The Holy Venerable-Martyr Eudocia (98-117)
Isaiah 1:19-2:3; Genesis 1:14-23; Proverbs 1:20-33
Great Fast Day 2. Abstention from meat and foods that contain meat. According to liturgical prescriptions, the Divine Liturgy is not celebrated today.
Read Proverbs 1:20-33
The Book of Proverbs is considered a part of the genre which scholars call “wisdom literature” in the Old Testament. Today as we continue our reading of Proverbs, we read a personified account of wisdom “crying out in the street.” Wisdom calls out to us, and if we choose not to heed it and be wise, then we suffer the consequences. If we refuse the call of wisdom, then we will face “calamity” and “panic” (v. 26), “distress and anguish” (v. 27). When we listen to wisdom, we will “be secure and will live at ease” (v. 33).
When we consider “wisdom,” I am reminded of St. Paul who writes that Jesus “became for us wisdom from God” (1 Cor. 1:30). While contemplating the “scandalous” meaning of the cross, Paul writes that the wisdom of the world cannot compare to God’s wisdom. He writes, “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Cor. 1:22-25).
While we seek to employ wisdom in our decisions so that we can live our lives with security and unnecessary troubles, sometimes our best laid plans go awry. As Christians, we need to trust that our loving God truly cares for us and is the One in control, even during times of terrible suffering and misfortune. When we look at the cross—a device used to execute capital punishment—instead of seeing death and shame, we Christians see victory, resurrection, and the perfect fulfilment of God’s promise. If Christ did not follow His Father’s will to freely accept death for us, the meaning of the cross would have never been transformed. Death would have the final say. Christ is risen and victorious over death! He welcomes all of creation to be renewed and share His victory with Him. The thought of the incarnate God dying a shameful death on a cross may not align with human wisdom, but we Christians know that God’s will and His plan is truly wiser and more beautiful than any human wisdom.