Sermon, Sunday, 16 August 2009

1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14 Ephesians 5:15-20

Suppose you were granted one wish, for what would you ask? I know that genies in lamps regularly allow three wishes, but this is an irregular lamp purchased at the seconds outlet and you only get one wish. Would you ask for money? For fame? For health? For power? Or perhaps, thinking on a bigger scale, you’d ask for world peace. Or for an end to any number of the terrible diseases that are all around us. Or for poverty and homelessness and hunger to cease.

I’m willing to wager that many people in our society today might ask for such things; either the self motivated or other-motivated wishes. Solomon, the son of King David who was given the kingdom upon David’s death, was indeed granted the opportunity to ask for something and, as we know, he chose wisdom. And along with building the Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon is known for his wisdom.

There are those who would argue that only a wise person would ask for wisdom, something of a circular argument, if you ask me. But Solomon, we heard, got it both ways: because he chose wisdom, he got riches and honor throughout his life.

Solomon said he chose wisdom because he was so young. And that’s likely true that he was young: he may have been about 20 years old when he became king. Such a young age to inherit a realm. And having to follow his father, David, the great king who made Israel what it was during its glory days. Not to mention having to deal with a jealous older brother who expected the throne as his and with his father’s several enemies still hovering around. With all the intrigue swirling about him, it’s no wonder that he asked to be discerning and wise.

Think for a moment about the difference between wisdom and intelligence. Is there any? Are intelligent people automatically wise? I don’t think they are. I wouldn’t be surprised, for example, to find out that our former president Richard Nixon was intelligent. But was he wise? Did he rule wisely? Some might ask the same thing about another former president, Bill Clinton. In fact, many of our world leaders in this era would likely be described as intelligent but I find wisdom is at a premium.

It’s interesting to note that in the Ephesians passage for this morning that the opposite of wisdom isn’t stupidity but foolishness: Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (5:15-17) Ephesians’ author points to an important distinction between wisdom and intelligence; there is a relational and ethical aspect to wisdom that is not ascribed to intelligence. If we are wise, we seek to understand God’s will. It’s ongoing in its relationship as we attempt to use the intelligence we do have for the good.

Maintaining wisdom is a tricky business. Solomon struggled with it throughout his life and at the end he ended up looking fairly foolish by worshiping the gods of his many foreign wives. Though he sought wisdom as the fresh-faced young man we found in today’s reading, sustaining it through to the end was something he was unable to do. Because in worshiping other gods, in turning his back on the God of Israel who had sustained him and brought him the riches and honor that came as bonus gifts with the wisdom, he showed his foolishness and lack of willingness to seek out wisdom.

I keep hearing that we have the capacity to end hunger. We are intelligent enough to do that. We have the intelligence, I pray, to turn around global warming and stop the destruction of our planet. But sadly I’m not certain we are wise enough; because greed and denial seem always to be entering in and preventing us from actually doing the difficult work necessary to do that which is needed.

As a culture we have strained our relation with the divine, much as Solomon did at the end of his long life. Mind you, please note that I did not say “as a nation;” in spite of the vocal protestations of many of a more conservative stripe, I don’t believe we are or should be a Christian nation. But I wonder if those of us who do proclaim ourselves to be Christian (to keep it in the family) are actually wise. Are there among us, those who seek the will of God in daily dealings and each decision? Is that something each of us does? Do we seek wisdom each and every day? Or do we ask for it, assume we’ve got it, tuck it into our purse or back pocket and then forget it?

We can’t rely on our intelligence alone. I’ve already raised the examples of what happens when we’re intelligent without the moral and relational aspects of wisdom. It’s no different if we’re a regular old Joe or Jane and making day-to-day decisions that seemingly affect us and only perhaps a small circle of family and friends or if we’re one of those world leaders whose choices affects dozens and dozens of others.

Because we fool ourselves if we think the options we choose affect only a small circle around us. Behind each decision we make, because of the relational aspect of wisdom, are the lives of many others we don’t know. A theologian or philosopher, whose name I cannot recall, once said that the course of history rests on whether he decides to have a cup of tea or not.

Each moment in our lives we are making decisions and as people of faith, we are called to make them wisely; remembering our relationships, with God, with each other and recognizing the outcomes of those decisions. It’s very easy to fall into lockstep with a culture that is so firmly grounded in greed and denial, forgetting that our choices affect others, many of them much worse off than we are and opting for our own gain over the good of others.

Wisdom is portrayed as a female figure in other Hebrew Bible writings; a woman who calls out for believers to follow her. She says:

“Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.”(Proverbs 9:5-6)

That is true wisdom, laying aside the immaturity that holds us back and walking in the way of true insight. Be as the young Solomon was and seek out wisdom, not once or twice, but each and every moment.

(Photo by Davic from Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/davic/3083793614/; Painting by Paolo Veronese, "Allegory of Wisdom and Strength," c. 1580)