Tuesday 17th February 2009

Ecclesiastes 7:15-29 (http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=101853937)

How difficult it is to keep your own integrity in the face of so many alternative agendas among the people we live with. How much more difficult must that be for the one who has power!  Everyone seems to want something. And we are no different among all these different agendas and needs. We each have our own hopes and expectations so we cannot be too quick to judge.

But is this the end of the journey of wisdom? An awareness of the complexity of human life and relations, of the schemes and plans of so may people and how that will work out. Or is there more......

John 19:17-30 (http://bible.oremus.org/?ql=101854069)

Jesus transcends this turmoil of human agendas. He is fixed on God's agenda. He forgoes His own will and the temptations of power, wealth and safety and sacrifices them all to live and die in an alternative way - a way that is completely righteous. This goes beyond the teaching of Solomon, it goes beyond the wisdom of man - it is most certainly not sensible from the perspective of a life lived out solely in this world - but it is the wisdom of God. As St. Paul would say this apparent 'foolishness' of God is wiser than man's wisdom and it draws all who would follow Jesus into the ways that make for peace.

Thoughts

These two readings define the problem and the solution of the turmoil of human existence.

Solomon has searched deep and his wisdom cannot break out of the circles of power and the conflicts of interest that is his experience of life and those around him.

Jesus, on the other hand, THE Son of David and THE true King has submitted His own will to God so completely that he has been able to find a way to relinquish the human passions that result in manipulation and conflict with others. He has liberated himself and those who will follow into a new way that will bring deep peace in this world and wholeness in the next. This of course is where faith transcends reason - where wisdom becomes foolish as it seems that the only way to win is to lose; but the truth is that life is not about winning or losing in any competitive sense but about learning to play a different game altogether.

1 Corinthians 15.35-50

Paul is being challenged about the nature of the resurrection body. What's it actually like? At one level Paul's argument seems very straightforward. He seems to be saying that we are very used to categorising the natural world around us. We categorise what we see according to the different properties things have - different 'glories' even. The stars are classified, different sort of animals and plants are categorised. Each is different and we are very used to diversity of the world around us. The spiritual and the physical are additional categories. Both with their own properties - 'glories'.
This argument works very well for those who have accepted that a new creation has taken place - that there is a 'spiritual man' who has been experienced. The logic is sound - there is now a new human being that is connected to the current human being in the same way that a seed is is connected to the plant. First the physical is sown and through growth and maturity becomes the spiritual man. The physical is the precursor to the spiritual, a necessary part of the cycle of growth. As a seed becomes a plant, as a chrysalis becomes a butterfly so physical man becomes spiritual man. This is a perfectly rational way of processing the additional experience of Christ.
Of course, it doesn't help people accept that there is a resurrected spiritual phase of humanity. But then the question of what the spiritual body will be like cannot be asked unless the possibility of a resurrected body existing at all has been considered.
Once our world view has accommodated the greater reality we have now experienced after the resurrection of Christ, we can then begin to explore the nature of that broadened awareness. After all, it is only once you have accepted that the world is round that you will venture to new shores to see what's there!