September 17, 2006

The Call of Wisdom

by Julianne Stokstad

With school starting, Judy Girard shared a wonderful story at the Crafty Ladies meeting about her grandson Joe. He started kindergarten. Judy was to take him to his first day orientation but he was distraught, upset and cried he didn't want to go. It was quite a struggle. Patiently she got him in the car and took him. When they returned, she asked him why he had been so upset. "Grandma," he said, "I just couldn't go because I don't know everything yet." There is so much to know and these days we all feel like Joe because the world is changing so fast and there is so much more to know.

Most of us have figured out that knowing facts and information isn't enough. It never has been and so we seek understanding. Wisdom involves understanding and is gained through experience. The Crafty Ladies could also be known as the Wise Women. Over lunch we had a conversation about marriage I wish I could have tape-recorded because in a most unself-conscious way, so much wisdom was spoken. Wisdom borne out of experience and reflection.

The Bible speaks of yet another kind of wisdom. There is an ancient tradition called the Wisdom tradition found in the Old Testament. Proverbs is one of these books. Wisdom is personified, and always in the feminine, called Sophia in the Greek and Chokma in the Hebrew. We have forgotten in the West our Wisdom heritage. An early name Jesus was called by his followers was moshel meshalim ---"master of Wisdom."

Wisdom in all contexts can be very confusing, not clear at all. It speaks, points really, to another reality, to God. Jesus often spoke in confusing paradoxes that his disciples and we have difficulty understanding.

So what about this scripture from Mark? It is filled with paradox and seems confusing to me---you figured out who I am but don't tell anybody, deny yourself and pick up your cross if you want to follow me. Time after time, Jesus confronts us with the most difficult issues in our lives--those of life and death and suffering, those that leave holes of pain in our hearts. Christianity is not a shallow or superficial religion for faint of heart but a deep and profound way to deal with the hardest issues of our lives. Can we even understand what he is talking about?

Experts in communication tell us that one's perceptions constitute 90% of one's view of reality. Public perceptions of Jesus' identity are voiced in each of the synoptic gospels where Jesus asks the disciples the same question, "Who do you say I am?" In each gospel the answer points to a somewhat different perception of which Jesus is, leading to different expectations. Mark's answer comes out of his community's experience of persecution by the Romans and memories of Jesus' awful death on the cross. In Mark, Peter identifies Jesus as the Messiah but expects Jesus to be a kingly kind of Messiah, one who will liberate the Jews from Roman oppression. In a reference to Jesus' temptation in the desert, Peter is corrected. Satan tempted me with worldly power, don't you do the same.

Now that they know who he is, Jesus tells them and us what is to be expected if they choose to follow him. He says: if you want to be a Christian, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. It is a hard call. Embrace the pain and suffering sounds masochistic to our ears. Deny oneself sounds repressive in today's society where we are told to satisfy our every desire. It is not easy to be a follower of Jesus. So why would anybody want to follow?

The point of today's' lesson, which is a turning point in Mark, is to teach God's ways and to help us live better lives which allow us to live more fulfilling lives regardless of our circumstances and while coming to know God. Wrestling with the hard stuff can bring unexpected wisdom. For it is in the difficult times that our beliefs really matter, for us individually and as a community and as a nation. Jesus is not advocating seeking pain and suffering in order for us to prove our faith. No, hurting ourselves or anyone else is to be avoided. On the journey of our lives, pain and suffering will come inevitably, even if we are very good and even if we follow all the rules and it won't even necessarily be fair.

For transformation, which is at the core of all the world's major religions, is from the Wisdom tradition. Interestingly they all put forth the same practices: surrender, detachment, compassion and forgiveness. The Dalai Lama in his book The Good Heart interprets Jesus' teaching from a Buddhist perspective. He wisely says "If we examine the nature of suffering, we will find that there are certain types of suffering that are amenable to solutions and can thus be overcome. Once we realize this, we should seek their solution and the means to overcome the suffering. (I might add, that is the focus of justice.) But there are also other types of suffering that are inevitable and insurmountable. In such cases, it is important to develop a state of mind that will allow you to deal with this suffering in a realistic way. By doing so, you may be able to accept these difficulties as they arise. Such an attitude will protect you, not necessarily from the physical reality of suffering, but from the unnecessary, added psychological burden of struggling against that suffering."

One of the greatest gifts of Christian faith is the knowledge that love is stronger than death. Jesus taught us that physical suffering and death is not the end, not the worst thing that can happen to us. Death of our soul or spirit is worse. Jesus taught through his words and example that God is with us, no matter how terrible our struggles. Even if we cannot perceive God's presence, God is present. That knowledge can change everything for us when we know we are not alone. To stand with another, witnessing deeply to their suffering is one of the most sacred and profound tasks and it is also one of the most difficult of our human tasks because much as we want to take away the another's suffering, we cannot. We all struggle with this mystery.

Our true mission is to be this love, Christ's love, in the world and to give it away. It's not about us, it's about loving God more and our neighbors more. As we strive to do this, I can tell you for sure, by getting out of yourself, you will come closer to God. Your heart and soul will flourish and grow and your life will take on new meaning in ways you cannot imagine. It's not going to be easy, but we are promised to have the wild free Holy Spirit and we are promised true life. Take the risk! Follow Jesus' way. AMEN