“The Quest for Wisdom and Truth”

Trinity Sunday

Sunday May 30, 2010

Proverbs 8: 1-4, 22-31

Psalm 8

Romans 5: 1-5

 

Today is a very special day in our congregation, as we welcome a number of new members into the Body of Christ through baptism, and into the ministry of this congregation through the profession of their faith. 

 

As we do so, we cannot help but ponder that these individuals stand at the beginning of a long journey; and there is no way to predict, in this moment, where that journey will take them.  None of us could have imagined where our own journeys of faith have taken us since the moment that we were baptized, or the moment that we professed our faith and joined the church. 

 

Regardless of wherever else the journey of faith leads us, the fact is that at the very heart of the religious and spiritual life is a very deep and meaningful quest.

 

That quest to grow spiritually is motivated by our longing to grow in a deeper and more expansive understanding of what is true, what is good, what is loving, what is just, what is wise, what is beautiful, what is worthwhile.  And the reason why we embrace of the rhythms and rituals of religious life is in order to strengthen and deepen our growth in these noble attributes and qualities.

 

This morning, the readings that are suggested for this particular Sunday in the church year, invite us to pay particular attention to two of these qualities that lie at the heart of the religious and spiritual life – namely, to the quest for wisdom and the quest for truth.

 

The invitation to seek wisdom is particularly evident in our reading from Proverbs.  The book of Proverbs, which is one of the longest and most insightful wisdom texts in the Bible, sets before us the invitation to wisdom in many ways. 

 

But what is interesting about the passage that we read this morning is the theological claim that informs it.  That is, the passage personifies wisdom as an agent, a force in the very structuring of reality itself. In verse 22, that personified voice of wisdom speaks, and states, “The LORD created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago.”  And then, in verse 30, wisdom claims, “I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the human race.” 

 

Although it is dressed up in ancient poetic and metaphorical language, the implications of such a claim is nothing less than shocking.  That is, if these words are, in any sense, true, then what is being suggested is that wisdom is woven into the very structure of reality. Such a view presents a provocative challenge to the modern claim that the universe is nothing more than a chaotic, random, meaningless muck of expanding energy and disparate lumps of matter.  The claim, instead, is that reality itself is wisely and morally structured. 

 

And the implication for our lives is equally startling – that to embark upon the quest for wisdom is a journey that has the potential to bring us into harmony with the universe and into a deeper connection with the One who fashioned all things. The quest for wisdom is meant to be at the heart of our quest for God.

 

So what is wisdom?  Wisdom, according to the Bible, is that knowledge that provides us with the guidance, the direction and the inspiration that we need to live this life well and to the full. The faithful life is not meant to be a drab, emaciated, joyless existence.  To the contrary, Jesus himself claimed that he had come to bring abundant life and the fullness of joy.  And one of my favourite quotes from one of the patristic writers was offered by St. Irenaeus in his eloquent essay against Gnosticism, in which he states that “the glory of God is [a human] fully alive”. 

 

 Although the wisdom literature of the Bible does, at times, invite people to remember that we will be held accountable, to God, for the ways that we have lived our lives, its focus is not so much on the afterlife, or on eternity, but rather on the question of how we are to understand this world and live this life well – to be fully alive. 

 

Lest anyone think that this longing for wisdom is unknown in our modern culture, it is interesting to realize that we need not look any further than the magazine racks of our local convenience store in order to realize that people are still longing to find guidance, direction, and inspiration to live life to the full.  Almost every magazine promises guidance about the best ways to maximize one’s health, to reduce stress, to increase one’s wealth, to reshape one’s self-identity, to find more joy in human relationships and in one’s life – all of these topics are completely connected with the longing for wisdom.

 

But, as those magazine covers so often reveal, not all wisdom is equally wise.  Just because someone claims to offer wise advice does not necessarily make it so.  True wisdom needs to be discerned as well as desired.  And it is for that reason that we are wise to steep ourselves in the wisdom literature of our own Scriptures, if for no other reason that they remind us, repeatedly, that the quest for wisdom not only leads us into harmony with God, but that it also needs to begin with an acknowledgement of our place before God.  So often, woven through the wisdom texts, we read, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  To seek wisdom without reference to God or without any respect for the One who is the ground of all being leads us into unwise, foolish, and often destructive pursuits.  Both hedonism and wisdom promise answers to the question of how to live life well – but only one of those paths is truly wise to follow.

 

But wisdom is not the only quality or attribute that is commended in today’s readings.  A second, and related, dimension is the promise of truth. 

