The Wisdom of Solomon

Beginning the Story

Every organization has a test. If you join a ball team or go out for the school play there are tryouts.

As we grow up and get involved in more and more this never ends. If you want to drive a car, pass the test, If you want to be a doctor you take the MCAT exams, want to be a lawyer, pass the bar, want to join the Masons, well, you have to memorize stuff for that and pass a test.
         
There are job interviews and performance reviews and even blind dates that we have to contend with.

There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, it is a good thing. We are a culture that values skills. And we expect the people who do certain things to bring an appropriate level of knowledge – whether it is the surgeon cutting into us or the carpenter repairing our screen door.

The thing is – there is also this concept that we call the right thing for the wrong reasons. When someone says I want to be a doctor because I want to be rich, or I want to be a minister because I want people to listen to me, or I want to be married because I don't want to be alone, or I want kids because someone has to pay for my retirement… the whole thing falls apart.

When you are doing something for the wrong reasons it is usually obvious. We know when someone does not put their heart and soul into something – you can just feel it. On the other hand, we have probably all run into someone, be it a parent, waitress, or rocket engineer who obviously so loves what they do that everything they do just seems exceptional.

It is not a job – it is a calling. It is who they were meant to be. And because they embrace that – there is this magical way in which everything comes together.

Some of us discover this right away – I know a guy who wanted to be a cop when he was eight and is now the chief of police in the Miramichi. Some of us only discover our calling after we require from the work we did to pay a lifetime of bills.

Still – doing what you believe in and are passionate about is a goal worthy of working towards. Whether you call it destiny, purpose, a calling or fate – there is a way that we are supposed to be true to ourselves.

A Reading - 1 Kings 3:4-28

The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place; Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”

It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”

Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being and provided a feast for all his servants.

Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him  The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house, only the two of us were in the house. Then this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead; but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.

Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one, and half to the other.” But the woman whose son was alive said to the king—because compassion for her son burned within her—“Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.” Then the king responded: “Give the first woman the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered; and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice.

The Story Unfolds

So this really might be Solomon’s interview for King. I see it as being a test – well if a test is part of a vision that you have in a dream…  And, well, if it is, Solomon passes with flying colours.
         
This is not an unfamiliar concept. Abraham is told to move across the country, Moses has to climb a mountain, and Jesus spends 40 days wrestling with his demons in the wilderness.
         
Are you prepared for what is coming? That is the root of what this is all about. It is not a bad idea, a leadership test to see if you are up to the challenge. But I think we have usually focused on what comes after rather than on how it all started.
         
So David dies and his son Solomon is going to be king anyway – but this is sort of a test to determine what kind of king he is going to be.
         
Cast your mind forward to the Jesus in the desert story I mentioned. Jesus is already baptized, he is already going to become a religious leader – but then he goes through a 40 day trial to determine what kind of leader he will be – are you going to use power, are you going to use God, are you going to use magic?
         
Well God comes to Solomon in the middle of the night and says, you are a king now, you can have whatever you want… and Solomon says, I am not sure I am going to be a good enough king, the type the people deserve, can you make me a better king?
         
It is such a good answer that he hits the jackpot and gets everything behind door number one, two and three! And he did not even know it was a test!
         
Which is often the way for us mere mortals wandering around in the dark down here on earth. Things happen every day that present us with choices – good or bad, help other people or focus on our own needs – these are choices that are often completely up to us to decide, but it is still a test, a test of character.
         
But then there is part two of this story – Solomon puts his new wisdom to the test in the famous test case for child custody. The so-called wisdom of Solomon is actually pretty harsh here and you are left wondering how far he would have gone to prove a point. But this will go down in the history of not only how to solve an argument – but the power of love.
         
He is not wrong – a mother’s love would be willing to sacrifice everything to keep their child safe. It is a wise way to solve the problem by looking deeply into who and what these women are. And luckily, it works.
         
Wisdom here is presented as knowing someone deeply – as understanding a person’s soul – and using that knowledge to solve the problem.
         
Solomon wants to do the best by his people, so he asks for wisdom, and the wisdom he receives is the wisdom of knowing people – of empathy – of understanding. A wisdom based on love. You might recall a very similar situation where Jesus is asked whether or not they should stone a woman and he says, let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
         
Exact same wisdom. Compassion and Empathy are used to help understand the person and solve the problem...
         

Ideas to Take With Us

Let’s assume life really is a test. Sort of. Or maybe a better way to put it is that life is a challenge which we are asked to overcome. There is a better way to do it and a harder way to do it. There really is.

There is a way to win at life and a way to lose at life.

But it has nothing to do with what the modern world keeps saying, you do not win through riches, fame, or any of that garbage – you win by becoming human. You win through love. You win by gaining the wisdom to understand that the game does not matter – the only thing that matters is the people playing the game.

You can have anything, God tells Solomon – and Solomon already has the wisdom to, ok, help me get better at the real purpose of life. And it is a good answer.

