Did you find yourself with a tune in your head as you
finished this reading? Maybe, O Come, O
Come Emmanuel? Here is the second verse
of that hymn, "O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things
mightily; To us the path of knowledge show, And teach us in her ways to go." It is taken from that last verse of the
reading but is based on the entire reading.
Wisdom comes from on high, and only from on high, orders all things well
and mightily across the earth, and is never triumphed over by evil. This idea of ordering all things is part of
what makes scientific endeavor possible, the belief that the world is sensible
and that sense of order is not only discoverable but dependable. We find at a quantum level that perhaps is
less true or that there is an order that we do not perceive because it is of a
higher order of magnitude. Our task is
not only to see the path of knowledge, it is to go in her ways. True wisdom is revealed in not the knowing
but the going.
The key to asking, seeking and knocking and receiving,
finding and having the door opened is the wisdom to know what we're after. Jesus taught us to pray for the coming of
God's kingdom, the establishment of His will, our daily bread, forgiveness,
guidance, and protection/deliverance from evil.
Those are prayers, therefore, that we know will be answered. When we pray for other things we, at some
level, must believe that we know what would be good for us. Jesus taught us to keep it simpler than that. He told us exactly what was good in the
Lord's Prayer. It is not a form alone,
it is meant to be meditated on, unpacked, and truly prayed. In the teaching on the narrow gate, Jesus is
echoing the teaching from wisdom literature, that most won't find the way, not
because it is hidden but because they aren't looking for it, they have been
enticed by the broad way, easy street.
In John, He says that He is the gate.
Jesus is the wisdom of God.
Paul says to keep it simple.
You have been sanctified by the Spirit and belief in the truth, simply
hold fast to the Gospel and traditions they have been given. Often, I hear Christians who are searching
for some esoteric truth, something deeper in the Word when they are living out
of step with what they have received. We
are called to interpret the Gospel in our lives, not to Gnosticism, a religion
of knowing that sets the mind above or in opposition to the body. Applied knowledge is true wisdom. What are you doing with what you already
know? When you're walking that out, then
you are fit to receive more.
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