Rochester, MN UCC - "The Wisdom That is God" - 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
In this Sunday’s text from Kings, there is a scene reminiscent of the classic trope of a genie in a bottle that emerges to grant the one who rubbed it three wishes. In our text it is God who appears to the new king of Israel, David’s son Solomon. God says to Solomon, “Ask what I should give to you.” There are not three wishes, but it does seem that God is offering to give to Solomon whatever he wishes. It’s worth asking ourselves what we might have requested from God in such a situation. Would we ask for health and long life for ourselves? Healing for our loved ones? Wealth and prosperity? Peace on earth?
Solomon, for his part, asks for wisdom. He asks for understanding to discern what is good and what is evil, so that he might lead the people God has called him lead, and so that he might do what is pleasing in God’s sight. Such a request is noteworthy for what it is not; it is not a request for personal glory, or long life, or wealth. It is not a request for universal, sweeping changes to the creation or world history. It is nothing more or nothing less than a request for wisdom, a request that he himself will choose what is good and avoid what is evil. Yet God seems remarkably pleased with this request, so much so that God promises to add long life and prosperity to Solomon and his kingdom.
What is it that makes Solomon’s request for wisdom so wonderful in God’s eyes? A note on the understanding of Wisdom from the Christian tradition can help us here. Wisdom is another name for God- the Wisdom that Proverbs claims was there at the creation of the world is later associated with God the Son. Jesus Christ is the Wisdom of God. So when Solomon asks for Wisdom he is asking for God’s help to walk ever further into joining his life with God’s will. He is asking God to help him to achieve the very purpose for which he and all of us were created. Wealth and health and long life are all good things, but they are not the ultimate thing, they are not our true purpose. Uniting with God in Jesus Christ is that for which we were created. Peace on earth, the reign of justice, the coming of the kingdom, these are all wonderful things as well and truly to be desired. But they are God’s to bring about- we are merely called to participate in God’s action to create them. Our part in God’s plan for the redemption of the world and for our own life is to do our best to walk ever closer to God through wisdom; through discerning what is good and what is evil and choosing to do what is pleasing in God’s sight. May God grant us the humility and the courage of Solomon, that we too might ask for Wisdom.
Rev. Andrew Greenhaw