The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Our passage from Proverbs has a beautiful description of Wisdom’s Feast. But, if we focus too much on the feast, we might miss the point of the poem. Let’s look for a minute at the parallelism between our passage and later verses in the poem. At 9:3b, we have ‘(Wisdom) calls from the highest place in the town, “You that are simple turn in here.” And to those without sense she says…’ And in 9:14 we see the same thing: ‘(Folly) sits…at the highest places of the town calling… “You who are simple turn in here.” And to those without sense she says…’

Notice, at this point, you cannot tell the difference between Wisdom and Folly. That is part of the poem. It is not telling us how to find wisdom. It is, in part, pointing out that we have to be careful to follow God’s way. But its main point is a warning of the consequences of making bad choices. Accept Folly’s invitation and you will find “that the dead are there, that (her) guests are in the depths of Sheol.” (Proverbs 9:18) Follow Wisdom and you get a well-planned and well-made feast. Actually, “whoever finds (Wisdom) finds life.” (Proverbs 8:35)

But how do we find Wisdom (or the way of God)? The passage from Proverbs does not tell us. Fortunately, we also have a passage from the Letter to the Ephesians this week. As Paul starts to bring his letter to a close, he gives the church some guideposts to show us if we are on the right path. Drunkenness, or any excessive pursuit of pleasure, is a sign that we are going the wrong way. Keeping a song in our heart no matter our circumstances and being always thankful to God for whatever we have means we are on the path to Wisdom.

- Charles Fehrenbach