Tuesday, March 6 (OS February 21) 2018: Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent; Venerable Timothy of Symbola in Bithynia († 795); ✺ Holy Hierarch Eustathius, Archbishop of Antioch († 337); Holy New Hieromartyrs Priests Alexander, Daniel, and Gregory († 1930); New Hieromartyrs Priest Constantine and Deacon Paul († 1938); New Martyr Olga († 1939); Holy Hierarch George, Bishop of Amastris on the Black Sea († 802-811); Holy Hierarch John the Scholastic, Patriarch of Constantinople († 577); Holy Hierarch Zacharias, Patriarch of Jerusalem († 633); Holy Hieromartyr Severian, Bishop of Scythopolis († 452); “Kozel’shchina” Icon of the Mother of God (1881).
Sixth Hour: Isaiah 9:9-10:4
Vespers: Genesis 7:1-5
Vespers: Proverbs 8:32-9:11
If God is not my sanctuary, than anything I build will fail.
This is the lesson of today’s reading from Isaiah. Though Ephraim and Samaria build with “bricks” and “dressed stones” all their works crumble. As we’ve seen before, without wisdom, wealth–in all its forms–can’t and won’t last.
The devastation that Isaiah says God will visit on the unwise is horrifying. He will take no delight in the strength and promise of the young and “no compassion on their fatherless and widows.” But who are these “godless … evildoer[s]” whose mouths speak nothing but the “folly” that “there is no God” (see Psalm 14:1)?
They aren’t simply unbelievers; Isaiah isn’t castigating atheists. His complaint is against those who use their wealth and power to harm others.
Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression, to turn aside the needy from justice and to rob the poor of my people of their right, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
It is those who are indifferent to their neighbor’s suffering as well as the predatory that God condemns. Against them “his anger is not turned away and his hand is stretched out still.”
St John Chrysostom reminds us that when I read passages like these, I shouldn’t think God’s anger is like mine. My anger is often the fruit of wounded pride or maybe fear. Even when it is justified, my anger is a mix of pure and impure motives.
God’s angry, Chrysostom says, is motivated by His “tender care” and His “loving-kindness” for us. The punishment He inflicts is not done to avenge wounded honor but, like the physician’s painful remedies, meant to heal us from sin.
I need to understand that while wealth in all its forms is a blessing, it has limits. And, in a fallen world, I am prone to misuse wealth even as I am all the other good things God gives me.
My misuse of wealth stands in stark contrast to Noah’s right use.
Reading about Noah building the ark and gathering the animals, it’s easy to get so taken up by the story that we overlook the immense investment of material and intellectual capital the ark requires. It must be large enough not only for Noah’s whole family but for all the animals and birds it will shelter for months. The ark must also withstand the “forty days and forty nights” of high winds and the driving rains that “will blot out from the face of the ground” all life.
Noah isn’t simply wealthy, he is wise. His wisdom extends not only to the things of God. It also embraces the myriad practical details of planning and executing a massive building project.
This is why Solomon says that if we seek wisdom we’ll find not only salvation in the next life but happiness in this life. Our happiness will come because divine wisdom isn’t limited to the things of God. There is an unapologetically practical dimension to wisdom.
Wisdom builds “her house,” mixes “her wine, … set[s] her table.” Wisdom teaches us how to take pleasure in the things of this life, to accomplish practical tasks and to be hospitable. And all this Wisdom does in such a way that we not only remember the life to come but are prepared for this life through the myriad practical details of daily life.
“Give instruction to a wise man,” Solomon says “and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man and he will increase in learning.” Yes, “fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” But as Solomon makes clear and Noah illustrates, insight is both spiritual and practical each in its proper measure.
In Christ,
+Fr Gregory
