Weekly Bible Study ▪ Proverbs 9:1-6

16 August 2015

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

At first glance it would seem that today’s first reading portrays a woman of the house skillfully preparing a table. Her choice meat and wine offer the promise of satiety. No one is yet present to consume this feast. The woman extends her invitation “from the heights of the city,” calling out to the simple.

This image from the Book of Proverbs is far more than a culinary invitation. We are first introduced to the Wisdom Woman, often a personification of God’s divine activity in the world. The Wisdom books of Scripture often offer practical knowledge and instructions for living. The Book of Proverbs instructs the reader to seek wisdom and value its ways of discernment. The reader is guided in “her ways” to embrace the divine attributes of wisdom that will make for a truly spiritual life. Christians see in personified Wisdom aspects of Jesus Christ, Incarnate Wisdom, who is the way, the truth and the life.

Our passage today portrays the Wisdom Woman preparing a divine table and offering this feast to those who are far and near. She is not selective about her guests, but is selective about their simple ways. These “simple ones” are not only (or necessarily) the downtrodden or uneducated. Rather, these are the people who are not foolishly led to other false, superficial and meaningless tables (sometimes represented as “Dame Folly”). The feast that the Wisdom Woman prepares is one of truth, knowledge, integrity, justice and righteousness.  Those who seek these gifts are the “simple who understand” and are rewarded with deep spiritual nourishment.

We can choose to dine with Wisdom who offers us a “proper spiritual understanding,” or we can choose the empty and self-indulgent banquets that compete for our many appetites. To accept God’s invitation to dine at the heavenly banquet table is a choice for eternal life.

Whose invitation will we accept?

Last Supper by Bohdan Piasecki 1998

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.