Seeking Wisdom

 I have to share a reading from the lectionary today.  Don't go getting all nervous.  Episcopalians aren't known for "witnessing" or foisting our beliefs on anybody.  As a matter of fact, let me take a diversion before I even get started.

I have this reoccurring thought:  There isn't much wisdom being shared these days.  Or at least that's the way it seems to me.  (Suppressing another path I could go down...)  I have this problem (?) of befriending old people.  I don't know why, but it's a life-long trend.  Lately, I've been asking for them to impart some wisdom to me.  As I indelicately put it (a specialty of mine), if you're older than me, you're running out of time to do so.  So far, well, I don't have anything to share with you.

I believe there is wisdom in the Bible. I believe there is probably wisdom in any religious text.  Or, as I like to tell young people, "Do you know how old sayings got to be old?  Because they're true."  If they weren't true, people would stop using them.

So, here's that reading from this morning.

"And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

Now, if it will make you more comfortable -- or get you to see the point -- let's Thomas Jefferson it.

"People loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done."

Those "who do evil hate the light".  They avoid the light, "that their deeds may not be exposed."

Have you ever heard the old saying, "Sunshine is the best disinfectant."?  It's true.  And the idea is a lot older than disinfectant.

You might be interested to know, those verses are John 3:19-21. (King James version)

"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God."

That's right.  Immediately after John 3:16.  Probably the most well-known verse in the Bible.  Probably because of this guy.  (Okay, maybe it was the other guy.)

Yeah.  Nothing is straightforward is it?

Don Brown
March  10, 2024