Proverbs 9:1-6
Proper 15 (20)- Year B
This is the first part of a choice laid out for us.
Verses 1-6 invite us to a feast toward meaning within and beyond a lifetime.
Verses 13-18 invite us to shortcuts that pave the way to death.
Between are some rules of thumb that decide where we will focus. To limit our presentation of Lady Wisdom (is there a male equivalent to Sophia?) without a contrast to Madame Whore (lots of male equivalents here?) leaves folks with the impression that religion is for the half-blind who aren't really tempted, as differentiated from the fully-sighted who see well enough to make a choice about life.
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prmb (Reader)
That male equivalent to Woman/Lady Wisdom would be Jesus.
There is a strong linkage of Wisdom Literature to Jesus (John 1....)
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Wesley (Blogger)
Some of this linkage may have led Julian to image Jesus in the feminine - Jesus as GOD the Mother .
A question that comes to mind about Jesus being Wisdom is how have we have limited the Wise or Prophetic Jesus through our nearly universal Priestly image of him?
http://www.kairoscomotion.org/lectionary/2003/august2003.html
Proverbs 9:1-6 or 1 Kings 2:10-12; 13:3-14
Psalm 111 or Psalm 34:9-14
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
The temptation of "understanding" is very great. Even wise old Solomon finally failed that test. Along with understanding came/comes riches and honor. And what, I ask, can stand in the face of such principalities and powers? Understanding eventually pales in the temptation of increased riches and honor. Why, simply because it takes so much to increase in wisdom appropriate to this new time and place. Let your growth in understanding lag for a bit, presuming for a moment that you have sufficient, and, lo and behold, riches and honor gain momentum and priority.
Without an increase in wisdom there can be no sense made of metaphor and mystery such as living bread imaged in personal terms. Alice in Wonderland's bottle and cake remain as strange to us as Jesus' language about eating him. Where we are willing to suspend our disbelief with Alice, we don't seem to be able to do so with Jesus.
[Can't help but wonder if Jesus tastes as wonderful as Alice's drink - "mixed flavour of cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast" or what my flavor(s) might be or yours.]
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wisdom connects
far better
with departing
from evil(1)
and doing good(2)
when wisdom
gets mixed up
with riches and honor
there is going to be
hell to pay
to keep wisdom
increasing in stature
attention to G*D's presence(3)
even more than any list
becomes our joy and focus
[Note: (1) (2) (3) are references to The United Methodist General Rules.]