By Rev. Dr. Christine Leigh-Taylor
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
John 6:51-58
This morning I’d’ like to explore the relationship between truth and wisdom. Are they the same?
These two ideas permeate our readings for this morning. In the passage from 1 Kings, King David has died in his old age, passing the torch to his son, Solomon, who feels he is too young.
God visits Solomon in a dream and asks him what he would like God to do for him. I don’t know how old Solomon was at the time, but I am very impressed that he asked for wisdom. I doubt I would have had the sense – or the wisdom – to ask for such a gift at any age.
King Solomon was, indeed, known for his wisdom (as well as for his many wives!). Do you remember the story of the two women who both claimed the same baby as their own? They came to the king to resolve the problem, and he suggested that they cut the baby in half, so each mother could have half a baby. One woman agreed, the other refused to harm the baby and instead offered to give the whole baby to the other woman. Solomon instantly knew who the real mother was – the one who would not harm her baby. The fake mother was suitably punished.
In the Gospel from John, Chapter 6, Jesus makes some rather challenging remarks about the necessity to eat his flesh and drink his blood. This sounds cannibalistic to our ears, but in the first century people expressed profound emotions in bodily terms. And although this passage from John probably went through many editions before the one we have in our Bibles today, the central idea is to be united with Jesus Christ in the most physical terms, through flesh and blood. When Jesus is in us, part of us, we are encouraged to act on that conjoined identity, and be like him.
But I’d like to also point out how often the writer used the words “true” and “truly,” as in ‘very truly…my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.’ Both are forms of the word “truth.”
So, we have wisdom as a prized gift and truth as something absolute. Are they partners as guideposts for a productive and generous life?
It is hard to find a satisfactory dictionary definition of either of these words. And Bible dictionaries don’t help much, either. For example, the Oxford Companion to the Bible spends a page discussing the various ways Wisdom is personified as female, such as Sophia or the good wife, in various books of the Hebrew Bible, but often these are contrasted with negative examples of the female persona. That’s not what I’m after.
A more relevant definition of wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment, and the ability to use those gifts to make useful decisions. Wisdom is also about knowing when and how to use your knowledge and impart it to others, always first putting situations in perspective.
Similarly, truth tends to be defined as fact, actuality or reality, or as a proven principle. However, I find that truth and facts are often thrown about carelessly or in partial forms. For example, I read recently that U.S. presidential candidate Kamala Harris had been accused of failing the Bar exam. This is a true statement, as far as it goes. She failed the exam on her first try. She passed it on her second try. So, how true is it to say she failed the exam?
Jim Taylor reminded me of a helpful example of how wisdom and truth can interact. Consider this: you ask your spouse or friend ‘does this dress makes me look fat?’ Ever done that? And what answer do you hear? Would you rather hear something different?
Last Christmas my whole family was gathered at my house, as usual, and my daughter picked a fight with me before I could serve our traditional Eggs Benedict lunch. I say ‘she picked a fight’ because I was offering a variety of beverages to accompany our meal – champagne, Mimosas, or orange juice – and she objected that over half the guests did not drink alcohol, but I offered the alcoholic choices first. I don’t remember my immediate response, but she followed me into the kitchen, where I was trying to serve up the dishes, and pursued her point. I yelled at her to get out of the kitchen. It pretty much ruined the meal, and she and her family left by mid-afternoon, skipping Christmas dinner. I feel certain of the truth that she started the fight, but wisdom told me that I must be the first to apologize, which I did the next day. After all, to be in right relationship with my daughter outweighs any issue of who is right.
Of course, our more fundamentalist siblings in faith tend to claim that they have Biblical truth on their side. Jim and I even saw a billboard last week shouting “Does Hell Burn Forever?” The answer, according to the billboard, could be found at their website, “Helltruth.com”!
If we place truth and wisdom in opposition, when does truth win out? Perhaps sometimes it may seem wiser to avoid protesting a discriminatory or unjust policy or practice – by making a scene perhaps – and go along to keep the peace. But maybe the courageous, moral and Christian action demands a voice of outrage – proclaiming truth.
Can you think of a time when you chose truth over wisdom, or wisdom over truth?
Each of us is gathering life experiences every day, building a store of knowledge that we can use to live wisely and productively. And we are invited to follow Jesus’ words to rely on the true food that helps us to be agents of love, charity and forgiveness.
Whether we take Jesus’ words in a literal or metaphorical sense – I’m referring to eating his flesh and drinking his blood – doesn’t matter nearly as much as making the commitment and effort to truly embody Jesus’ commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves, and to make a difference in the world (as we will sing in our last song). We tend to pick fights over who is our neighbor and whether we are worthy of self-love. We like to chase after partial truths and celebrate empty victories over our adversaries rather than seek out the humanity and commonalities in each other.
I truly wish for the wisdom to eat of Jesus’ body and blood and breathe his spirit with every moment of my life. I pray that God will help me. How about you?
Amen.
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