Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. 2 She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3 She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, 4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, 5 “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. 6 Leave your simple ways, and live, and walk in the way of insight.”
Jesus is God’s Wisdom (1 Cor. 1). Now while Wisdom in Hebrew is a feminine noun, that does not equal a female noun although usually for the animal kingdom the two often go hand in hand. But what we should note here is Wisdom has created a temple to reside in. It has seven pillars. Now many think this represent the seven-fold Spirit. Isa 11:2 ESV “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.”
Upon these Jesus’ temple is founded and he invites us all to his wedding feast to partake of the rich foods he has provided. The young women are the Church which calls out to the world to partake of the feast Jesus has provided us, indeed even now we begin to partake of this feast as we feed on Jesus, that is his Word.
The world offers all sorts of philosophies and structures for living and there is a worldly wisdom about them. They can offer some temporal help. But they can never fully fulfill the desire for God that God has placed in us. Only God in Jesus can fulfill that need. Jesus’ Word can make the simplest of people seem complex and the greatest fool the wisest man, if we listen to him, trust him and follow what he says we should do.
Certainly even the world recognizes this sometimes and borrows from Jesus’ Word though without Jesus ultimately it will come up empty though it may give temporal relief. But over all Jesus’ Word and Wisdom falls on deaf ears. It is too much to stand without faith in Him. For Jesus’ Word and Wisdom is not only for this world but for the world to come. We who answer his call are called to model that kingdom in this world. If we do it, our world and the world around us is turned upside down.
Our fallen flesh does not want to listen to Jesus’ Wisdom. It calls for the death of the flesh and the dark ways of the world to which it is addicted. But if we turn in to Jesus’ temple, the Church, and hear Jesus’ message of forgiveness and love from God freely given and freely received, then we can begin to drown that old man with its worldly wisdom and live by the wisdom of Jesus. The world’s ways is simple though it thinks itself complex but that is because it is trying to reach the things of God without Jesus the Wisdom of God and the Power of God. But the Wisdom and Power of God are only known through Jesus Christ and him crucified. God, redeeming fallen humanity whose only desert is death and eternal torment for their sins, he reconciles himself through the crucifixion of his only begotten Son. Now he offers us freely the adoption of sons. All is forgiven. All is forgotten.
Gracious God and Father, grant us your Wisdom which is Christ Jesus that we may be wise to the ways of salvation and partake of your food daily. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.