Episcopal Church of the Incarnation

West Point, Mississippi

Proper 20 B

Wis. 1:16-2:1 (6-11) 12-22 Ps. 54 Jam. 3:16-4:6 Mk. 9:30-37

Wisdom 1:16-2:1 (6-11) 12-22

1. Wisdom literature is includes Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Sirach and Wisdom (Wisdom and Sirach in the Apochrypha).

a. Major influences in other books (e.g., Gen. 37–51, the

story of Joseph).

b. Characteristics include:

§ absence of any reference to the sacred traditions (e.g., patriarchal promises, exodus, Sinai, covenant)

§ “international”: non-Israelites appear (Agur, Job)

c. Focus on life.

d. Not, strictly, a part of “salvation history”

§ but a theology of Creation

§ the created order as the source of wisdom’s insights

o compare to R. Hooker’s “Reason”

2. This book not a part of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). Comes to us from the Greek Septuagint.

a. Probably late 1^st century, B.C., Alexandrian

§ Influence of Neo-Platonism on Judaism

3. The purpose of the book is to strengthen Jewish faith in the middle of a pagan world.

a. This section = the “speech of the wicked”

§ the “way of the world”

§ note all the parallels to current Postmodernism.

Psalm 54 Deus, in nomine

1. An individual lament (largest category of psalms).

a. vv. 1–3: petition to God, with description of affliction

§ “arrogant” or “insolent men”(zārîm) probably = “foreigners” (a lament of the king)

b. vv. 4–5: confession of trust

c. vv. 6–7: vow

2. “God is my helper” (v. 4) reflects the theology of righteousness as şedeq: a relational concept

a. God is personal

b. God is faithful to His covenant.

James 3:16-4:6

1. James, the “brother of the Lord.”

a. Unmistakable tone of authority.

b. James as the head of the Church in Jerusalem

§ the Jewish tradition in the early Church

§ therefore, a strong Wisdom Literature strain

2. The letter as a series of exhortations to right living: a sermon.

a. Here, the causes of strife.

b. The breaking of a personal relationship with God.

§ “friendship with the world is enmity with God”

c. “adulterers” reflects the Jewish concept of unfaith-

fulness to God as adultery (cf. Hosea).

3. v. 15 (preceding): Wisdom is from above.

Mark 9:30-37

1. Mark’s Gospel follows an arch in literary form:

a. chs. 1–8 set in Galilee

b. The shift begins with Peter’s confession of the

Christ (8.27–30).

c. ch. 9 as the climax: the Transfiguration (9.2–8)

d. Jesus now has set His face to Jerusalem and death.

§ And what do His disciples do? They argue about which of them is the greatest.

o In Mark, the disciples never “get it.”

e. vv. 8.31–9.29: first instruction on Christology and

discipleship.

2. vv. 9.30–10.31: second instruction:

a. Second prediction of the Passion

b. The disciples are looking for worldly victory (cf.

James).

§ a child = one without legal status

§ receiving a child = an act without hope of earthly reward.