Jeremiah 46-47, I Peter 1, Psalm 63 OR Sirach 16
I must admit, I have been underwhelmed by the gathered wisdom of Ecclesiasticus, or Sirach. It seems simplistic at times, and appears to be undermined by normal human observation, that good is not always rewarded nor evil defeated. So what to do with such a collection of “wisdom”?
Last night, I watched the final episodes of the third season of Rev, available on Hulu and other avenues (especially if you’re in the UK, where it was made). Adam, the protagonist, is having something of a breakdown, and at the end of his own, personal stations of the cross experience, he deposits a large, wooden cross at the top of a hill, and has a bit of a hysterical moment. A shabby, presumably habitually drunk, man in a knitted hat comes and joins in. He sits down with Adam and offers his wisdom, which is along the lines of “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” and other such platitudes. Adam, momentarily hopeful, begins to turn away in cynical disgust and despair, until the stranger addresses him by name, telling Adam that he will always be there for him.
Turns out, the shabby stranger who looked a lot like Liam Neeson under his hat and who was full of platitudinous wisdom, was Jesus, the Word and Wisdom of God.
So what is Adam to take away from the encounter?
The wisdom, perhaps, is in the search for wisdom. The foolishness of God, we are told, is far beyond the wisdom of humanity (perhaps that’s what the writers were trying to convey in this strange little scene). The final words that truly spoke to Adam were his own name, his soul addressed by God.
Perhaps the wisdom of Sirach is a diamond covered in dirt, which needs dusting and sifting and searching with a magnifying glass to find the still, small voice behind it all, calling us by name, into wisdom, into God.
Epiphany's Bible Challenge 