The Limits of Wisdom

Thursday, September 21, 2006 -- Week of Proper 19 (St. Matthew)

"Morning Reflections" is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html

Discussion Blog: To comment on today's reflection or readings, go to http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com, find today's reading, click "comment" at the bottom of the reading, and post your thoughts.

Today's Readings for the Daily Office
Either (for Thursday of Proper 19, p. 985)
Psalm [70], 71 (morning) // 74 (evening)
Job 28:1-28
Acts 16:25-40
John 12:27-36a

or (for the Feast of St. Matthew, p. 999)
Morning Prayer: Psalm 119:41-64; Isaiah 8:11-20; Romans 10:1-15
Evening Prayer: Psalms 19, 112; Job 28:12-28; Matthew 13:44-52

(I read the lections for Thursday of Pr. 19)
Those of us with a deep respect for scholarship may enjoy a delightful irony today. In the 1970's when the compilers of the new Book of Common Prayer were creating the two year Daily Office lectionary, the consensus of biblical scholarship regarded Job chapter 28 as an anonymous poem that had been awkwardly inserted into the original text of Job by a later editor/redactor. The poem has a thematic connection with the story of Job because it proclaims that true wisdom is beyond human means. Wisdom resides only with God, and therefore, the "fear of the Lord" is the only human access to wisdom.

We competed the lectionary cycle of the reading of Job yesterday. Like a postscript, today we have chapter 28, separated from the narrative according to the scholarly consensus of the 1970's so that it would not interrupt the "original."

But... Today's scholarly opinion leans toward the opinion that Job 28 is indeed original to Job. It functions in the story by slowing the action and thus raising the drama, and it raises important questions that point toward the climax of the divine response at the end of the narrative. The scholars have changed their minds, but our lectionary still reflects the former thinking.

That fact is a delightful irony since the point of the poem in Job 28 is that the wisdom of human beings is very limited. It is a beautiful psalm, opening with a compelling image of the wonders of mining deep within the earth to discover precious metals and jewels. Such a prologue seems like a fitting beginning for a maxim about doing the deep work of study and faithfulness that will reward the seeker with wisdom. Not so.

"But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Mortals do not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living." We may be able to dig where no falcon's eye can see and where no lion has trod, but the most precious gem -- wisdom -- is beyond our reach. Wisdom dwells with God alone. Awesome reverence toward God is humanity's only access. That's the message of the psalm.

As one who tends to give great weight to scholarship, this psalm is a delightful rejoinder. And the fact that its place, or lack of place, in the Job narrative has been a subject of scholarly debate and reversed opinion is a reminder of the modest limits of our knowing.

I'm still likely to defer to the best thoughts of the most researched minds, but it's good to remember, they don't know everything either. It is true wisdom to hold what we think we know with a gentle grip.

Lowell
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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR