December 13: Come, O Wisdom
♫ Music:
WEEK THREE
December 13 - December 19
ISAIAH’S MYSTERIOUS DESCRIPTION OF CHRIST’S COMING
The “O Antiphons” are Advent prayers that date back to the 6th century in the western Christian tradition. Typically these petitions are prayed during the last seven days of Advent as anticipation mounts and Christmas day draws near. The most famous Advent antiphon, still is wide use throughout the Christian world today is O Come, O Come Emmanuel. All seven antiphons are names for Christ taken from the book of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah’s poetic and mysterious descriptions of Christ’s coming--call from the depths--beseeching the Messiah to come and ransom Israel from its captors.
Sunday, December 13
Scripture: Isaiah 11:2-3 & 28:29
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. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear...This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.
Poem: O Sapientia
Author: Malcolm Guite
O Sapientia
I cannot think unless I have been thought
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken
I cannot teach except as I am taught
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me
O Memory of time, reminding me
My Ground of Being, always grounding me
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring
Come to me now, disguised as everything.
COME, O WISDOM
At the end of Isaiah 10, we are left with the prophetic image of a clear-cut forest where as far as the eye can see there is no tree standing. This devastation is a result of God’s overwhelming and righteous judgment on the nations who are arrogant, unjust, and oppress those who cannot defend themselves.
During the reigns of Kings David and Solomon, the nation of Israel had grown in power and splendor; the people of God were blessed with prosperity and peace. Yet in less than two generations the nation of Israel forgot how God in keeping his covenantal promise had brought them all that they had. They began to believe that they were the reason for their position in the world and “despised the Holy One of Israel”—forsaking God’s wisdom for their own. At the beginning of Isaiah, Judah has become a nation whose people are culturally Jewish, but whose hearts are deeply duplicitous and whose sacrifices God hates.
God is holy and righteous. God will not allow the people to continue living in a manner that is antithetical to his holy standard. Accordingly, God will not allow his covenantal people to continue in their arrogant and sinful ways, and he sends the nation of Assyria as his instrument to punish Judah.
But that is not the end.
God, because of his great love for his people and the world, takes a stump from the devastated forest that remains after God’s judgment and raises up a king superior to even David and Solomon to reign over the people forever.
This King who “comes forth from the shoot from the stump of Jesse” will be like no other. The problem with previous kings is that they lacked the holistic knowledge necessary to live in the full understanding of our place in God’s created order, but this King will be filled with the Spirit of the Lord to lead his people.
It is in the coming of Jesus as the “God-man” and King that we see what it truly means to live as servants of the highest God in his everlasting kingdom. Our wisdom is limited and clouded. Jesus’ is not. He does not judge via human limitations, but in light of the power of the Spirit that lives in him. Therefore, his reign is one of faithful constancy to all those in his care.
Most significantly, the King teaches us the fear of the Lord. This is not a fear of punishment, but, to borrow from Thomas Aquinas, a fear that points us towards hope. It is the type of fear that causes us to love God more and more given who he is and to avoid anything that alienates us from him.
The incarnation of Jesus and the establishment of his messianic throne is a radical paradigm shift for all humanity because it reorders our understanding of God’s created universe, which ultimately enables us to act according to our positioning as children of majesty. Simultaneously, these same acts of incarnation and enthronement display a supreme act of grace that evidences God’s mercy on all of us who ultimately deserved no mercy. Because of the messianic King, we are able to understand both who God is and see ourselves in light of his larger kingdom purpose. Hallelujah!
PRAYER
O Christ, Our Wisdom:
Coming forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching from one end to the other mightily, and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.
Amen.
Paul Spears, Director, Torrey Honors Institute
About the Art
Christ the Holy Wisdom, Teaching in the Temple
Anonymous
Fresco
Visoki Decani Monastery, Decani, Serbia
This 16th century frescoed icon was found in a 13th century Serbian monastery and depicts Christ as a boy, instructing the Jewish teachers of the law in the temple. It powerfully conveys Isaiah’s notion of the Son and Word of God as Holy Wisdom. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes: “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Greeks, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:22-25).
About the Music
“O Sapientia”
Lyrics
O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
Reaching from one end to the other,
Mightily and sweetly ordering all things:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
I cannot think unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak unless I have been spoken;
I cannot teach except as I am taught
Or break the bread except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light by which I see,
O Word beneath the words with which I speak.
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me.
O sounding Song whose depth is sounding me.
O Memory of time, reminding me;
My Ground of Being, always grounding me.
My Maker’s Bounding Line, defining me.
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.
O Wisdom, which camest out of the mouth of the Most High,
And reachest from one end to another mightily,
And sweetly ordering all things,
Come and teach us the way of prudence.
About the Composer
J.A.C. Redford (b. 1953) is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and conductor of concert, chamber, and choral music, film, television, and theater scores. His many recordings include three collections of his concerts, chamber and choral music: Eternity Shut in a Span, Evening Wind, and The Alphabet of Revelation. Redford has written the scores for more than three dozen feature films, TV movies or miniseries, including The Trip to Bountiful, Oliver & Company and Newsies. His 500 episodes of television include multiple seasons of Coach and St. Elsewhere, for which he received two Emmy nominations. His collaborations with other artists include conducting The Little Mermaid, and orchestrating the scores for Avatar, WALL-E, and Skyfall, for which he also arranged and conducted Adele’s Oscar-winning title song.
Website: www.jacredford.com
About the Performers
Ben Parry (b. 1965), director of St. Silas Singers, is a conductor, composer, arranger, singer, and producer in both classical and crossover music fields, with over seventy recordings. He is co-Director of London Voice, with whom he has performed at music festivals worldwide and worked on the soundtracks of major films such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. He also works extensively with young musicians as Director of National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and the Eton Choral Courses and as Assistant Director of Music at King’s College, Cambridge. For eight years he lived in Scotland, where he co-founded the Dunedin Consort, and was also Director of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus and Director of Choral Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Seville Royal Symphony Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.
Website: www.benparry.net