O come, O come, Emmanuel: stz 1-3
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come, O come, great Lord of might,
Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
1 Corinthians 1:3–9
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5 that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— 6 even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— 7 so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
John 1:35–42a
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
O Come Gift
of Wisdom
Grace mercy
and Peace from God our Father and Savior Jesus Christ his son our Lord. Amen
Our Texts
for today are the Epistle Lesson for the First Week in Advent and the Gospel
Reading for the Feast St Andrew
I’ve always
liked the hymn O Come O come Emanuel. I’m sure part of the reason for this is
that it is written in a minor key. Where
major keys are associated with happy and cheerful songs, minor keys are often
associated with gloomy or sad songs. But
in the church we see these minor keys especially during Advent and Lent because
when the church uses them, it is to convey a strong message. Never have I felt the strength of that
message of this hymn quite as strong as the night in college we sang this the
night before one of my hardest exams during finals week before Christmas break
and the second verse came proclaiming:
O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
O come O
Wisdom… Finals week is just one example where our ability to deal with our
environment comes into question. Whoever
thinks that there is no prayer in school has never seen the student who is not
prepared start a test call out for a little Divine intervention. Selfish, perhaps, and probably misconceived,
but in a moment of desperation even children know to look outside of themselves
for the knowledge that they are missing.
Right now the world is questioning its ability to deal with its
problems, and everyone has their own solutions to the problems, but there is a
crisis of hope and confidence in our earthly abilities. We as the church however are like the little
children looking for wisdom from the source of all wisdom. For where else is Wisdom, but from on High.
Humanity has
long attempted to wrestle with the idea of thought and wisdom, giving rise to
great thinkers and philosophers such as Plato and his Republic, Aristotle and
his Metaphysics, and Descartes and his I think therefore I am. In the truest sense of the word a philosopher
is a lover of wisdom. Out of their
desire to contribute to humanity and wisdom, men have sought the wisdom of the
ages, in an attempt to wrest out the diamond from the rock around it. Each generation found the wisdom of their former
generation lacking though, and felt the need to improve upon the wisdom of
their fathers. And while each age has
had its share of great thinkers, none have been able to lay claim to having the
one and only perfect thinker.
But there is
a fault at the center of striving for the perfect philosophy. The perfect philosophy is supposed to lead to
perfect enlightenment and a utopia to live in.
The structure of Modern thought which lead to high rises and highways
failed to bring in the new age of enlightenment, instead it brought in the
current age of Post-Modernism, and the philosophy that truth is objective, and
structure must be fluid. And yet with
these things, there is less contentment, not greater. Much of philosophy is directly related to
government, yet modern politics can be likened to a barroom brawl. The statesmenship of the great thinkings
would be ashamed.
Philosophy
is not all bad, it is because of the theoretical working of philosophers that
scientists were willing to push the bounds of what was considered possible. Our
Science and technology is greater than any generation before, but it is not
immune to the weaknesses of any other human wisdom. We have defeated many a disease great and
small, and yet there is no cure for the common cold. People can get degrees in economics,
climatology, or engineering of all sorts, but no one knows how to fix the
economy, who knows what tomorrows weather will truly be like, and even some of
the greatest engineering feats have fallen prey to time. We have great amounts of knowledge at our
fingertips, but who knows how to sort out what is bad and what is good. May there be guidance for all of humanity in
spite of ourselves. When shall humanity
have that wisdom revealed to them?
We already
know the answer to that question is Jesus Christ. Today’s readings attest to that. Paul was
rejoicing in his letter to the church at Corinth that, “in every way you were
enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge -- so that you are not lacking
in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who
will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ.” The Early church wasn’t all
that different from us, they too were seeking to learn wisdom and knowledge,
and so they would follow the great teachers of the day to learn from them. But here Paul is rejoicing that they already
have all the knowledge and wisdom that they need. But where did that wisdom come from? Was there an exceptionally wise man among
them? No, instead it came from God
himself. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It was revealed to them, it called them into
the blessings of God.
Nor was the
church of Corinth unique, because the very foundation of the church membership,
the original disciples, started in the same way. Andrew was a disciple of John and was seeking
the revelation that John the Baptist brought, and that was the Lord, Jesus
Christ. It was made evident to him
through the presence the one that his teacher prophesied about. The knowledge of the Lord was given to him,
he did not reveal for himself through his own merit. That is what is so unique about the wisdom of
God; it comes not from man but instead it calls to each and every human
being. The great “rock” of the disciples
became the rock of the apostles because his brother Andrew came and told of
what had been revealed to him, the Messiah.
That wisdom
and knowledge is all about the work of the babe of Bethlehem, who came meek and
mild but would die in a violent way for all mankind and their sinfulness. The cross, which is a stumbling block to Jews
and folly to Gentiles, was used in the wisdom of God, so that we may be washed
clean and shine pure and blameless forever.
Advent is
the season of waiting, and we await the final return of the son of God, who in
his wisdom did what human logic says should not be done, love each and everyone
one of us, regardless of our own wisdom or strength. To him be the glory forever and ever. AMEN
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