to receive a
revelation from God about God. The
paradox, of course, is that our scripture describes wisdom as a gift from God
as well. Christian mystics, such as
Julian of Norwich, Hildegard of Bingen, Teresa of Avila, and John of the Cross,
lived in this paradox, as they sought to understand the revelations they
believe came from God and to live righteously as they followed what they
believed God's call to them was.
Mary,
we know from Luke's account of Jesus birth, treasured what she saw and heard
and pondered it in her heart. These are
characteristics of wisdom, which led her to be present for her son at times,
even at times when he may not have wanted her.
How else could she have come to understand all that happened to her
before and at his birth and to him as he engaged in his ministry? Revelation of who her son was came slowly,
but in the end gave her the strength to endure seeing him crucified.
Both
Joseph and the magi received revelation in dreams that spoke to a specific
situation they faced. First, Joseph had
a dream that told him to take Mary as his wife, despite her pregnancy. Then both the magi and Joseph had dreams to
help them deal with the duplicitous King Herod.
Joseph's
wisdom came from his desire to behave in a compassionate way toward poor
pregnant Mary. His second revelation came
in a dream when he was told to flee with Mary and Jesus to safety in
Egypt. The magi's wisdom came as they
drew on all they learned and followed their call to pay homage to a righteous
and rightful king. Their wisdom allowed
them to understand and follow the revelation they received in a dream.
Can
we, living in the 21st century, receive wisdom from God and behave in a way may
be called "blameless" that "guards the paths of justice and
preserves the way of [God's] faithful ones?" It would seem a difficult task, perhaps a
nearly impossible goal. The questions of our Baptismal covenant that serve to direct
us in such holy living receive this answer: "I will, with God's
help." Despite the examples of
Mary, Joseph, the magi and many other holy women and men we often fail to live
as wise people open to God's call to us, open to living in the paradox of
wisdom as both gift from God and the goal of our Christian journey. Yet when we fail to live as wise people, we
are still beloved by God and must remember and depend on God's grace summed in
that simple response, "I will, with God's help."
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