One of the great peculiarities of our age is the inverted hierarchy of what is seen as most valuable. When Paul wrote 1 Cor 1 he lived in an age and context which sought wisdom. When the great Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle explored, they did so with an open mind. Their motivation to explore the universe scientifically was not simply motivated by making life easier for ourselves, the reductionist process that we would promote today (how to find better micro-materials for EV car batteries, what will make my TV / communication device or processing chip thinner and faster.) In fact they saw that any discoveries of component matter and basic intrinsic life in the cosmos had much wider implications, bigger than we can begin to understand, moral implications, that our universe and natural order has implications for our relationships, society, the respect of humanity and societal order. Yet this kind of wisdom (bigger view) sought so long ago seems a cosmos away from our world this Christmas. Our world leaders (elected by us) don't seem to show such wisdom. The prevailing culture is to sacrifice the big picture for the small win and optics of personal preference, profit, and perspective. Yet there is a desire in even the most cynical atheist and materialist this Christmas to want more. Regardless of our Theist or Materialist starting point, every human being born has an inner desire to live for purpose, to do something more than take home a salary only to one day see our lives have no more significance than being concluded to a meaningless extinction. We all desire order, ultimate wisdom, peace.
This inverted hierarchy, (our loss of true open mindedness) and relegation of what is really important means that today we live without wisdom. For example, life is so fast paced in our technological age that people often value speed and expediency over doing a thorough and effective job for the long term. It seems the opposite of what my grandfather taught me from what he had learned down the mine at 14... "You only need to do it once if you do it properly." He learned that as a slight lad, crawling into micro spaces to place explosives in the bottom of the mine. In that small space, doing it right mattered, not just for him but for everyone both above and below ground. It was a huge weight on young shoulders, the responsibility for families, a society, a generation.
I wonder how this kind of thinking and wisdom would change for example the peculiar urgency to make a deal between Russia and Ukraine before Christmas, at any cost. Where does this deadline elevated to the place of supreme importance come from? What matters more, doing it quickly or doing something good for the wellbeing of people ? Who does it consider, what consequences does it carry, what weights and wisdoms are valued? Maybe this discussion fits into this category, of not thinking about the long term results for the sake of a short term fix. Maybe a mistake could have larger and more lasting explosive consequences than considered ? Maybe the motivations are not the true reality of peoples lives, relationships, the order of society on the ground ? Details matter. Advice matters, as does the humility to listen and learn about context. Reducing things to a simplistic agenda of your own making is not wisdom. Blocking out advisers who tell you what you don't want to hear is not wisdom.
True order, peace and wisdom on earth this Christmas needs some work.
Where should we start ?
It was Socrates who said, "The only true wisdom is in knowing that you know nothing," The bible states that the fear of THE LORD is the beginning of wisdom". When we consider that the cosmos is bigger than us, and that the precision design and engineering of it points to one who is bigger than it, there is a smidgen of hope for us that we might be on the right track.
What the Eastern wise men got right so many years ago was that realised the size of the implications. If such a thing happens - it is huge... if there is a cosmological message coming from a creator then it is bigger than all we are currently holding. I guess today the equivalent would be that so something massive is occurring, that we possibly consider for a millisecond taking our eyes of our phones and seeing what it might be. Of course what they discovered in a manager was so much bigger. The creator of all order had come personally and relationally. The one of all power had chosen powerlessness, as a single human cell smaller than a full stop. He who knows no boundaries in wisdom and power, was dependant on a mother for basic survival. Why did he do it? For our reconnection relationally with God and our only hope in a hopeless world which has turned its back on him.
If anything should mark us as followers of Jesus, anything show that we are on wisdom's road it should be humility.
"For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being[might boast in the presence of God.
And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
In the incarnation of Jesus we have a never ending discovery. The discovery of the extent of his love, the wonder at his coming for us, born to die, born in our place, born to give the sons of earth a second birth. His life alone points to the beginning of our true lives as we should be, as we were made to be, as we will be if we only have the humility to bow before the Son of God who came. There is wisdom in the stable, see you there.
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