O Wisdom, proceeding from the mouth of the Most High, pervading and permeating all creation, mightily ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.
For many of us wisdom is little more than knowing enough not to make the same mistake twice. Or perhaps, more rightly said, to not make our mistakes in exactly the same way each time. Blundering through life trying to not look as foolish as we might or should. Is it any wonder that wisdom is often considered a gift for the aged? It takes a lot of weeding out of the wrong before the beauty of the right can blossom forth. And that of course, is assuming that our next mistakes don’t root out the good that such wisdom has allowed to grow. Undoing in a foolish word or careless deed all the hard work of trying to look wise.
How very different God’s Wisdom is. God’s wisdom was not gained through trial and error. It was not acquired over a lifetime of mistakes. God’s wisdom is Christ Jesus Himself. The very Word of God by which all creation is made and sustained. The Lord and King who rules and orders all things by His Word. The Word that pervades creation by becoming flesh and dwelling among us.
This is God’s Wisdom, that His only begotten Son, God of God, and Light of Light, should be incarnate, become an infant wrapped in scraps of cloth and laid to sleep in a feed box. The deity in flesh and blood, the creator and upholder of all things, lying helpless and in need of a mother’s care. The perfect and sinless Son of God born to be a sacrifice for all this world’s mistakes and foolishness.
And this was no mistake. This is the way of True Wisdom. This is the only path of prudence for those trapped in their sins. This is what we need to hear again, not just each new Christmas, but every day, on our quest for real Wisdom.
O come Thou Wisdom from on high, Who ord’rest all things mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel!
HOPE for the HAPLESS 