The readings are (to read them, go HERE):
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
“Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time.”
So the Apostle Paul writes to the Ephesians. Paul almost always ends his letters with advice to the people, the church, he is writing to. He gives advice about how to live as a Christian, because believing in Christ was considered a new way of living life. In fact, in the earliest years after Jesus died and was resurrected, living a life following Christ was called “the Way.” It was intended as a way of life.
So Paul here is offering advice about how to live this new faith, this new way of life. Don’t be foolish, he says, be wise. He has a few other concrete instructions, things that would not be too popular in these times (or probably any times): things like “Don’t get drunk with wine,” “Be filled with the Spirit,” “Sing psalms and hymns among yourselves,” and “Give thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything.”
Each of these instructions could be a sermon, but I want to go back to how the passage starts off: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise.”
The word wise or wisdom shows up in a few of our readings. There is the Old Testament lesson, about King Solomon. Now let’s be clear whom we are talking about here. We have been hearing stories about King David for weeks. We have heard about the ups and downs of his life: killing Goliath; marrying Bathsheba after having her husband, Uriah, killed in battle; his kingdom being taken over by his son Absalom, and then Absalom being killed and David lamenting his death.
Well, finally, after a long and eventful life, King David has died. After a power struggle among some of his sons, his son Solomon ascends to the throne. Take note that Solomon is the son of Bathsheba, which is an interesting twist on things, [on how God can work through any situation].
But we’ll leave that aside, too, and instead look at the reading about Solomon today. David is known as the great King David, the beloved of the Lord, the ancestor of Jesus himself. But Solomon actually became the greatest king in all of Israel, the one with the most wealth and the most power, the one who reigned in times of relative peace.
But Solomon is known for something else. His greatest claim to fame is that he is wise. In the reading today we hear him at the beginning of his reign. He hears God say to him in a dream, “Ask what I should give you.” Here he is, just starting out as king, and God basically offers him whatever he wants. Solomon acknowledges the faith of his father, David, and how God was with David all his life. And then Solomon acknowledges what a great responsibility has been given to him, to rule over the people. And that leads him to his request: he asks for “an understanding mind…, able to discern between good and evil.”
God’s reply is that God will indeed give him “a wise and discerning mind,” such as had never been seen before and never will again. And because Solomon did not ask for riches and honor and long life, he will get those anyway; “no other king shall compare with you,” God says. And in fact, none ever did.
I wonder how many people, if they heard God say to them in a dream (or in prayer), “Ask what I should give you” — how many people would ask for wisdom, for a wise and discerning heart, able to tell the difference between good and evil? Riches and honor and a long life seem like more likely requests. Especially these days, how many would ask for wisdom?
“Be careful then how you live,” Paul writes, “not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.”
The word “evil” is uncomfortable to many people, but it could easily be used to describe the times in which we live. Look at the news and there is evil displayed before us, in the corruption of governments, in family discord and strife, in climate disasters brought on by human activity, in a pandemic spreading all over the world, in regular human sin and frailty. I really don’t need to tell you. You can see it yourselves.
We may be uncomfortable calling all this “evil,” but it is, in that all these events represent forces working counter to the goodness and grace of God, forces working against reconciliation and harmony, whether among people or between people and God.
Paul is recommending that in the midst of such days, we live as wise people, making the most of the time.
Personally, I have long liked this advice from Paul. But as I sat to write this sermon, I had to think about what Paul is really saying to us. I looked at what others have said, and I found an interpretation from a man who lived long ago, named Jerome. Jerome is a saint of the Church; he died in the year 420. In his life, he translated the Bible from the original Greek and Hebrew into Latin; his translation is known as the Vulgate (for those who perhaps have heard of it). This is how he interpreted, or reworded, Paul’s advice:
“Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, has risen. Rise up from the sleep of the age. Walk cautiously and prudently. Cast off folly. Take hold of wisdom. In this way you will be able to avoid changing yourself constantly as you walk through the vicissitudes of the times. Rather you will find a unity within yourself even amid the diversity of the times.”[1]
The vicissitudes (or trials) of the times, the diversity of the times — these certainly describe the times we live in. So how to live in such an era? Take hold of wisdom, so that you can avoid having to change yourself constantly and you can find a unity within yourself.
This is in direct contradiction to the anxiety rampant in people of our time, especially in young people. Two current ailments are the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), which is thinking other people are leading a much better life than you are, and the Fear of Better Options (FOBO), which leads to an inability to make decisions. Behind both of these widespread ailments is anxiety. With such anxiety, there is no unity within oneself. Both of them mean you have to change yourself constantly, so you don’t miss out, or so you find a better option.
The unity we need is not found by believing in oneself — the usual advice to people nowadays. Instead, it is found by throwing in one’s lot with someone greater and higher than oneself. Jesus is a great option. Unity within oneself is found by committing oneself to an all-encompassing unity that is eternal, that surpasses all that we see and know, that lasts long after our individual lives are over. We need to be grounded in God, who created all that is, who came to earth in Jesus Christ, who leaves us with the Holy Spirit to guide us and protect us through all our living and all our decisions.
In the early years of the church, following Christ was called the Way. The Christian path is a way of life, and a person following this way is careful how one walks through life, guided by wisdom and the ability to discern between good and evil. But there is something else about this way of life, which Paul says at the end of our passage: To give “thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
But that could be another sermon.
— The Rev. Canon Liz Beasley
[1] Jerome, from Epistle to the Ephesians 3.5.16, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, New Testament, vol. 8, p. 191.