Rival, Folly

House of Wisdom

(NRSV)

2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. (NRSV)

3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. (NRSV)

2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

the spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the spirit of counsel and might,

the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Ask yourself, what is wisdom? In this passage wisdom is referred to as a woman, but does that make a difference? Perhaps wisdom is a division between those who see and those who prefer not to look.

The seven pillars are reference to the seven churches spoken of in the book of Revelation.

(NRSV)

4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

So what is all this? What then is wisdom? The house of wisdom is the relationship God wants with us. The wedding feast is being, or has been prepared. We are invited to come to the house.

Hewn-means to be roughly shaped-this can be to wood-where trees are felled and then roughly shaped-or to a stone which is shaped roughly.

Why is this important? Because we need to associate ourselves with this first verse. (NRSV)

Wisdom’s Feast

9 Wisdom has built her house,

she has hewn her seven pillars.

If we associate ourselves with the seven pillars then we should also understand that wisdom has roughly prepared us for dressing. If we were a structure being prepared, whether stone or wood, we would be roughly prepared for the building of the structure.

Verse 2, (NRSV)

2 She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,

she has also set her table. The wedding feast has been prepared before us. Wisdom has slaughtered her beasts, she has prepared her wine. In these days water was mixed with the wine because the wine was often thick, so they basically then it out. This can be meaningful for us because water being added to the wine was also a symbol of (water-humanity)-(wine-divinity). It is said that once you add water to wine there is no way to remove it; they become one.

So think about verse 2, and what it means to the seven pillars. Wisdom has prepared her house, for us, and she has prepared the meal and the wine; the table is set. The table is set.

Have we heard this before? of course. But what is happening?

(NRSV)

3 She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls

from the highest places in the town, Ask yourself who are the servants? Who are they calling to? Those who have already given themselves to the service (disciples) are those spoken here. Do not get hung up on the feminine nature of this passage. But instead think of the invitation. Those who are disciples are sent out to invite those from the high places to come to the feast. What do they find?

(NRSV)

4 “You that are simple, turn in here!”

To those without sense she says,

5 “Come, eat of my bread

and drink of the wine I have mixed.

6 Lay aside immaturity, and live,

and walk in the way of insight.”

Do you get the sense here that wisdom is calling to those who have no understanding? (NRSV)

14 but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”

Perhaps human understanding is the confusion of the worldly. How can we better understand-or have wisdom? Maybe human wisdom gets in the way of divine understanding.

Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight. The invitation comes from, (NRSV)

An Invitation to Abundant Life

55 Ho, everyone who thirsts,

I observed among the youths,

a young man without sense,

come to the waters;

and you that have no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price. (NRSV)

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Wisdom seeks to invite all to her table. She begins with an invite those from their high places and then later decides to invite the simple.

We can, in our worldly understanding, confuse the issue of faith.

(NRSV)

The Meaning of Faith

11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This is one of my favorite verses because it tells us what faith is. It seems so simple and yet it is the most difficult to attain. The educated person can be the most difficult to attain because the educated (the high)find it difficult to believe in the things not seen.

Wisdom says turn here, as though, we can see the path. Wisdom says come eat, drink of the wine I have mixed.

To the world, those who are simple, those who have found the pathway, are living for something they will not understand. During the murder trial, I found myself in a jury room where many were Christians. These Christians were annoyed almost at the presence of a self-vowed Atheist. What was my reason for being there? 1. Be a guiding presence for those jurors seeking guidance. 2. Perhaps to witness to the Christians and the Atheist present in these two weeks. For what the wise find impossible, the simple says, Here am I Lord.