Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost; 19 September 2021; Proper 20B (RCL); Proverbs 31:10-31; Psalm 1; James 3:13 -4:3, 7-8a; Mark 9:30-37.
Wisdom literature is typically addressed to an audience of young men of means, who are getting ready to make their way in the world, and often at court. It provides life lessons in how to avoid messing up. The book of Proverbs opens with Lady Wisdom inviting the young men to submit to her, rather than following Lady Folly. And the book ends with a paean to the good wife — perhaps Lady Wisdom in the flesh.
Continue reading “Whose wisdom?”