15 October 2010
Psalm 16, 17; Ecclus. 1:1-10,18-27; Acts 28:1-16; Luke 9:28-36

Wisdom is created, therefore there is a time when it was not. There is not a time before God the creator, and there is nothing outside of Him except what He has created therefore all wisdom comes from God. Does it not make sense that the height of wisdom then is knowledge about God? Is wisdom not found in knowing His ways and doing them? One of the most basic teachings in the Bible is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and we see it throughout the Old Testament in particular in the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Do we understand who we are speaking about when we speak of God or the Lord? He is the one who spoke and all that we know, all that has ever been known and all that ever will be known was brought into being. That is more power than we can imagine and we would do well to acknowledge that power in the form of fear and worship if we would begin to get wisdom. Wisdom has a source and we know that it is found in the Lord and He makes it available to us in the form of the Holy Spirit living in us.

What the disciples see this day is what will eventually be apparent to all of us. They see Jesus as light with a form, the body becomes transparent with light, an unearthly light that cannot be achieved by men. What they learn in this moment in time is that Jesus stands alone, He is not compared with Moses and Elijah, He is what they were pointing towards, He is the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, and in the end, the disciples must understand Him as greater than all things, as John says, the Word made flesh. He is the wisdom, grace, mercy, truth, and love of God. Both John and Peter point to this moment in their writings. John says we have seen His glory, glory as of the one and only and in 2 Peter 1 he affirms that he was eyewitness to Jesus’ majesty and he heard the voice from heaven.

On the island of Malta Paul continues to witness to the power of the risen Christ. He is delivered from a snake bite as Mark 16 promises and then through him a wealthy man’s son is healed. Whatever situation Paul found himself in was all the same, an opportunity to testify to Jesus and the power living within of the Holy Spirit. Do we take this same attitude towards suffering and trouble? Every situation is an opportunity for God.

I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.