August 16, 2009 Sermon
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Proper 15 - B 2009
August 16, 2009 Emmanuel, San Angelo
We live in revolutionary times. I read somewhere that just during the past 10 years the amount of information available to an individual has increased by a factor of 10,000. That is, for the normal person of average intelligence not a scientist or a genius, we have bombarding us 10,000 times more information than was available just a decade ago.
Our ancestors went for hundreds of generations handing down information that had been passed on unchanged to them for centuries. I think here of those that Ralph Chase calls the first families of Texas, the Jumanos who migrated to this area some twelve to fifteen hundred years ago. The life of these hunters and gatherers was revolutionized thousands of years before by the simple invention of a projectile point and the ability to fire pottery. This meant that they could better hunt birds and larger game, and had the ability to store water. Yet basically they lived unchanged for millennia.
By contrast the amount of available information we have now increases our challenges exponentially with each passing day. Of course this all begs the question of whether or not we are any smarter than those in our ancient past. Are we 10,000 times more knowledgeable than we were a decade ago? I guess it depends on who you ask! When my children turned 13 they were convinced they knew more than any adult. But the time is quickly coming when their children will say, "My parents are so dumb!" Clearly there is more to life than the availability of information.
The book of Proverbs begins by saying that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7). When you stop and consider that the Bible was composed in its entirety before any of the inventions of our modern world it is truly incredible. Candles on the altar are a reminder of the time when churches had no lighting. Jesus and his disciples walked wherever they went. When our Lord looked at the earth it was flat. When he looked to the heavens it was a dome, and God was up there somewhere watching them. No one read from books as they had not yet been invented. For centuries people learned their faith from looking stained glass windows in ancient cathedrals. No doubt in every culture, each generation feels itself superior the one before, but we are unique in that global information was basically nonexistent until our present era. So what does this mean for us today?
Most importantly the Bible reminds us that wisdom and knowledge is not the same thing. Knowledge is the acquisition of information. It is the in-processing of all the data from the world around us, and then retaining those as facts and figures. Knowledge is the byproduct of study of a science, or a field, a discipline, technique or trade.
Wisdom on the other hand has to do with understanding what is. Wisdom is having the ability to discern inner qualities and relationships. Wisdom is developing common sense, insight and judgment. The Hebrew word, "hokhmah", wisdom can mean anything from prudence, uprightness, understanding, discretion, even shrewdness. "Fools despise wisdom" says the book of Proverbs. It is, as it always has been, possible for a person to be very intelligent but not very wise.
The connection between the reading from Proverbs and the Gospel of John lies in the offer of true Wisdom that for the Christian is found ultimately in one who calls himself "the Bread of Life". Do you want to be truly wise, St. Paul would ask? Then look no further than Christ who is the pioneer and perfector of our faith. The God-given senses enable us to learn from the world about us, but true wisdom acknowledges how small we really are.
Each time we gather together to celebrate the Eucharist we are reminded of the self-offering of our Lord, and our dependence upon him for our soul's health. Through Christ our lives are infused with the creative Spirit that equips us for our vocation of service to others in Christ's name. When we kneel to receive the Body and Blood of our Lord, we join together with countless numbers in all times and throughout history who have found their grounding, their sustenance in God who is in all things and beyond all things.
The early church writer, Irenaeus said,
"The word of God, Jesus Christ, on account of his great love for mankind, became what we are in order to make us what he is himself."
That takes Communion to a whole different level, and puts a new different spin on the term, "You are what you eat"!
Wisdom beckons, "Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight."
"Let every instrument be tuned for praise!
Let all rejoice who have a voice to raise!
And may God give us faith to sing always,
Alleluia. Amen." (Hymn 420, v.5)
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Revised: 08/23/09