On December 17 each year, we pray the first of the "O Antiphons," which proclaims Jesus as Wisdom from on High. (Most of us know the O Antiphons from the verses of the advent hymn, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel.")But what does it mean that Jesus is Wisdom?
Wisdom, in the Bible, is personified as a woman ("Sophia," which is Greek for "Wisdom") who is God's companion in creation. She crafted all things in the beginning and is the "master artisan" of the universe, together with the laws that govern nature and civilized humankind.
so that the waters should not transgress his command;
When he fixed the foundations of earth,
then was I beside him as artisan;
I was his delight day by day,
playing before him all the while,
Playing over the whole of his earth. (Prov 8:29-31)
She is also the one who gives herself as a feast for all who desire to become wise, just as Jesus came into the world in a feeding trough and gave us himself to eat and drink:
Come to me, all who desire me,
and be filled with my fruits.
You will remember me as sweeter than honey,
better to have than the honeycomb.
Those who eat of me will hunger still,
Those who eat of me will hunger still,
those who drink of me will thirst for more. (Sir 24:19-21)
Later Wisdom writers show Sophia/Wisdom as the Jewish Law, so that following the Torah was seen as the way to find Wisdom. Referring to Wisdom, the author Ben Sira writes:
All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God.
(Sir 24:23)
(Sir 24:23)
In all these ways and more, Jesus is Wisdom and Word of God made flesh (John 1). Year Four of the Biblical School students spend ten weeks exploring these ways of thinking about God's Wisdom, and its completion in the incarnation of Jesus, the Word made flesh.
O Come Let Us Adore!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011)
