Concord Minute: Hear wisdom’s cry

“Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, ‘whoever is simple, let him turn in here!’” - Proverbs 9:1-4

Wisdom’s been busy: the house is built. Wisdom’s house is ready for guests.The food has been prepared. The wine has been mixed. Wisdom’s table has been set. The feast is ready! But where are the guests? Wisdom sends her maidens out to invite those worthy into her home. Wisdom invites the naive into her home. Huh? The naive? Why? Wisdom wants the naive to leave simple, ignorant ways leading to death. Wisdom wants to give life to those that listen to her call. The maidens cry out to those living in ignorance - “come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your naive ways and live, and walk in the way of understanding.”

Yet, who is this wisdom? Is this wisdom an abstract theological virtue? No. Is this wisdom something anyone can attain to, something someone can think really hard about and over time just “get it”? No. Is wisdom a she? No. Who then is this wisdom? Jesus Christ. Jesus is heavenly wisdom. While the Hebrew text places wisdom in the feminine (and hence calls wisdom poetically, she), the wisdom of Scripture is Jesus Christ. To know wisdom is to know Jesus. To possess wisdom is to possess Jesus. Jesus is that divine wisdom that comes down from heaven and is made concretely known in the flesh.

Therefore, Jesus has prepared his feast for you. Jesus says to you in John 6: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh...Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true blood and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me” (John 6:51-57). Does this sound familiar? Hear Wisdom’s Call: “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave your simple ways and live, and walk in the way of insight” (Proverbs 9:5-6).

Will you go to the house wisdom/Jesus built? There is a feast prepared for you in wisdom’s house. In Jesus’ house, your naivete will be overcome by His wisdom, His grace, His mercy, His love that pours forth from His cross. Wisdom has prepared the table for you. Wisdom promises life to all who share in this feast. The way of Wisdom is abundant life, life in Jesus. Will you listen to wisdom’s call?

The Rev. Matthew Berry is pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Sikeston, Missouri. Based in Sikeston’s Historic North End, Concordia is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), a theologically conservative, biblically sound, Christ-centered church.