32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
WISDOM 6:13-17
Radiant and unfading is Wisdom, and readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. One who rises early to seek her will not grow weary, for she will be found sitting at the door.
To think of her is perfect understanding, and one who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care.
For she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and she graciously appears to them in their paths and meets them in every thought.
We already know the genre of these “wisdom books of Israel,” and how they contain the teachings of the school, in which the rabbis gloss the Law and the Prophets, applying them to life, giving advice in the form of aphorisms and maxims.
There are four “Books of Wisdom” contained in our Bible:
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes (Qohelet)
Ecclesiasticus (Sirach)
Wisdom of Solomon.
Some also include the book of Job in this category, while others include it in the “Narratives with a Message” along with Ruth, Tobit, Esther, Judith, and Jonah.
The Book of Wisdom of Solomon is the most recent of the books of the Bible. It has been dated to around 200 B.C., although other opinions suggest it was written almost in the time of Jesus.
It was probably composed in Alexandria and written in Greek. The fundamental theme is what we would call “political theology,” a treatise on justice and governance, with theological argumentation and doctrinal orientation.
This is the reason why its original title was: “Wisdom of Solomon.” Solomon appears in chapters 7 to 9, but of course, this is a literary fiction by the author. (These chapters are a literary and theological marvel, and it is worth reading them slowly).
The text for today is a praise of Wisdom. It is understood to be the Wisdom of God, which humans seek and find when they seek it with all their heart, for it is She herself who wishes to communicate. This personification of a “quality” of God is very characteristic of the wisdom genre.
The application suggested to us by including this text in today’s Eucharist is undoubtedly to refer the Wisdom of God to Jesus. Jesus is “The Word” (another personification of God), Jesus is “The Wisdom.”
We understand it better by expressing it this way: in Jesus, in what He says and what He does, we see and understand God. For this reason, Jesus is light, is the Way, because God is the Way and Light. And it is wise to let oneself be illuminated, to seek the correct path.
The antithesis of this is the temptation of Genesis 2. “You will be like gods,” that is: you will decide for yourselves, without consulting God, what is good and evil.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:12-17
Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who have died, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
We tell you this as the word of the Lord: we who are alive, who remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have died. The Lord Himself, with the command given by the voice of an archangel and the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.
As usual, it is unrelated to the others. It is a text commonly used in funeral celebrations.
There clearly appears that curious conviction that the coming of the Lord was imminent. This should alert us to the “Word of God” in biblical texts in general, and make us differentiate the messages from the circumstantial interpretations, more due to customs or previous beliefs than to the Word.
José Enrique Galarreta, S.J.