Trinity 2
Dear friends in Christ. Today’s OT reading introduces us to Wisdom: Wisdom has built her house. What or who is Wisdom, who has built her house, prepared a feast, and sends out messengers to gather people into the feast? Wisdom is introduced to us already in Proverbs chapter 8. And there we see that Wisdom is the source of all true wisdom—Wisdom gives wisdom—as Wisdom there speaks [8.7, 8, 10]: For My mouth will speak truth…All the words of My mouth are with righteousness; nothing crooked or perverse is in them. Receive My instruction. Next we see there that Wisdom is responsible for preserving order and government in the world [8.15]: By Me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. Then we see that Wisdom gives gifts [8.18-21]: Riches and honor are with Me, enduring riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold, and My revenue than choice silver. Notice that the fruit, the gift that Wisdom gives is righteousness.
Here it is clear from the bits of chapter 8 that we looked at that Wisdom is not just some abstract idea of “being smart” or knowing a lot. Wisdom is a Person who can and does give things—like wisdom and righteousness. Does that sound familiar? Giving righteousness? Then Wisdom goes on to say [20,21]: I traverse the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice, that I may cause those who love Me to inherit wealth. Walking in the way of righteousness to give those who love Wisdom wealth, which Wisdom had just said is righteousness—sounds like what? Doesn’t it sound like what Jesus, the Son of God, did? All during His earthly life Jesus placed Himself under God’s holy Law in order to keep it: I traverse the way of righteousness; and why? To give us His holiness/ righteousness: that I may cause those who love Me to inherit wealth. And then precisely just Who Wisdom is, becomes even clearer when Wisdom says [8.22-23]: "The LORD begat Me, the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. I have been established from everlasting, From the beginning, before there was ever an earth. Here we see that Wisdom is eternal and is begotten: The LORD begat Me. It is clear then, that the Wisdom who is speaking in Proverbs 8, is not just “wisdom personified,” that is, what the abstract idea of wisdom could/ would say if it could speak. Instead, here Wisdom is a Person, and not just any Person, but one Who is eternal like God; Wisdom is One who is begotten, like the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God. Wisdom is also the Father’s agent in the creation of the world, as Wisdom says [8.27-30]: When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him. This is a precise description of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity—the eternal Son of God—begotten of His Father from all eternity. He was involved in the creation of the world, as St. John writes [John 1.3]: All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
The Church has always recognized that Jesus is this Wisdom. For example, She named one of her great churches in the East, in Constantinople, Hagia Sophia, Holy Wisdom. In Advent, as we sing the hymn dating back to the Middle Ages O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, one title of Christ with which we address Him as we pray for Him to come is Wisdom: O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who ord’rest all things mightily.
So with this background—that we recognize that the Wisdom here is not just “being smart” but that the Wisdom is Jesus, the Son of God, how rich our text is!
1. Our text: 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. Lest the feminist so-called theologians get excited here and think since Wisdom is described here as a woman, and that Wisdom is the Second Person of the Trinity that God must be a woman, it has to be said: unlike English, many other languages—like the Hebrew original—assign a gender to nouns. In Hebrew “Wisdom” is a feminine noun, so that’s why throughout our text “she” is used and wisdom is depicted as a woman.
As we look at our text and understand that Jesus has built a house— Wisdom has built her house, what are we to make of that? Simply this: Jesus established His NT Church. He did that when He, 2nd Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, begotten from all eternity, took on human flesh in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, becoming also true man in order, as man, as our Substitute, to place Himself under God’s holy Law in order to keep it for us, to do for us what God demands of us but what we because of our sin are unable to do. So now, in Christ—because He never once sinned, God’s holy Law has been kept; God’s righteous demands have been fulfilled—by the holy sinless Jesus for us sinners.
Not only did Jesus become true man to keep God’s holy law for us, but He became true man also to be our Substitute in suffering God’s wrath over our sin. He took all our sins, became the world’s sinner, and suffered on the cross the wrath and damnation we earned/ deserve for our sin. All our sins have been paid for; all of God’s wrath over sin has been poured out—on Jesus, not us. Now in Christ, we are declared righteous, forgiven. This has been proven by Jesus’ resurrection—the Father declaring His sacrifice perfect and complete. Now Jesus has ascended into heaven—true man is now in heaven. Jesus has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. That’s why we say that Jesus has established His NT Church— Wisdom has built her house. Jesus has done everything necessary for our salvation. The forgiveness of sins and eternal life have been procured.
