Sermon: “An Understanding Mind,” August 15, 2021

"Solomon," by Pedro Berruguete, ca. 1500

Preacher: The Rev. Ryan Slifka
Scripture: 1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14 (Revised Common Lectionary)

Over the past couple weeks our scripture passages have focused on King David. David's the archetypal King. The greatest king in the history of Israel, and he looms large over both the Old and New Testaments. This week, however, we hear that David has died, he's gone to sleep with his ancestors. And we're told his son Solomon has ascended the throne.

We're told that one day Solomon visits a shrine called Gibeon, one of the religious “high places.” Here he offers a sacrifice to God, and then retires overnight to one of his many royal cottages. And while he's snoozing away, God herself visits his dreams.

Now we don't know what form God takes in this dream, if any. All we're given is a voice that speaks. And the voice issues a direction: “Ask what I should give you.” What would you like me to give you? Or, as the Spice Girls once put it “tell me what you want, what you really really want.” God gives Solomon one wish, more or less.

After recounting God's faithfulness and praising him for sticking by his father David through thick and thin, Solomon admits that he's in over his head. “I don't know how to come out or in,” he says. He's got huge shoes to fill, hundreds of thousands of citizens are depending on him. It's an impossible task.

Now, I don't know about you. But if I were given a single wish I probably would have said something like “mortgage money.” Or “a church full to the brim with people.” Solomon, though, puts my piety to shame.

“Give your servant,” he says. “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil.” Other translations say something like “give your servant a listening heart.” No matter how its put, though what it means is wisdom.  He asks for the wisdom to discern, to know the difference between right and wrong. To know the good and do it. His wish is for wisdom.

Now, this is apparently the right answer. Because we're told that “it pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this.” Ding ding ding, right answer. Wisdom! Solomon takes the square.

Now, what’s truly interesting here isn’t that God says “you wanted wisdom, you’ve got it.” What’s interesting is that God lists the things he could have asked for, rather than wisdom.

“Well Solomon,” God replies. “You might have asked to live past 100. You coulda wished for a swimming pool full of gold coins, or had turn the brains of all your enemies to mush while they ate dinner. But you didn't.

You could have asked for wealth.

You could have asked for power to wield.

You could have asked for immortality.

But instead you asked for understanding, you asked for a listening heart. You could have asked for anything else. But you, my friend, chose wisdom. So, guess what? You got it. You'll be the wisest king there ever was. And to top it all off I'm gonna give you the wealth and honour you didn't ask for, too.” As a bonus.

So the question is this: “why did God need to bring up all the things Solomon could have asked for? Why not just give him the thing he asked for—wisdom and be done with it?

Well, because the scriptures are trying to draw a real distinction between the pursuit of wisdom and the pursuit of wealth, power, and personal health and longevity. These two things are not the same.

Of course, you can be wise and become wealthy. God, after all tells Solomon he’s gonna be rich. But not because he was seeking after it. Not only that, God says that the gift of wisdom isn’t some kind of blank cheque—that whatever he does is wise. God says that if Solomon keeps his commandments, then he’ll live long and well. Wisdom is given freely to those who ask. But if he stops asking, if he stops seeking then he’s on the Highway to Hell and bringing his kingdom with him.

Spoiler alert: Solomon really drops the ball in the end. He had his brother, a rival to the throne knocked off, and he offered sacrifices at pagan altars. He made an alliance with Egypt—which was Israel's sworn enemy. He took forever to build the Jerusalem temple and he did so by enslaving people—both foreign and domestic. He blew the bank and lived opulently while ordinary citizens starved. Not only did he use marriage as a means of international diplomacy, he had over 700 wives. The last thing the book of Kings says he did was “evil in the sight of the Lord,” and the kingdom busted apart.

God points out what he didn’t ask for as a warning. Because the seeking of wisdom and the seeking of wealth, status, power are two different things. Wisdom has to be—in some way—the opposite of self-seeking. The former pleases God, the latter clearly doesn’t. One is the way to life. And the other is the way to destruction and defeat.

Now, I’m sure that you and I would all nod our heads to the sentiment. If there was a Gallup poll that asked us, “what’s more important—wisdom, or wealth, status and power?” Most of us would say “wisdom” of course. Most of us would say self-interest should take a back seat to the common good. That we should do well for our neighbors over ourselves. Check check check.

We may believe that up here (head), but do our lives actually reflect that? Like I said, if I was given one wish I’d probably have my mortgage paid off, or a successful church, or good careers for my kids.

And really, we live in a culture and society that reinforces the values of self-seeking like there’s no tomorrow.  I mean, we’re the smartest, wealthiest, most powerful, longest living people in the history of the world. And yet, we’re some of the unhappiest, most depressed, anxious and fearful people there ever were. As bright and resourceful as we may be, fearful disasters lurk on the horizon that we can’t control. Even with all the resources of the world at our disposal we can’t seem to find a sense of true purpose, true peace, true rest. Like Solomon, we’ve searched out and found just about every good thing, and yet go want for true wisdom. We’ve got it pretty good, but we have no idea what the good life, a life that leads not to death and despair, but goodness and joy, actually looks like.

I mean, I’d hate to say this yet again. But the New Testament does provide us for an answer. This kind of Wisdom is accessible to us right now. I’ve said before that my oldest son Walter once told his younger brother Abraham in Sunday School that if anyone asks him a question “just say Jesus, because it’s probably the answer anyway.” And that’s the case, yet again! Jesus is the answer. Ding ding ding.

Jesus himself identifies himself with another Old Testament figure “Lady wisdom.” The physical embodiment of the way of the good. He says that to follow in his way is to receive the same thing Solomon received in a dream, but even great. The New Testament, too, on multiple occasions directly calls Jesus “the wisdom of God.” On one hand, Jesus reveals the deepest truth about the universe, and who God is. On the other, he reveals the path, the way, that leads to life, rather than death.

Of course, this way is counter-intuitive. It goes against the grain. You wanna be rich? Jesus says, learn how to give what you’ve got away. With God there is always enough to go around. Generosity’s the only way to gain anything of true value.

You wanna be powerful? Jesus says. The greatest among you will be the one who learns how to serve the least, the last and the lost. Seek not money, career, status, Facebook likes or public displays of virtue.  The only way to the top is downward mobility.

You wanna longevity? You gotta take up the cross and learn how to die to yourself. To let go of your own ego, your self-righteousness and self satisfaction, so you can be raised from death and born again to new life. Life, fullness of life, eternal life is only found in letting go of our fear anxiety and despair.

No wonder the Apostle Paul told the early Christian communities that “God’s wisdom is foolishness to the world.” Because it goes against the grain of our every inclination. It’s counter-cultural because it’s an inversion of the values that our society, and indeed our world holds dear. It may be foolishness to the world, but as the Apostle Paul says, “to those of us who are being saved it is the wisdom and power of God.” The way that God saves us and the world.

So brothers and sisters in Christ, may you be given the courage to be truly counter-cultural. To seek the ways of wisdom over the ways of the world. And in your seeking may you finally find your true hearts desire: the true riches of heaven; the power of self-giving love, and a life that lasts as long as eternity.

AMEN.