Who is
wise and understanding among you?
Come on – let’s see a show of hands.
I’m
guessing that after last week’s advice to not strive to be a teacher because
there’s a lot expected of teachers and a lot to be accountable for, you’re
probably not in a hurry to claim you are in the wise and understanding group. No telling what the downside is on it.
And in
some ways, this is trick question. Because many people who consider themselves
wise don’t have the kind of wisdom that James is talking about. There’s a contrast between the wisdom of the
world and the wisdom of the kingdom of God.
The
world says, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
God
says, “Sell all you have and give it to
the poor and you will have treasure in heaven.”[i]
World
wisdom: “Look out for number one”;
God’s
wisdom: “If you save your life, you lose
it and if you give up your life for my sake you gain it.”[ii]
World: “Might makes right.”
God: “Turn
the other cheek.”[iii]
“First
come, first served.”
“The
first shall be last and the last shall be first.”[iv]
“God
helps those who help themselves”[v]
“God
is a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their time of distress”[vi]
“It’s
every man for himself.”
“Love
your neighbor as yourself.”
“Revenge
is a dish best eaten cold.”
“Love
your enemies and pray for them.”[vii]
“You get
what you deserve.”
“God gives us grace,
not because we deserve it, but as a gift.”[viii]
The
disciples probably would have raised their hands. They’ve been with Jesus, heard him teach. They’ve been with Jesus and seen him heal, and
were sent out to heal in Jesus’ name.
They’ve been with Jesus and seen him walk on water, calm the storm and
feed the 5000. They’ve been with Jesus
three exciting, eventful years.
They
might think they are wise and understanding – they know just who Messiah is and
what Messiah is going to do. But their view
of Messiah is earthly – a conquering king who will raise up a righteous army of
oppressed Judeans to overthrow their Roman oppressors. They’re just waiting with Jesus until the
time is right!
Right?
Wrong.
Jesus
paints an entirely different picture:
·
A
servant king,
·
Who
suffers out of love for his servants,
·
Who
dies,
·
Who
rises again.
It’s
not what they wanted to hear. Not what they
expected to hear.
It’s
no wonder that the disciples are afraid to ask Jesus any questions. After that statement, they probably are
afraid of the answers Jesus might give them.
Afraid
to ask questions, they fall to bickering among themselves. And since they haven’t asked Jesus to clear
up their misunderstandings, they argue about who is going to be the greatest in
Jesus mighty kingdom – next to Jesus of course.
Jesus
overturns the world’s wisdom once again:
·
The
first will be last;
·
The
greatest is servant;
·
Whoever
welcomes a little child – the least of these – welcomes Jesus, welcomes God.
Pride,
envy, ambition are all tossed out – those things lead the disciples to ask who
will be greatest , to argue over their own qualifications for that title, to
fight with each other jockeying for position and status.
Who is
wise and understanding among you?
As
followers of Jesus, we want to learn the wisdom of the kingdom of God. So how do we learn it?
James gives
some good guidance – Draw near to
God. Submit to God and resist the wisdom
of the world. Worship, prayer, Bible
study, thinking about God, remembering all the blessing God has given you – God
uses all these things to draw you nearer.
“Submit” is maybe harder – that’s actually doing those things that we
learn in worship, in reading the Bible, and following the example of Jesus. The Holy Spirit nurtures the implanted Word
of God in your hearts (again, James 1:21).
Are we
afraid to ask?
Why are
we afraid to ask?
Maybe
we fear we won’t like the answer.
Maybe
we are afraid that some of our deeply cherished views of how the world works,
who God is and how God works in the world will be overthrown.
Maybe
we are afraid that the answer will ask too much of us, that we will have to
change in ways we don’t want to change.
Maybe we
are afraid that by just asking the question, we somehow admit that we are less
than perfect Christians, that we don’t have it all together.
Maybe we
are afraid that asking shows doubt and we think that doubt is bad, that you can’t
doubt and have faith.
We don’t
ask and then, like the disciples, we start to argue over things that don’t
really matter in the big picture of God bringing in the kingdom.
But
what if we could ask? What if this
community was a safe place to come with your questions, and your doubts, and
your struggles? A place where you could
ask the hard questions and instead of being ridiculed or shamed for your lack
of faith, you find that others are asking the same questions. You find that others are asking questions that
you haven’t thought of yet, but speak to the yearning in your own heart?
What
if this could be a place where we come together and wrestle with the hard
questions, learning from each other, waiting together for the implanted Word of
God in our hearts to grow into the answers.
A place
to wait for God.
What
questions do you have? About God? About Jesus?
About faith? About being a
disciple?
Let’s
ask those questions. Let’s offer them to
God.[ix] In your pew are some index cards and
pencils. Take one and write down one
question you would like to ask God. Don’t
put your name on it.
Then
during the offering, offer that question to God. We offer to God all that we are, time, talent,
treasure and our questions and doubts and challenges. All that we have, all that we are.
Maybe
as a community struggling to understand the wisdom of God we can work on these
questions together.
[i] Luke 18:22
[ii] Mark 8:35
[iii] Matthew 5:29
[iv] Matthew 20:16
[v] No that is not from
the Bible – it’s usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin as he quoted it in his
Poor Richard’s Almanac. It has its origins in one of Aesop’s Fables,
and Franklin got the quote from Algernon Sidney.
[vi] Isaiah 24”5,
paraphrased.
[vii] Matthew 5:44,
paraphrased.
[viii] 2 Timothy 1:9,
Ephesians 2:7-8, Psalm 51:1 and many others, paraphrased.
[ix] Idea gleaned from
David Lose’s Dear Working Preacher at
http://www.workingpreacher.org/dear_wp.aspx?article_id=618
This is the sermon I was hoping to preach tomorrow. thank you for such beautiful simplicity and for helping clarify my own writing!
ReplyDeleteThe list of world "wisdom" and heavenly wisdom is awesome! Very clear and inviting.
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