Holy Brit

OK so those of us who notice dates will know that this is badly of schedule – but Holy Week does that. What this odd order of things does though is to allow us to though is to have gone all the way through the Passion Narrative, to have stood in the Garden of Resurrection and then to zoom back to this point where Mary begins her journey with The Christ.

It is no accident that the Evensong readings are about god’s plan and are a the prayer of Solomon for wisdom. Solomon waxes eloquent in calling upon God to hear him and to grant him that which he needs for the task above. but, of course, tomorrow in the story of the angel calling Mary to be the Mother of God, she utters the ultimate word of wisdom – yes.

It is all too easy to get caught up in cleverness and forget that Wisdom only comes from one place, and that is God, God is truly the only source of true Wisdom and understanding and therefore, although we might do well to learn many things, we cannot manufacture Wisdom by our own efforts.

Solomon knows this – he was born just like anyone else he says but yet he has this enormous task of building the Temple and he needs Wisdom to do this. Wisdom here is not some disconnected idea which gets fragmented into the human psyche and held there, it is a part of God, a part who has been from before the end of the world and who Solomon needs with Him in order to be wise. The Wisdom of Solomon is often seen as an abstract which was given to him, but, in fact, his wisdom is something which comes from contact with the Wisdom which is God – and some theologians would argue, actually from the second person of the Trinity who is to be incarnate in Mary.

To follow this line and to look at who Wisdom is and is to become for humanity might be a bit more than we want to bite off at a quiet Evensong. The important thing to notice is that we have been journeying closely with Jesus these past few days – and now, this evening, we are called to understand that we are wise when we rest in Him. We are wise when we exist in God through Jesus Christ. We are wise through the mediation of the Holy Spirit.

Like Solomon we must lay ourselves down before the throne of God ready to reflect the glory of that place. Like Mary we are called to words of wisdom, and those words start simply, Yes, we say and yes and yes again.