“Wisdom” is a word that has been used by many in many different ways. It is ascribed to those who have developed or received it “with age.” It has been a term used to describe those who have a way of bringing together knowledge with a talent for sound strategy. It has been a character in a cartoon and it has been denounced as a shackle on creativity and innovation.
“Wisdom” celebrated in the Scriptures today is the self-gift of God. It is the means by which we are created and the gift, in Christ, by which we are redeemed. Before we are ever in a position to have or to hope to have this true wisdom, it is God’s .... it is God. This communication to us of God’s very Self is heralded by the priests, prophets and people of the Covenant with Abraham. It is the means by which God sets the world of encounter with us, and it is the means by which God lavishes divine gifts upon the people in that encounter through the generations.
Perceiving and receiving this gift most fully realized in Christ, human wisdom becomes deeply infused with divine wisdom. True wisdom might be manifest in many ways and in many human undertakings. But true wisdom, as we proclaim and celebrate it today, is nothing short of a divine gift, providing us with God’s divine perspective. The food and drink of our tables do not lose their meaning because of the Bread from Heaven, the Cup of the New and Eternal Covenant. Rather, the food of every table discovers its greatest meaning and promise here.... what it means truly to be fed and nurtured, what it means to feed the hungry, what it means to be fed to fully live, now and in the Kingdom to come that is eternal!
This Wisdom is sacred because it is of God’s very Being, and God’s gift to us. It doesn’t disparage or dismiss other forms of human knowledge. It anchors them, fulfills them, and leads us to the table that God’s Wisdom sets: the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation! We respond with wonder and awe. We respond with an ever greater desire to know and to live this Wisdom, and God’s gift becomes our gift to God in return and to the world!