“An antidote to sin”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Thursday, May 11, 2023
Wisdom of Solomon 14:27-15:3 (Forward, p. 13) RSV p. 120
Today’s passage is one that is almost entirely inexplicable to most of us in the modern Western world, for it addresses, along with its preceding and following chapters the folly of creating and worshipping dumb, lifeless idols. We moderns might well think to ourselves, ‘no, there is entirely no way that any of this might apply to us. We know better.’ However, it might be good to say, ‘not so fast’, and to hold off such a dismissive sentiment.
In some preceding chapters our author has much to say about the origin of idolatry and I think that some of that might well apply to us today. In chapter 13, he talks about the glories of creation and how people are held in spellbound rapture by its beauty and intricacy. He suggests that this is quite natural and quite to be expected, but then that it is an error to fail to “recognize the craftsman [that is, God] while paying heed to his works”, and then to attribute to these forces of nature some power or force apart from the One who made them. I would suggest that there are certainly some people today who fall very close to this thinking, whether they be extreme environments, animists or devotes of such things as wicca or nature religions. What is more, our author suggests that their error is in trusting simply ‘in what they see’, rather than the unseen, which is God. And, doesn’t this sound like many of us!
Chapter 14 continues in this vein, suggesting that it is futile to trust in an inanimate, lifeless object to give us protection in times of trouble or give us help. He quotes the folly, the silliness, of fashioning an idol out of wood to protect a ship and its people on a perilous ocean voyage, when the ship itself is made of the same fragile, inanimate, lifeless kind of material. But then, do not we, you and I, often place our trust in equally inanimate, lifeless things—like money and bank accounts and all sorts of store-bought products!
Moving forward in that same chapter, our author mentions two other kinds or sources of idolatry, equally ill-advised. A parent, for instance, might lament the early and premature loss of a dearly beloved child by setting up a kind of shrine in that child’s memory. All of this might be quite nature, and quite fine, but then, when does it go beyond ‘mere’ remembrance and take on a life and an existence of its own? When does it become something of an unhealthy fetish? It has certainly been known to happen.
And what about the natural inclination to honour and serve one of our leaders: when does this slip into honouring or serving (or venerating) his or her image or name or reputation above that of God? A kind of emperor worship: that too has been known to happen, even in modern, democratic states.
The rest of chapter 14—verses 22-31—describe in some detail the sad outcomes of such choices, the sad outcomes in terms of their personal and communal lives. The author’s point is that our choices in whatever we will hold to be dear, whatever we will worship, will inevitably have impacts on the rest of our lives.
But then, in the opening verses of chapter 15 (verses 1-3) we are given the antidote to all this. It consists of knowing God personally for who and what He is and respecting Him and His power accordingly. If we know the kindness, truthfulness, patience and mercy of God, and know how these are exercised in His world, we will be less likely to sin, to fall into the worship of idols. And, even more, if we recognize and take to heart the fact that we belong to Him, that we are His, and that His has only our good at heart. Knowing this makes us more likely to trust Him in everything and less likely to place our trust in anything else. Amen.
Forward notes: “For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power; but we will not sin, because we know that you acknowledge us as yours” (chapter 15, verse 2).
“I recently led a Bible study that took a long detour into a discussion of sin. It’s not something we usually talk about in groups, but the truth is that we all think about sin. Our discussion centered on the issue that people usually discuss when sin comes up in a Bible study: the root of sin is too much self-focus. Together we confess sins known and unknown or things done and left undone. When we sin, we fail to recognize the divine image in others and in ourselves.
“The comment that surprised me most came near the end of our discussion, and it was good news. Even though we all sin—confessing
things known and unknown came up again—God loves us anyway. This is a truth the Book of Wisdom revealed ages ago, but it’s easy for us to forget. When we confront sin in our lives, we can trust Wisdom and know that we belong to God and that drawing closer to God leads us to righteousness.”
Moving Forward: “Each day this week, commit to saying the confession embedded in the Prayers of the People (found on page 393 of the American Book of Common Prayer), and page 127 of the Canadian Book of Alternative Services).”