 

And, like wisdom, truth can be both complex and elusive.  And yet, the simple fact is that we all long to know the truth.  We long to know the truth about what is important in life; we long to know the truth about whether God exists and, if so, what God is like; we long to know the truth about the meaning and purpose of our existence.  We read, we experience new things, we listen for new perspectives – and we find ourselves profoundly frustrated when we realize that someone that we have trusted has not been truthful with us.

 

Again, like wisdom, the quest for truth is a concern of our modern culture.  Strangely, it is often in movies and television shows that such quests for truth are explored.  Last week, I was on a plane to meetings in Newfoundland, and watched a movie called “Shutter Island” which, though somewhat disturbing, held at its very core the question of how we understand and seek to discover the truth about who we are and how we view reality.  And that movie is not alone – the famous Matrix series, the recently concluded series called “Lost”, even the old television show “The X Files” with its famous slogan that “the truth is out there” – all were based on extreme and sometimes strange perspectives on what constitutes truth.  Whether it is in those television shows; or our cultural fascination with mystery stories and courtroom dramas in which people are seeking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; the quest for truth is a large concern in modern culture.

 

And, like the quest for wisdom, not all truth is equal, and not every claim of truth is, or can be, equally valid – which, itself, is a rather controversial statement in modern culture.  After all, we live in a culture which likes to trumpet our supposedly tolerant approach to truth claims, as we proudly claim that all truth is relative, all truth is personal, all truth claims are equally valid.

It is good for us to remember that even though such claims are often made, the fact is that no one really believes that such a claim is true.  After all, if it were – if every claim of truth was equally valid - we would have no basis for moral discernment.  We would have no basis on which to decide that the truth claims of an abusive, hateful, violent, destructive person are, in fact, morally inadequate. If all truth claims are equally valid, the truth claims of a man like Adolf Hitler must be accepted as being equally valid  to the truth claims of the most compassionate person.  The indisputable – though sometimes criticized – reality is that not all claims of truth are equally valid.

 

Which leaves us with a challenge, an invitation, a quest; how do we discover truth in a world in which there are competing claims about what constitutes truth – and in a world which often  questions whether truth can ever be fully discovered?   

 

Listen again to Jesus’ words that we read from John’s Gospel.  The passage is taken from some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples, as he spoke to them about what was about to happen to him, and as he offered them guidance about how they were to continue after he had left them.  In that context, he stated, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth”. 

 

The Spirit of truth will guide you into all truth.   It is a bold claim, but one which reminds us that the quest for truth lies at the very core of Christian spirituality, since the quest for truth is a quest for nothing less than the Spirit of God at work in our lives.

 

But, some might say, does this not seem like a rather arrogant claim to make on behalf of the Christian faith in distinction from other faith traditions, other philosophical schools of thought?  Does this imply that we have ‘all the truth’ because we have some special measure of access to God’s Spirit in and through Christ, who himself claimed to be the truth?

 

Not necessarily.

 

A number of years ago, the Presbyterian Church in Canada adopted, as a contemporary articulation of many of the important facets of our faith, a short booklet entitled “Living Faith: A Statement of Christian Belief”. 

 

In its section on our understanding of the Holy Spirit, the statement speaks about the relationship between the Spirit and the quest for truth in our understanding of reality, but also in relation to our understanding of truth in the church. . “The Holy Spirit is the spirit of truth.  We pray as a church to be guided into truth knowing that such truth may disturb and judge us.”  Such a statement reminds us that the church is not the divine possessor or arbiter of truth, but rather that we are called to realize that God’s truth can judge us as well as guide us – but that in either case, we are called to be open to it. 

 

But the call to humility in the quest for truth becomes even more poignant later in the document, in its section on our mission and other faiths, when it states, “some whom we encounter belong to other religions and already have a faith.  Their lives often give evidence of devotion and reverence for life.  We recognize that truth and goodness in them are the work of God’s Spirit, the author of all truth. We should not address others in a spirit of arrogance implying that we are better than they.  But rather, in the spirit of humility, as beggars telling others where food is to be found, we point to life in Christ.”

 

I deeply appreciate that statement, not only for its confidence in the Spirit as the source of all truth, but also for its openness and humility in inviting us to see, in the goodness and truth of others, the presence and work of the Spirit. 

 

As we join in the celebration of these newly baptized and newly welcomed member of the Body of Christ and of the Church, this day, it is good for all of us to remember that the quest for wisdom and the quest for truth are essential dimensions of the life of faith – and to rededicate ourselves to the pursuit of these noble virtues as a foundational part of our commitment to the guidance of Jesus Christ, who is present with us by the power of the Spirit and connecting us with the One who is source of all wisdom and all truth, both now and forevermore.