Trinity Sunday - 2025c
First Lesson - Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Second Lesson - John 16:12-15
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Lady Wisdom
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INTRODUCTION: In 1506, Pope Julius II, also known as “the Warrior Pope” because of his relentless desire for power, decided to have the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel painted.
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And even though Michelangelo was primarily a sculptor, Pope Julius II requested that he be the one to do the job. Despite being swamped with other work he had already been commissioned to do, Michelangelo agreed to take up the challenge. And so for the next four years he diligently worked on painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. While lying on his back on scaffolding, he eventually painted what would become one of the most famous and iconic pieces of art ever made.
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The centerpiece of his majestic work, as many of you might know, are the nine scenes from the Book of Genesis. Done in triads, there are three panels that tell the story of creation, three for the story of Adam and Eve, and then three for Noah and the story of the flood.
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Out of the nine different panels, perhaps none is more familiar than the one that depicts the creation of Adam. Hovering above Adam and surrounded by a cadre of heavenly figures, God can be seen stretching out his right index finger to meet Adam’s. It’s probably one of the most famous images in all of art and has been reproduced and played upon by an untold number of other artists.
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ONE: Tucked in that classic image of those two fingers meeting, though, is a portion of the panel that often gets overlooked.
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You see, nestled in God’s left arm, can clearly be seen a woman. Sort of coming up and under from God’s arm, the woman is gazing at the inert Adam waiting for him to spring to life.
Over the years, there have been a variety of opinions offered as to who the woman might be. Some have suggested it is Eve waiting to be created herself, which happens in the very next panel. And still others have argued the woman is Mary - the eventual mother of Jesus.
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But there is one final interpretation that I have always preferred over the others. You see, for some, the woman nestled under God’s arm is meant to represent Lady Wisdom.
After all, as our passage for this morning reminds us, Lady Wisdom has been around for a very, very long time. In fact, according to her, she has been around from almost the very beginning.
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“The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,” she tells us, “the first of his acts long ago. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth...When he established the heavens, I was there...when he marked the foundations of the earth, then I was beside him, like a master worker; and I was daily his delight.”
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Of course, we hear her words about being present when the heavens were created by God, as well as being beside God like a master worker, and our minds naturally float off to the prologue of John’s Gospel, right? For in that prologue, Jesus is also talked about as being present during creation as well.
So it’s easy in many ways to imagine that woman nestled in God’s left arm being Lady Wisdom. We look at Michelangelo's famous panel of the creation of Adam, and it isn’t that far of a stretch to think he intentionally meant to include Lady Wisdom as part of the scene. For according to her, she has been around for a very, very long time.
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TWO: Of course, as we all know, wisdom isn’t necessarily about being smart, is it? There is, after all, a difference between intelligence and wisdom.
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Wisdom, in the end, is more about making good and sound judgments. It’s the ability, in other words, to judge correctly and to follow the best course of action, based on knowledge and understanding. Or as some unknown figure once reportedly quipped, "Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it."
The pages of history, after all, are littered with plenty of smart people who managed to make poor and foolish decisions. Let’s not forget there were plenty of people with PhDs manning the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.
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And even closer to home there are people many of us know in our own lives that are surely brillant, but also hardly capable of living wisely. I know some people who are absolute mental rock stars that I wouldn’t trust with taking care of our cats! So smartness, all on its own, isn’t quite the answer. Wisdom, the ability to make sage and sound decisions, is also needed as a complement to brains.
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In that classic action movie Jurassic Park, the genius mathematician played by Jeff Goldblum makes the point nicely. In a lab full of all these scientists who have brought dinosaurs back to life to be zoo animals, Goldblum is aghast. “Before you even knew what you had,” says Goldblum’s character, “you patented it, and packaged it...and slapped it on a plastic lunch box, and now you're selling it.”
“I don't think you're giving us our due credit,” replies the creator of the park. “Our scientists have done things which nobody has ever done before.” “But your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could,” fires back Goldblum, “they didn't stop to think if they should.”
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As the mayhem unfolds during the rest of the movie, as the dinosaurs begin to escape and terrorize the island, we realize just how important wisdom is. For wisdom reminds us that just because we can do something, that hardly means we should.
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THREE: So no wonder Lady Wisdom is so insistent that we listen to her. Far from being timid and demure, wisdom begs to be heard.
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“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand…’To you, O People, I call, and my cry is to all that live.”
Since wisdom has been around for a while, indeed, almost from the very beginning, she has seen a few things along the way. “Hear,” says Lady Wisdom, “for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right.”
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That’s not to say, of course, that the counsel Wisdom has to offer us will always be easy to hear or even enact. For often the wise thing to do, the noble and right thing, might not seem to make much sense at the time. Why, sometimes wisdom’s counsel might even go against conventional norms and understandings.
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Maybe that explains why some people also like to say wisdom is also the ability to understand and see life from God’s perspective. After all, Jesus’ advice for wise living hardly seems to be, well, all that wise in the end.
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In a world where people can be quick to judge, Jesus says, “Judge not.” And in a world where people can be lightning fast to retaliate, Jesus says, “Forgive.” And when cruelty runs rampant, Jesus says, “Be merciful.”
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And where people claim there isn’t enough to go around for everyone, Jesus urges, “Be generous.” And at a time when people increasingly see those different from them as enemies, Jesus counsels us, “Be welcoming.” Well, if that’s wisdom for living, it sure is strange wisdom, don’t you think?
And yet there is Jesus at the end of his Sermon on Mount famously declaring the wise man is the one who builds his life on such odd teachings, while the foolish man, on the other hand, does just the opposite.
FOUR: There is a great little story that nicely encapsulates how living wisely isn’t always the easiest thing to do in the world.
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As the tale goes, in the midst of a faculty meeting at a major university, an angel appears out of the blue and tells the dean of the school that in return for his unselfish and exemplary behavior God had decided to award him with his choice of three possibilities: infinite wealth, wisdom, or beauty. Without a moment's hesitation the dean says, ‘Wisdom.”
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“Done!” says the angel, which promptly disappears in a cloud of smoke and a bolt of lightning. At that point, all of the faculty members turn and gaze at the dean, who now sits surrounded by a faint halo of light while gazing off into space. After a while, one of the dean’s colleagues whispers, “Well, say something.”
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The dean, now aware of the various hard decisions that will need to be made in the name of wisdom, looks at the room full of professors and says, “I should have taken the money.”
Or to paraphrase Paul’s word’s from his Letter to the Romans, “To live wisely is to conform to the ways of heaven rather than the ways of the world.”
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CONCLUSION: So as words go, wisdom can be a tricky one, right? For it’s easy to sometimes confuse being wise with being smart.
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But wisdom is always more than just knowledge. It’s also the ability to see and understand life from God’s perspective. It means sometimes going against conventional thinking and norms even when doing so might seem odd to even a tad crazy. It’s to take Jesus' odd ideas about what it means to truly live and use them to build a life for ourselves.
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“Does not wisdom call, and does not understanding raise her voice? On the heights, beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries out: ‘To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all that live.’”
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May we live and hear. May we live and hear.
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Now to the Ruler of all worlds, undying, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.