Hating Wisdom
Proverbs 1:20-33; Mark 8:27-38

September 17, 2006


It usually is a lot more fun to begin a day with foolishness, but there are consequences for having fun. Better to begin with wisdom, although I must say that when you read the Wisdom Literature of the Bible, Proverbs in particular, wisdom may be wise and smart, safe and successful, but it often sounds dreary and downright boring. Sadder, but wiser -- don’t we all say? Shouldn’t we become happier and wiser? I guess it depends upon one’s definition of fun.

Proverbs are one-liners intended to lodge themselves within your deep consciousness. At some point of indecision and crisis, the words well up from within, “Never argue with an idiot; he’ll drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience.” That is not Biblical, exactly, and perhaps not the full weight of wisdom.

Nevertheless, no one doubts Wisdom, except for those who hate wisdom. I never thought that was possible when I was younger, but now it is apparent that wisdom gets in the way of many people. It is inconvenient, too slow, too patient, too smart to be accepted. Most of us are too busy to be wise and have more pressing agendas than discerning what is genuinely wise. Lady Wisdom knows the game and she laughs.

The game goes something like this. Jesus and his students had reached the city of Caesarea Philippi - or “Philip’s Caesarville.” This was a company town and the company was the Roman Empire and all its powerful political trappings. The early first century finds the Roman Empire at its strongest. This was not the declining Empire during the 400’s; this was the Empire close to its height. When you walked in Caesarea Philippi, government talk was on every breath. Who you were mattered deeply, and politics then as now was more a matter of personal relationships expressed in the public arena.

Jesus’ questions, “What are the people saying about me? Who do they say that I am?” was not an idle thought in such an environment. Ask that question in Washington or Ottawa and the answer can never be academic or neutral. The disciples’ answers were intriguing and almost sensationalist: Elijah, everyone always believes he is coming back; John the Baptist, no one ever believed you could kill him; one of the prophets, Jesus has to be speaking for God, and we haven’t had a real prophet for centuries.

But, who do you say that I am? Peter answers too quickly with the right answer, “You are the Christ, the Messiah.” He was a loyal party man. He knew what the leader wanted to hear. Peter, on the other hand, did not want to hear what the leader had to say.

While Jesus wanted to keep his identity quiet, he proceeded to tell the disciples what he knew was inevitably going to happen to him. It wasn’t about gaining more fame and power and perhaps even riches. It wasn’t about driving out the despised and infidel Romans. It was about being betrayed and defeated and executed.

The pain on everyone’s face was obvious; had the genius of Jesus stepped over the edge, as it does for so many geniuses? Jesus ended up talking resurrection, the annihilation and defeat of death, a most unsettling thought, but by then nobody else was listening. Peter had already grabbed Jesus by the arm and pushed him out to the edge of the inner circle, not really beyond earshot of the others.

Peter saw a leader cracking under the pressure. Peter, in fact, was intent upon instructing Jesus how to be the Messiah! Jesus saw a follower who wanted things his way, a respectable and profitable revolution. Jesus turned around and looked at the other disciples. They were certainly thinking, thanks, Peter, for saying what needs to be said. I doubt Jesus saw many of the whites of their eyes. Get behind me, Satan! Had Jesus really lost it?

This was a private dispute, but Jesus then called in the mob of those who had been listening to him and made his direction very public. That’s what happens a lot with Jesus. You think you are having a private conversation, just your problems and weaknesses and his compassion. Then you find out your problem is everybody’s problem and Jesus proceeds to talk to everyone who will listen about your problem. Watch what you ask Jesus in prayer!

Taking up your cross, denying yourself, losing your life, not being ashamed of Jesus -- is there any doubt why there are people who still today hate wisdom? These requirements, these things to do to get behind Jesus and follow his lead, and not be an associate Satan, are familiar words spoken in church, part of our liturgical vocabulary. None of these ideas match up well with the wisdom of the world. Eccentric and foolhardy, it is a poor parent in today’s society who does not teach his or her children to avoid such practices. Yet, yet, we know this is the way it has to be if we are to get behind Jesus.

Brian Blount remembers going to one of his church’s revival meetings during the dog days of August when he was 11 or 12, and he remembers the preacher still as the most powerful preacher he has ever heard. That night the summer heat had produced one dandy of an electrical storm. The preacher inside was whipping up the congregation into an emotional storm that the thunder only seemed to accentuate and encourage.

Then the choir stood up to sing the invitational hymn to come to the altar to accept Jesus and the fire inside continued to build. Halfway through the anthem, the lights went out and the sanctuary was enveloped in darkness. The choir did not stop singing, although the electric organ, of course, had stopped. The organist wasn’t finished. She slid down from the organ to the piano below, caught up with the choir and accompanied them on the piano. The congregation exploded in shouts and screams and noise following that smooth move by the organist/pianist. Brian said he never had heard such a loud noise in his life, with shouts of “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!”

He couldn’t get that service out of his head, and that night he had the mother of all nightmares. The name of Jesus seemed to be coming at him from all corners. People were closing in him, shouting and yelling, getting louder and louder. Brian started yelling back, until he heard the calming voice of his mother, “Brian, it’s only a dream.”

This dream, she could quickly tell, was not just a dream, so she suggested the best thing she could think of as a remedy. “Just think about Jesus. That will calm you down. Just think about Jesus.”

Brian didn’t know how to say it to his Mom, “You know, it is precisely because I am thinking about Jesus that this nightmare is happening to me.” He learned that night something that has stuck with him ever since - thinking about Jesus can mess you up! Jesus won’t let you rest in peace. You know why you’ve got to pick up your cross and follow Jesus, and deny yourself and lose your life, and not be ashamed of Jesus? Because there are too many voices out there shouting for help, shouting out of pain and oppression and injustice to ever think you can get completely comfortable.

Peter, you see, wanted to lead the deluded Jesus back into the comfortable Messiah way of life. Jesus knew that he was the one who knew the way and that he had to lead the way. Get behind me, Satan. You and I are behind Jesus as well, following wherever he goes, to whomever he goes, when he decides to go. It takes gumption to be a follower of someone like Jesus who is always heading places that will mess up your normal and comfortable life. He won’t let you rest in comfort and peace. Sadder? Not really at all - this is the Good News! But wiser, yes.

Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan