Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 (NRSV)
Read Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 on biblegateway.com
Verse 22The Lord created me at the beginning
Verse 2On the heights, beside the way,
Verse 3beside the gates in front of the town,
Verse 4"To you, O people, I call,
Verse 23Ages ago I was set up,
Verse 24When there were no depths I was brought forth,
Verse 25Before the mountains had been shaped,
Verse 26when he had not yet made earth and fields,
Verse 27When he established the heavens, I was there,
Verse 28when he made firm the skies above,
Verse 29when he assigned to the sea its limit,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
Verse 30then I was beside him, like a master worker;
and I was daily his
Verse 31rejoicing in his inhabited world
Devotion
Relationships are complicated. Human beings know that — parents, children, spouses, friends, neighbors. Any time two or more people are involved, the potential exists for miscommunication, offense, inequality, misunderstanding. Yet we continue to try and make sense of them. Our social well-being depends on it. This week’s lessons are all about relationships: how God relates to us, and — as we lead up to Holy Trinity Sunday — how the three-in-one intertwines to act in and through and for us and the world.
This passage from Proverbs is an example of our desire to put a name to this work. In it, Wisdom is seen as a partner with God, present from the beginning of time as God brought the world into being. Who is this Wisdom? Paul argues, nothing less than the one we know as Jesus Christ, who is the image of the invisible God. (Col. 1:15ff) Though we came to know him in human form, Jesus is, has been and will always be completely holy, united with God for eternity. Is this relationship complicated? Of course … yet, we can’t help but want to make sense of it. Our faith depends on it.
Prayer
Holy Jesus, you are more than simply a good man or a great teacher. You are one with our creator. We may not understand how you can be both fully human and fully divine, but we confess that you are our savior and our Lord. Amen.