First Reading:  Wisdom 11:22-12:2

Return, Sinner

How is the idea of repentance daunting?

22 Us, therefore, you chastise and our enemies
with a thousand blows you punish,
that we may think earnestly of your goodness when we judge,
and, when being judged, may look for mercy.
23 Hence those unjust also, who lived a life of folly,
you tormented through their own abominations.
24 For they went far astray in the paths of error,
taking for gods the worthless and disgusting among beasts,
deceived like senseless infants.
25 Therefore as though upon unreasoning children,
you sent your judgment on them as a mockery;
26 But they who took no heed of punishment
which was but child's play were
to experience a condemnation worthy of God.
27 For in the things through which they suffered distress,
since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods,
They saw and recognized the true God
whom before they had refused to know;
with this, their final condemnation came upon them.

12:1 For all men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God,
and who from the good things seen
did not succeed in knowing him who is,
and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;
2 But either fire, or wind, or the swift air,
or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water,
or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world,
they considered gods.

New American Bible

The book of Wisdom is also known as the “Wisdom of Solomon,” which honored the wisest of all Israeli monarchs, Solomon. Written toward the end of the intertestamental period (100 B.C to 100 A.D.), this book praised the ultimate virtue in Greek culture: wisdom. The author held that wisdom was not only an instrument of God, it had many of the personal qualities that Christians claimed for the “Logos.”

The book offers us a unique look into Diaspora Jews who were striving to integrate the world views of two cultures. Their Jewish belief system held the cosmos was a creation of God; hence it was “good.” The Neo-Platonism of the host culture saw reality through the lense of duality; the universe was divided into two realms: spirit (which was good and superior) and matter (which was evil or inferior); humanity was a creature caught in the middle. While this summary is a gross simplification of the cultures, it does give us an overview to the challenges these “Hellenistic” Jews faced. How could someone hold creation was good (including matter) while addressing the Greek culture at large? The answer was simple: reduce the language of duality to the realm of morality. The righteous would be led by God’s wisdom into an immortal life, while the evil who rejected such wisdom were condemned to non-existence. This view was evident in these few passages from Wisdom.

The author portrayed God as a Master looking over his creation from a vast distance. In this sense, the author painted the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the One of supreme power and love. Precisely because of this power and love, God can chastize the immoral with patience; God can bridge the chasm between the righteous and the sinner; God can reinstate the repentant sinner to a place of honor.

Implicitly, the author gave the sinner hope, when the general culture had a pessimistic outlook. For the Jews, the source of immorality was the person endowed with free will. For the Greeks, the source of immorality lie with the gods themselves. Judaism held out the possibility to live a moral life. Hellenistic common wisdom offered no such possibility; it was fatalistic.

Even after two millennia, the words from Wisdom still give us hope. With God’s help and love, we can live a moral life. We can repent.

Reflect on God’s love and power. How does that reflection give you hope in a world that seems to lack such an outlook?