PROVERBS 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house; she has set up its seven pillars.
She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servants, and she calls from the highest point of the city,
“Let all who are simple come to my house!” To those who have no sense she says,
“Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed.
Leave your simple ways and you will live; walk in the way of insight.”
We have already spoken (5th and 13th Sundays in Ordinary Time) about the “Wisdom Books.” It is common in them for the Wisdom of God to appear as a character who resides next to the throne of God and acts in the world. It is a respectful (and very archaic) way of referring to God without mentioning Him directly.
In today’s text, this symbol also acts symbolically: inviting the less worthy to a splendid banquet. Therefore, symbol is layered upon symbol: God/light offered as a banquet.
But the signs that are used (and those that are not used) are important. Wisdom and banquet, not kings or judges. It is the same that will happen with Jesus: the shepherd who recovers the sheep, the woman happy to find the coin. It might be even more important to remember that these personifications of the divine can be projected onto “Father – Son – Spirit.” We refer to the commentary on the Trinity we made at the time.
EPHESIANS 5:15-20
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The moral advice to the followers of Jesus continues. Coincidentally, the text invokes a theme parallel to the other two of this Sunday: be wise, act with wisdom, do not have a dull mind (especially by wine…). Live as people filled with the Spirit.
Interesting is Paul’s allusion “the days are evil.” Are our days good or bad? Do we live in good or bad times? We, in a consumerist and settled West, believe we are enjoying good times (despite the crisis, which will pass) simply because we can live well.
We can apply Paul’s phrases to ourselves: “do not be foolish, but wise… do not be dulled, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”
And this resonates in some way in the gospel as a dilemma: food for life, food for death; fatten the flesh to rot more matter, feed the spirit to make everything eternal.
José Enrique Galarreta