Choose Wisely

The wicked said among themselves, thinking not aright: "Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training. He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD. To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us, because his life is not like that of others, and different are his ways. 

He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes. With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience. 

Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him." These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them, and they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward. (Wisdom 2:1, 12-22)

This is a powerful Wisdom reading strategically placed during Lent and preceding Holy Week.  The wicked desires to “beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings.”  This reading is a platform on which the wicked pontificate.

Who is the “just one?”  It sounds like Jesus; however, Wisdom was written perhaps in 50 BC. According to the Collegeville Bible Commentary for the Old Testament (1992): “Echoes of the Book of Wisdom abound in certain New Testament books, particularly in John and the epistles of Paul; despite that, no New Testament author quotes the book directly. It seems to have influenced the development of New Testament Christology (and even Trinitarian thinking), particularly through the activity of the spirit of God in the world and the personification of Wisdom.”  

In other words, much of what we claim and believe about Jesus was gleamed from the Old Testament by Jewish followers of Jesus.  That makes complete sense.  

Wisdom’s lesson for today is to understand the wide gap between the wise and the foolish.  Moreover, justice is the key to life – justice we will never achieve at the hands of the wicked who prosper at the expense of the just.  

The wicked deserve to be in the grip of evil as a result of their choices.  Wisdom comes to those who seek God. How and what do we choose?

Deacon David Pierce