We need wisdom from above to set our inner lives and the world at large in harmony.
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure,
then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits,
without inconstancy or insincerity.
The good fruit of wisdom begins within the individual heart. It is also necessary to avoid the conflicts and wars that arise from our passions. To make sense of all the different impulses and drives within us we need the Spirit to teach us how to order them all properly. Even within ourselves we should long for and seek after a state of peace and purity and not perpetual conflict and struggle. Only when God's peace takes root in our hearts can we share it with others. We cannot give what we do not have.
When disorder is within us it can't help but manifest in our actions and therefore in society. Our pride takes over where peace would call for the compliance and openness to being taught that is a fruit of wisdom. We become like the wicked in the reading from wisdom who, when called to progress from their hypocrisy, choose violence rather than self-searching analysis. They experience the war within between pride and humility. Pride not only wins in them, but leads to violence.
Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us;
he sets himself against our doings,
reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.
Wisdom seems difficult, lofty, like a thing only philosophers may attain. But it is something that even children can possess.
Taking a child, he placed it in their midst,
and putting his arms around it, he said to them,
“Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me;
and whoever receives me,
receives not me but the One who sent me.”
Children, we know, are not always peaceable, gentle, and compliant. But this is a state to which they return when they rest securely in the love of their parents. They do not have so much invested in their image of themselves that they will hold onto pride indefinitely in the face of love which is only willing their good.
If we can be like children we can let go of our need to be the greatest. We can trust in Jesus even when we don't understand his plans because we know that he understands more than we do. His wisdom begins to put our pride and our doubts into right order as we surrender ourselves to his love.
Behold, God is my helper;
the Lord sustains my life.
Freely will I offer you sacrifice;
I will praise your name, O LORD, for its goodness.
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