Word to the Wise
Friday, August 26, 2022 - Friday in the 21th Week in Ordinary Time
[1 Cor 1:17-25 and Matt 25:1-13]Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning...... For the wisdom of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. [1 Cor.] "The Kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones, when taking their lamps, brought no oil with them, but the wise brought glasks of oil with their lamps.......[Matthew]
I was once invited to speak to a group of third graders on the subject of "wisdom!" I decided to begin by asking if anyone in the room could tell me what wisdom is. A forest of hands went up and I chose one kid in the front row to tell me. He piped up: "Knowledge gained from experience!" That took the wind right out of my sails! I learned from that experience not to underestimate kids - yep, that's wisdom alright!
St. Paul, in our first scripture today, is speaking of "wisdom" in the sense of understanding why God chose to save humanity by dying on a cross!! In human terms, the Greeks in Corinth and Athens had trouble understanding it. For Christians, the death and resurrection of Jesus is a matter of faith based on the witness of the apostles. They preached the "wisdom" of God.
In the parable of the "wise" and "foolish" virgins, wisdom takes on the meaning of common sense "just in case" thinking. It is a matter of "staying in shape" by being prepared. The second coming of Jesus is not predictable in human terms.
Both the life-death-resurrection of Jesus and his second coming are a matter of the "wisdom of God" and directly challenge our scientific-empirical Western mind-sets. The wisdom of God challenges human wisdom. In ultimate terms, it is "wise" to bring along that extra oil! AMEN