Growing in Wisdom

1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Colossians 3:12-17; Luke 2:41-52

Jesus grows up quickly in the Bible. In the gospel according to Luke out of 24 chapters, only one chapter is devoted to the birth and childhood of Jesus. And, so, on Christmas Eve we read about Jesus' birth. And today we have read about the visit of Jesus and his parents to the Temple in Jerusalem. But one thing that is interesting about chapter two is its emphasis on wisdom. For twice, once after is brought to the temple by his parents for the Jewish rite of circumcism, and again, after he is taken to the temple by his parents when he was 12 years old, we are told that Jesus was filled with wisdom, or that he grew in wisdom. For Luke linking wisdom with Jesus was very important. It wasn't enough to say that Jesus was blessed and favored by God, or that Jesus grew strong. But, Luke wanted to make it very clear that Jesus was full of the Wisdom of God.

No doubt, this has much to do with who Luke and the early Christian church believed Jesus was. Certainly, they believed that Jesus was God the Son, sharing the same substance with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And, more specifically, they believed that the purpose of the person of the Trinity known as God the Son, or the Christ, was to reveal God's love. And, since it was his purpose to reveal God, one way by which the early Christians referred to the Christ was to call him "the logos," which literally means, "The Word." Christ was and is the Divine and Living Word of God. And there is no place in scripture where this is brought out more clearly than in the first verses of the gospel of John. For there we have the words, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. For John the very creation of the world and everything in it was a revealing of God by God's Word, a Word that became flesh and dwelt among us – Jesus Christ.

But, for Luke, instead of using the word "logos" or word to describe Jesus, he used a similar word – "sophia" or "wisdom". In fact, several times in the Old Testament, God is referred to as Wisdom; and Wisdom is personified as an attribute of God in much the same way as God is called "Father," or "Spirit," or "The Word of the Lord." And, so, in today's scripture lesson Luke made it very clear that divine Wisdom, was active and living and moving in the person of Jesus, born of Mary. And, later in the gospel of Luke (Chapter 7, verse 35), Jesus confirms this by calling himself "Wisdom," when he comments on those who criticize him by saying, "Wisdom is proved right by all her children."

So, who was Jesus? The Gospel of John starts out by calling Jesus the Word of God. Luke starts out by calling Jesus the Wisdom of God. And, indeed, our gospel lesson for today wants us to make no mistake about it: Divine Wisdom was working in and through the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Of course, that means that we who follow Jesus, who try to live by his teachings, must be the children of Wisdom that Jesus was referring to in Luke 7. And, if we are the children of Wisdom, then we should be living lives that are affected by and blessed by the Wisdom of God.

But, all of this, up to this point, at least, has, no doubt, has sounded pretty theoretical and abstract. We may have no doubt that Jesus is the incarnation of Divine Wisdom. And we may fully accept the idea that we who are followers of Christ should partake of the blessings of that Divine Wisdom. But the question is, "How?" The fact is that many folks are a bit confused as to what wisdom really is.

Many people think that wisdom is simply a skilled use of knowledge. And, to some extant, this is true. Take, for example, the typical graduate from medical school. He or she may be full of knowledge, but may be lacking in the wisdom to use that knowledge well. It may takes a number of years and accumulated successes and failures and practice to become a wise physician. And this is true for most other professions. And it is especially true or the Christian profession, as well. It may take a lifetime of practice, of successes and failures, before a Christian may be called "wise" by his or her brothers and sisters in Christ.

So, yes, wisdom is a difficult thing to put one's finger on. Wisdom seems to be elusive. But, the apostle Paul, in our epistle lesson for this morning helps us a bit by giving us some examples of wise living. If we would be children of Wisdom, children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, then we should clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. What's more, we should put up with each other's idiosyncracies and forgive any grievances we may have against one another. And then we should forgive as the Lord forgives us. And over all these virtues we should put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Perhaps one of the greatest traits of one of Wisdom's children is that of forgiveness. In fact, Paul declares, forgiveness is not an optional request. Forgiveness isn't something Christians should extend to one another just because it's a "nice" thing to do or because it will promote peace within the body of Christ. Paul makes the connection between divine forgiveness and human acts of forgiveness a bit more explicit than that. Paul insists that " . . . as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive."

Forgiveness is not something we "owe" each other. Forgiveness is not something we can ruly "offer" each other. We have the capacity for forgivenesss only because God has first forgiven us. Without first experiencing God's forgiveness in our lives, we have nothing to offer anyone else. Any act of forgiveness we have become capable of extending or expressing to another is directly related to an act of worship to God. We acknowledge God's forgiveness of us and extend this divine gift of forgiveness to others as a part of an act of worship to God. By forgiving others, we offer a genuine Christian form of worship to our God, who saves us through divine forgiveness.

But, God knows that as imperfect human beings, it is hard for us to let go of our carefully guarded, well-worn bags of resentments and old hurts. Each of us has names and faces of individuals that we simply cannot imagine being able to forgive.

How can we forgive a relative who molested us? How can we forgive an ex-spouse who maligns us? How can we forgive a thief who has stolen precious memories from us? How can we forgive a murderer who has taken a loved one from us? How can we forgive a corporation that uses our talents and then discards us? How can we forgive a parent who abandons us? How can we forgive a child who destroys us? How can we forgive, stupidity, hatred, bigotry, cruelty, greed, gluttony, war, waste, poverty, pollution and holocaust?

We can't. In fact, we often prefer the old adage, "don't get mad; get even." Or as Ivana Trump puts it in her cameo appearance in the movie First Wive's Club: "Don't get even; get it all." The truth is we can't forgive unless we remember what forgiving is not.

Forgiving is not forgetting. Rather, it is choosing not to actively remember. Forgiving is not saying to the other party: "I'm OK -- You're OK." Rather, it is saying, "I'm okay, and I am willing to let God deal with whether you're okay; and if you're not, how you can become okay." Forgiving is not saying, "I don't feel the pain anymore." Rather, it is saying, "I do not feel the need to hold on to your involvement in my pain anymore."

And anyone who can do these things has learned one of the most important lessons of Wisdom. Indeed, such a person is wise.

So, what is wisdom? Is it still elusive for most of us? Most of us remember at one time or another someone holding a half filled glass of water up and asking us, "Is this glass half full or half empty?" It takes wisdom to know the difference. A similar example to this comes from a place in Death Valley known as Dante's View. From this perch, you have a choice. You can either look down 200 feet to the lowest spot in the continental United States, a place called "Black Water." Or you can look up to 14,500 feet and see Mount Whitney – the highest peak in the continental United States.

From this one spot, you can choose to feast your eyes on the highest or the lowest. It takes wisdom to know which way to focus your life. Each of us has to decide. May Christ, the Wisdom of God, offer us the grace to make the right choice.

Amen.