3/1/20 “Wilderness Wisdom” by Nancy E. Petty
Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11
The encounter, or possibly more accurately described as “the confrontation,” between Jesus and the great inquisitor out in the wilderness raises a curious question. If the Bible is the Word of God and it is always the Word of God, why doesn’t Jesus do what it says? Did you notice that throughout our narrative today all kinds of scripture quoting is going on. It sounds like what I imagine a bible quoting debate between Franklin Graham and William Barber might sound like. The tempter quotes scripture to Jesus. Jesus, in turn, quotes scripture to the tempter. Yet Jesus resists and does not do what the Bible says. Why?
For a clue to that why question I turn to the Bible’s most reliable modern day midrash: the adventures of Harry Potter. When Harry has finished recounting the story of his experience in the Chamber of Secrets, and Dumbledore has dismissed everyone else from his office, he asks Harry to have a seat. He thanks Harry for the loyalty that called Fawkes to him in the Chamber, then he opens the discussion up to Harry regarding his meeting with the teenage Tom Riddle—perhaps knowing or anticipating Harry’s anxieties about their similarities. Addressing Harry’s concerns, Dumbledore says, “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
The idea of choices determining one’s true nature, as opposed to abilities or knowledge, is perhaps a lens through which to reflect on this interaction between Jesus and his tempter. So here’s my question for this first Sunday in Lent: Are we looking for wilderness knowledge or are we looking for wilderness wisdom?
Knowledge is defined as “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.” We value knowledge. It is a good thing to have. But it has limits. Allow me illustrate the limits of knowledge this way. Listen to Google’s mission statement: to organize all of the data in the world and make it accessible for everyone in a useful way. All of the data, or facts, in the world! And when you try to search for something on the internet these days it can feel like they’ve already achieved that goal. A simple search on the word “wisdom” will yield 446 million results (in .59 seconds). Results will include the definition from Webster, a wikipedia entry, a Pscyhology Today essay, and a series of famous quotes. Keep scrolling down the list of responses and you will get lots of advice on wisdom: “How to Gain Wisdom: 13 Steps (with Pictures)” wikiHow; “5 Pieces of Wisdom that Make you Even Smarter”; and then there is this, “Wisdom is the title used by full-fledged members of the Alchemists’ Guild of King’s Landing, a learned society that knows how to make wildfire. They are known colloquially as pyromancers.[1]”
It is indisputable that Google can produce more facts than any one person can. And we can certainly debate whether facts alone are knowledge, that is fair. But even that step of moving from fact to knowing requires something beyond the ability to recall facts. What about when facts are in conflict? How does artificial intelligence decide which is true? And what about context? How could Google know what I need to know about wisdom and how I will use that knowledge? And what about values? Is Google able to know what I value, what I put my faith in, what I recognize as true? And finally, what about the unknown? At any given moment we are all operating with less than full knowledge about just about everything because we live in the midst of the unfolding mystery of life. Does google have an algorithm for that yet?
This last question helps us refine our frame. Facts may help us decide, but we need more than facts in order to deal with mystery; we need discernment. Discernment requires not just that we know, but that we endeavor to know as God knows. To be clear, we are not fully able to know as God knows, but we are called to daily seek the heart of God, and to follow the model of Jesus. And again, as Jesus models for us in the wilderness—it is not our knowledge, it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
This is why Jesus resists and does not do what the Bible says. How and who uses the Bible makes a difference in how it is heard. “Whether the Bible is God’s Word or not depends on who the speaker is and who the hearer is. It depends on context, purpose, and motivation.” Knowledge is being able to quote the sacred words of scripture. Wisdom understands those sacred words not as the world sees us but as God’s see us. We can know that we are to love our neighbor, but wisdom is making a choice to care for our neighbor. We can know that we are to feed the hungry, but wisdom is making the choice to share our food with those who are hungry. We can know that God loves us, but wisdom is opening our hearts to that love and allowing being loved to guide our choices and how to live in this world as God’s people.
This wilderness story is our story. Temptation shows up daily to distract us from wisdom using three of the oldest temptations known to humanity: “money—turning stones into bread; religion—spectacular religion which makes the crowds want to follow us anywhere; and politics—to get the power to make things turn our the way we want. Jesus resists each temptation. It is not that Jesus is opposed to economics, politics, or religion. In fact, in his ministry, Jesus does talk—often—about economics, the dangers of wealth, and the particular care God has for the poor. And, the Jesus Movement is religious but instead of a Broadway production Jesus took a towel and a wash basin and washed feet. And no doubt, Jesus is political; but it is not the politics of Satan, Republicans, Democrats, or [Nationalism]. It is the politics of Jesus, a different kind of politics.” Jesus’ economics, his religion, his politics was not rooted in knowledge—although he could quote the laws and scriptures he learned in Jewish school with the best of them. No, his choices came from a learned wisdom that comes only from a wilderness experience where the heart is broken open, from a kind of wilderness experience where one dares to strip away the layers of the false self to find one’s true identity, and from a kind of wilderness experience where we resist the temptation to listen to all the voices shouting out their bad advice and instead choose to listen to that still small voice speaking from the center of our very being, our heart.
It is one thing to have knowledge but there is a whole other dimension to living when we follow wilderness wisdom. The tempter knew what Jesus could do. Knowledge: “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Wisdom: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” It is one thing to have knowledge but there is a whole other world when we live out of our wilderness wisdom. Knowledge: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from this pinnacle for it is written: God will command the angels to catch you so that you will not dash your foot against a stone. Wisdom: Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” It is one thing to have knowledge but it is wilderness wisdom that give us the courage to make moral choices in the presence of great power and privilege. Knowledge: “All the world I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. Wisdom: It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve only God.’”
I return to the Bible’s most reliable modern day midrash to leave you with some wisdom—not knowledge but wisdom—as you journey through the wilderness with Jesus these next forty days. Dumbledore tells Harry and wisdom tells us:
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.
To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.
Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.
The truth. It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution.
The consequences of our actions are always so complicated, so diverse, that predicting the future is a very difficult business indeed.
Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.
It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.
Indifference and neglect often do much more damage than outright dislike.
There will always be wilderness times. We will always be tempted to only follow our knowledge. The tempter is always present in our lives and world. We can choose to forge through our wilderness times with knowledge only or with knowledge grounded in wisdom. Jesus teaches us in his wilderness experience that, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” We have great abilities and great knowledge. But the Lenten journey calls us not to our knowledge but to God’s wisdom. May our journey lead us deeper into that wisdom.
