Ordinary 6

The Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119; I Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37

King Solomon, the son of King David, is celebrated down to our own day for his wisdom.

But was Solomon wise? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

According to the First Book of Kings, the Queen of Sheba traveled to see and hear for herself if the stories were true. She tested Solomon with subtle questions on every subject in which she was interested. And, “King Solomon explained everything she asked about, there remained nothing hidden from him that he could not explain to her.”

 

The ability to explain everything? Is that wisdom?

Today Solomon would be replaced by AI.

 

The story goes on…

“When the queen of Sheba witnessed Solomon’s great wisdom, the palace he had built,

the food at his table, the seating of his ministers, the attendance and dress of his waiters, his servers, and the burnt offerings he offered in the house of the LORD, it took her breath away.” [I Kings 10: 1-5]

 

Of course she was breathless. She experienced what every embassy, ambassador, visiting head of state, delegation, nuncio has ever experienced for millennia; the power, the opulence, the wealth, the grandeur of a people put on display. It is all meant to impress and to make sure that the visiting delegation knows their place in the relationship. That is the purpose of great palaces, grand opera houses, wide tree-lined boulevards into capital cities, majestic ballrooms and multicourse meals of exotic foods.

 

It’s all about parading and flaunting power. And the Queen of Sheba was impressed!

And then – she went home. But did she experience wisdom or encounter symbols of power?

 

Continuing from last Sunday’s passage to the Corinthian community, Paul begins to reveal God’s Wisdom to us. He writes, “we speak a wisdom to those who are spiritually mature…” What does it mean to be spiritually mature? Seemingly, not everyone is ready to recognize and accept biblical, that is, God’s Wisdom. Spiritual maturity entails a deep grounding in humility, an embrace of silence and a willingness to listen. Such maturity does not come with age or experience, least of all power. There are many Christians who need to yet grow in experience of the Holy Spirit. 

 

There was great Wisdom in both Josephs of the scriptures, the youngest son of Jacob and the silent husband of Mary. The young prophet and dream interpreter Daniel. The 17th century Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection and the 19th century Therese of Lisieux. All small people in the grand scheme of things.

 

Spiritual maturity allows you to see into the paradox of God; to hear God in the silences.

 

Consider what Paul was preaching. Christ crucified!

He offered the image and reality of an itinerant, inconsequential Jewish rabbi from a backwater of the Greco-Roman Empire; tortured and executed in the most humiliating and shameful manner as the presence, the promise and the love of the eternal God. Really? What Paul needed was a good, expensive advertising agency and strategy.

 

To reflect on an image of the crucified is to encounter the Wisdom of God!

A Wisdom not everyone can embrace.

 

Paul continues, “We speak…not a wisdom of this age.” The wisdom of this age which was recently articulated by Steven Miller. “We live in a world, in the real world, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.”

 

Is Miller’s statement true?

To answer that question, I will offer an exercise for you with which to ascertain the truth.

 

Consider sitting before a crucifix. And not the bloodless, beautiful-bodied crucifixes of popular art. Sit before the image of the Crucifixion panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece by Renaissance artist Matthias Grünewald. There recall Miller’s words: “strength, force, power, iron laws…” In that period of reflection I would hope you will experience a dissonance; a dissonance between the wisdom of this age and the Wisdom of God. Which is truth?

Paul continues, “We speak a wisdom…not of the rulers of this age who are passing away.” Call to mind the names of today’s prime ministers, presidents, heads of global corporations, dictators, monarchs, heads of media and supreme leaders. Wealth and power are not in themselves evil. It is rather how a person uses power and wealth as the Epstein File revelations are exposing. Realize the rulers of this age, the names of leaders that you and I consider, are passing away.

 

Paul writes not of power and influence but of “God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden…”

 

God’s Wisdom is not having the answers to every question like Solomon. There are questions that have no answers but need to be asked. Recently, I returned to working out at the gym, and my young trainer, who knows I am a priest, asked off the cuff a probing question. “What have you learned in all the years as a priest?”  Surprisingly, the answer was immediate,

“Every person is wounded.”

“Everyone has two to three monkeys on their back.”

“I cannot fix any of it.”

“I can only, with my own wounds and monkeys, walk with people.”

 

As chaplain at Albany Medical Center, I would sit with people outside the ER or OR. People in these situations have all sorts of questions and I, with all my theology, stupidly provided answers until I realized I needed to be quiet and listen. People with questions don’t need answers, they need someone to listen to them. Some questions have no answers. God’s Wisdom is found in silence, humility, awe, and weakness.

 

God’s Wisdom is found in the search for God’s will for us. As Saint Augustine taught, “If you are seeking God, you have already found him.” It is the journey that is important, not the arrival. I could argue, there is no arrival, only the search.

 

God’s Wisdom is not rooted in strength, force, power and law. It does not often use religious signs and symbols.

 

The Wisdom of God is seen in a vulnerable new-born and an executed man on a cross…

            …ultimately the human experience.

 

You probably have never heard of Samuel Jimenez Correa. As an infant in El Salvador, Samuel was literally disposed of in a trash dump. He was rescued by strangers, shot by bandits as a young child and violently abused by his adoptive parents.  Samuel eventually found refuge at the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos [“Our Little Brothers and Sisters] Orphanage.

 

On Friday, 6 February 2026 in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, New York City, he proclaimed the Word of God when Ronald Hicks was installed as the 11th Archbishop of New York. By choosing a discarded orphan to read at his Installation Mass, the new archbishop was clear. People like Samuel are the heart of the Church because they are the Wisdom of God.                 

 

Sorry, Solomon. You’ve been eclipsed.                                                                          

 

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Consider reading the book about Samuel Jimenez Correa: Do Not Discard: The Story of Sam by Marlene Byrne, Good Stories Publishing, 2023

15 February 2026