3^rd Sunday after Epiphany - January 27, 2008

Kingswood UMC Buffalo Grove IL

Texts: I Corinthians 1:1-18; Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

The Wisdom of God has been the frame that has shaped our engagement with the Epiphany texts this year. We’ve looked at aspects of God-wisdom that we’ve called

These all seem like wise things even from a human point of view - at least you would think that inclusion of all would cut down on bickering and conflict in the world; making a covenant would reassure, empower and bind people into relationship; and calling folks to "come and see," and then to call others, is genius in terms of efficient expansion. But that is putting a contemporary and managerial lens on them. Today we are going to explore the Wisdom of God — and the practice of proclamation — as Jesus and Paul might have understood them. And then we will consider what that means for living in our world.

Jesus was a teacher of wisdom and drew on forms of wisdom teaching from Proverbs and other Hebrew scriptures. He used one-liners and pithy sayings or short stories as he invited people to imagine the world, to perceive it, in new ways. Examples of that kind of teaching are found in abundance in the Sermon on the Mount ... which, by the way, immediately follows the section we’ve read today. You remember Jesus saying:

You have heard it said "love your neighbor and hate your enemy" but I say to you "love your enemies and pray for those who hurt you."

or No one can serve two masters.

or Do not worry.

Even the beatitudes fit this form: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Short, pithy, inviting reflection. These short teachings have been put together in the Gospel as one sermon ... But they were more than likely teachings that Jesus repeated again and again over the course of a day, a week, a month, a ministry. Chapters 5-7 of Matthew are filled with examples of Jesus’ wisdom teaching.

At the end of today’s lesson, the transition to the Sermon on the Mount ends by telling us that Jesus goes throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, healing and proclaiming the reign of God. But he isn’t teaching them information - facts and figures, or even giving moral lessons on how to behave. He is teaching about a way or a path of transformation. In this way he is a teacher of wisdom.

But Jesus is more than just a wisdom teacher. For Paul and other early Christians, Jesus is also considered the wisdom of God. This identification of Jesus with the character Wisdom is related to the personification of God as Wisdom in various parts of Jewish wisdom literature. In the book of Proverbs we meet Lady Wisdom, or the Greek Sophia, and find that she is one with God ... a manifestation of God in female form. She has qualities or functions attributed to God ... and was in the beginning with God before the world was created. She is leader on the way, street preacher in Israel, at one with the creator God. She seeks people out on the highways, finds and invites people to banquet together, offers life, rest, knowledge, salvation, makes people friends with God, offers strength and protection.

In the beginning of Paul’s letter to the Christians at Corinth, Paul addresses conflicts that have arisen within the community, quarrels over who to follow, who they belong to. It appears that factions have formed around the persons who provided baptism for various members of the community. Because Paul goes on to talk about the content of his preaching, it seems to me that the issues were probably fed by more than personalities but also by the different perspectives of these persons. In any case, there was now political tension over who had the truth. It would be as if you would organize yourselves in terms of who was here when you came .... Some would say, I follow Steve. Others would say, I belong to Harry. Or I belong to Dick. Or I belong to Ann, or Joy. Or I belong to Margaret. Paul is appalled!!! Has Christ been divided? he asks.

So besides being a teacher of wisdom, Jesus can also said to be the wisdom of God, or Sophia. He proclaims God’s kingdom in contrast to the kingdoms of this world. And his ministry embodies the wisdom of God as he teaches in the streets and synagogues of Galilee, curing diseases and sickness among the people, inviting people to be friends of God. And his death is a consequence of the violence that rises up against those who proclaim God’s unlimited goodness and the equality of all as God’s children in Israel. Jesus-Sophia – the wisdom of God - proclaims God’s presence in all things ... for those who have the eyes to see.

Jesus proclaims God’s love and presence - the wisdom of God. Paul proclaims Jesus as the wisdom of God. And the story is spread one to another to this day. What is this thing called proclamation? If we take the word apart, you might think of proclaiming as a claiming for something or someone, in this case, a claiming for God in Jesus Christ. It is at the heart of Christian worship. Wherever in the world you go to Christian worship ... in what ever era or age ... the proclamation of God’s story in Jesus Christ is at the center of the worship experience. It may not be done by the most eloquent speaker, or the most engaging, or even the wisest ... by the world’s standards or according to God’s wisdom. But it is done. And it is a communal act, something the community does together.

Oh, I know, it says in your bulletin that the preacher brings the message ... under the heading "proclaiming God’s word." But today the choir proclaimed it in song. And Jim Gibson/Cameron Schooley proclaimed it as he read us the scriptures. Sometimes there are dramas ... or other readings that proclaim this story. But I would maintain that even the action of the preacher is a communal act. It wouldn’t occur without the presence of the congregation. Quite literally, it would not happen if you did not support the work of a preacher to plan, study, reflect and prepare a message. It happens because it is central to what makes this a Christian community. Whether it is done well or poorly ... and we all know that some weeks are better than others .... it is central to life in the community that follows Jesus.

But I believe that the proclamation of God’s word is the work of the community another way because I believe it is a part of the conversation between God and God’s people. As I tried to think about how to preach about preaching, I decided to create a kind of definition. I think it shows what I mean.

Proclamation (or preaching) is the practice of telling what one knows and believes

in a way that

Preaching is not for the preacher but for the whole people of God. In that sense it is a conversation for the purpose of transformation, so that we all may be changed in the way we look at the world — to see with the eyes and the wisdom of God.

Epiphany is all about light .... the light that guides us on our way along this alternative path of seeking and following Jesus. It is not a path that the world gives .... but is a way lit by the light of God’s wisdom in Jesus Christ. It asks us to open our eyes and ears to God’s presence in one another and in our life together ... remembering that the thing that we hold in common — God’s love that has claimed us in baptism and calls us to a life of service in the name of Jesus Christ — has far more power than the things that divide us.

The poet Maya Angelou writes about this experience of the Christian experience. It describes the same foolish wisdom of God that Paul proclaimed and Jesus lived.