Not only is the house of the NT Church built but it is firm, solid and large. She has hewn her seven pillars. Pillars make for a solid building; seven pillars also imply size. Both give an accurate description of the Church Christ founded. Jesus Himself says of His Church and gives the promise [Mt. 16.18]: I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus continues to build His Church. No matter how much the devil and his allies try to destroy Christ’s Church, Jesus is with His Church preserving her and protecting her, turning each attack of the devil to destroy the Church into something that ultimately serves for the good of the Church. And Christ is with and does the same with each of His dear Christians.
On top of that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church. All throughout the ages and in every land, Jesus is building His Church by robbing the devil’s kingdom of people as by baptism and the word He works faith in Him in their hearts that they trust in Him alone for forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
Our text continues on what Christ/ Wisdom does: She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. Jesus doesn’t just prepare the house of His Church and leave it empty. Instead, He prepares a feast—a feast to which He invites people. What feast do we have in the NT Church? We have the holy word and sacraments by which Jesus gives us His graces and blessings. In His Church, Wisdom/ Christ wisely orders/ arranges His holy word and Sacraments so that people may be spiritually fed, refreshed and preserved to eternal life. By His life, suffering and death Jesus has brought about these treasures of forgiveness of sin and eternal life and has entrusted them to the Church. Only in the Christian Church are there these treasures that all people need; only in the Church, the house that Christ/Wisdom has built and prepared the feast in can people find true spiritual food and nourishment. Wisdom’s feast that we enjoy in the Church in this life—that feast of the forgiveness of sin, of life and freedom, of joy and peace in the Lord—is a foretaste of that perfect heavenly feast we will enjoy eternally.
2. Because Jesus/Wisdom has built the firm solid house of the NT Church and has prepared this feast in her, He wants all people to enjoy and receive it. That’s why we read in our text: She has sent out her young women, she cries out from the highest places in the town. Wisdom/ Christ sends out messengers—also like we hear in today’s Gospel—at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ Here is a reference to the apostles and all faithful proclaimers of the word who call, invite people into the Church to receive the word and sacraments and in them all the gifts and blessings Jesus has brought about and prepared and offers. Here the apostles and servants of Christ are compared to women. Don’t get too excited the Holy Spirit isn’t by this giving His OK to women’s ordination. Instead, this keeps the imagery going of Wisdom, because it is a feminine word, depicted as a woman—she has female helpers; on top of that the image of the apostles and proclaimers of the word points to the friendly and lovely voices reflecting the grace and peace of their message—not some rough, gruff male voice; and it is a picture of the inner beauty of their office.
Anyway, notice something interesting: Wisdom/ Christ sends out her young women/messengers but she cries out from the highest places in the town. Notice first of all it is present tense she cries out—she is continually doing it; and she is crying out, although the messengers have been sent out. What are we to make of this? Simply this: this is the same thing that Jesus says [Lk. 10.16]: He who hears you hears me. Jesus continues to speak through His apostles and all proclaimers who faithfully preach the word of Scripture. The voice that we hear calling to us: “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Leave foolish ones and live, and walk in the way of insight” is Jesus calling us through His preachers to gather us into His kingdom, the Church.
Notice Who does the seeking. It’s not us; it’s Wisdom/ Christ. By nature, as we are born and come into this world, we are all spiritually foolish/ lacking sense. That’s why Christ/ Wisdom calls to us. As Christ by His messengers calls to us in His Word, His Holy Spirit is mightily at work through that word to create faith in our hearts, to work that true spiritual wisdom so that we recognize our sin and our need for a Savior and that Jesus is that Savior and that in His holy Church He is offering and giving us those very gifts we need—forgiveness of sin and eternal life. Whoever is simple, let him turn in here! We turn to Christ and enter His house/ His banquet through repentance—recognizing our sin, sorrowing over our sin and giving them to Jesus who, in turn, gives us His perfect holiness and righteousness, as Jesus says elsewhere [Mt. 11.28]: Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The glorious thing, dear Christian, when Christ calls to us in His word, through His servants, is that He is offering gifts: Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. And as we do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, we leave foolish ones and live, and walk in the way of insight.
Christ has prepared His kingdom, the Church; and now He gathers people into it. But as we heard in today’s Gospel reading, Christ and His gracious invitation can be rejected; the call/ invitation of Wisdom may be spurned. Let that not be us! May we keep listening to and receiving Christ’s invitation and receive His holy word in faithful obedience and penitently use the holy sacraments He has instituted and so be refreshed and eternally joyful. INJ Amen