Lectionary #460. Scripture reflection for Sat. Oct. 4, 2008

Scripture: Saturday of 26th week. Job 42:1-3.5-6.12-16.Psalm
119:66.71.75.91.125.130. Luke 10:17-24. Lectionary # 460:

During this past week we have been nourished by the word of God and
Jesus, the Word of God, with inspiration and wisdom. Wisdom literature is
practical, down to earth, and helpful for our journey in life. Again Job,
Psalm 119, and Jesus are giving us wisdom--God's wisdom. All of these
readings are describing and telling us how to grow and develop through the
wisdom of the Scriptures. The great scripture saint, Jerome made this
strong statement: "To be ignorant of the Scriptures is to be ignorant of
Christ." More than any source we have God's direct revelation in
Scripture. It makes us think and pray; it encourages us and challenges us
to grow into wisdom people.
Biblical wisdom teaches us to place God and God's will above all
other persons and concerns. We see this in Job as we come to the end of
his story today. He has listened and learned and now he has become a model
of wisdom who struggles with suffering, loss, and rejection. Even God has
permitted him to be tempted by Satan, the Adversary (here it is not the
devil). After disowning his own arguments with his friends and with God,
he repents in sackcloth and ashes.
Our Psalm is a wisdom psalm and we are being led rapidly through its
different stanzas today. Why not? It is such a long Psalm that we need to
break it up and ponder over its meaning. Wisdom abounds within the
framework of this alphabetical psalm covering the letters of the Hebrew
alphabet as the stanzas roll on. Its central message is that we honor God
and learn wisdom by our love for God's words expressed in the sacred
writings--especilly in the Torah.
Scripture is also like a bundle of love letters from God. The war
like language is what rages within us warring against God and not being
good listeners. Jesus displays in prayer his great wisdom in our selection
from Luke. Jesus is the capstone in the edifice of biblical wisdom. As the
Word made flesh he is in union with God his Father whom he loves through
the Holy Spirit. We too can fall under the comfort and spell of the
Spirit of God as we listen to his prayer: "I offer you grateful praise, O
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because what you have hidden from the
learned and the clever you have revealed to the merest children."
Today we may wish to experience the wisdom of scriptural leisure by
reading all of Psalm 139 or 119; then see the parallelism of Jesus words
with Matthew 11:25-27; Luke 10:21-22; and John 14:2-31. Amen.