I think that is why we are here – at church – each week. Some part of us realizes that the meaning of life is deeper than we expect than we were taught at school and in our jobs – and we want to ask for that same wisdom – we are here to find it together.

Pentecost 13

Equipped

Introduction

What is the biggest problem you face in life? I would wager that no matter what is coming up on your horizon the biggest problem is you. That is right. My biggest problem is me, and your biggest problem is you.

I have at times felt too clumsy, too dumb, too ugly, too overweight, too lonely, too shy, too evil, too good, too loving, too cold, and the list goes on and on… you may also recognize that the list already has contradictions.

That is right… I can one day feel I am too smart for something and the next day feel too dumb.

Which should be a hint that most of these feelings are made up, they are the things that get in the way of me being authentic and proud and hopeful and creative and, well, what God intended me to be?

… Ever say anything like this when it comes to religion? I am not faithful enough, I don’t know the Bible enough, and I don’t go to church enough…. When it comes to following Jesus we sometimes get in the way of the simple and true fact that we all have what it takes.

Solomon

Do any of you remember King Solomon? In Bible lore he is sometimes credited with being the wisest person ever to live…. You may have heard it before but here is the most famous story of that wisdom:

One day two women came before the King. They carried with them a little baby, which was set down on the floor, at the foot of Solomon’s throne

“O my lord,” said one of the women, “five days ago I gave birth to a child. This woman and I live in the same house, and three days later she also gave birth, but that same night her child died, and at midnight she arose and, while I was sleeping, took my son away from me, and laid her dead child in its place. When I awoke in the morning I thought at first that my son was dead, until I realised that it was not my child.”

“No,” interrupted the second woman, “she lies, my lord, she lies! The living child is mine and the dead is hers!”

“No,” cried the first woman, wildly. “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.”

King Solomon raised his hand for silence.

“One of you says ‘my child lives and yours is dead ’, and the other says ‘your child is dead and my child lives’: there is a simple way to resolve the matter. Bring me a sword.”

A sword was brought, and the assembly waited to see how the King would proceed.

“Very well,” he said, “cut the child in two, and give half to one mother, and half to the other.”

The first woman turned pale.

“O my lord,” she said in a faltering voice. “Pray, give her the child. I beg you, do not kill it.”

But the other woman’s face remained hard.

“Let it be neither mine nor yours,” she said, “divide it as the King has ordained.”

Then Solomon arose, and pointed to the first woman.

“The child belongs to her,” he said. “Give her the child, and do not kill it. She is its mother.”

King Solomon was also the person who built the temple. David tried to start it, but he could not, Solomon built this majestic, huge, architecturally interesting Temple of the Ancient world in Jerusalem which people came from all over the world to see… the house of God.

So, wisest, richest, most powerful, internationally known….

Yet even he is not sure he has done the right thing – he does not know if God has noticed the Temple, or heard the prayers… and once more he stands before the alter and prays, basically saying that he is no one without God…. Even Solomon struggled with this stuff…

The Whole Armour

What are the slings and arrows of the evil one?

Do you know there are only a couple of places in the whole Bible where Satan is mentioned? Did you know that it is not what you think? 

God and his angels are having a discussion about whether or not human beings are good and loving and deserve what God has given them; Satan who is the chief opposition in the court of angels says, “I bet I can get a human to turn away from you…” and God says, go ahead, test it on my most faithful servant, Job….

That story is the only place where we get any mention, aside from warnings by later writers like Paul, of the so called ‘evil one and his slings and arrows’ - and you know what those slings and arrows turn out to be? Self-doubt.

In Matthew it tells us that the “tempter” came and talked to Jesus after the fasted for 40 days in the desert… Probably the same guy… and what does he do? He tries to convince Jesus that if he was strong enough he would use his superpowers… if he was wise enough he would get more followers and be rich and famous… if he was good enough nothing could hurt him….

In other words, he tries to whittle away the self confidence that Jesus had… a self confidence that Jesus tried to share with us, teach us, which tells us that God loves us and equips us with everything we need:

We have truth, righteousness, faith, the spirit…. All of these things which Paul called different parts of our armour when he wrote to the church in Ephesus… These are the things that God has already gifted us with and the things that can help us overcome our own fears and doubts.

Jesus

This teaching is difficult – who can accept it?

This is what some of Jesus followers asked when they heard his words. To be honest, I bet at different times a lot of different people said that when they heard it.

“Turn the other cheek” – hmmm… I have tried but I will never be able to do that.

“Love your neighbour” – well, it seems pretty impossible to love everyone.

Nelson Mandela in his inauguration speech quoted the writer Marianne Williamson when he said:

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Commissioning

A week ago, the United Church elected a new Moderator, our spiritual leader for the next three years. As he finished his sermon during the final worship service he said this:

“In a couple of hours, a thousand of us will be scattered from this place to the corners of this continent, this country, and then around the world. We will go filled with the power beyond our understanding, with the God who can do so much more than you can ever imagine and ask, and you are equipped to love the world!”

It is true, we all are, so let’s get started.