JESUS AS 
A WISDOM FIGURE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 32 Sunday in Ordinary Time -A - is, “Jesus As a Wisdom Figure.”

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s three readings can be interconnected by the theme of wisdom.

Today’s first reading from the Book of Wisdom begins, “Resplendent and unfading is wisdom and she is readily perceived by those who love her and found by those who seek her.”

There’s a whole section of the Jewish Bible that presents wisdom statements, proverbs, and sayings. This type of literature is found in various religions - especially Buddhism and Confucianism.

Today’s second reading from 1^st Thessalonians begins by the call to wake up those who have fallen asleep - a constant theme in wisdom literature.

And today’s gospel from Matthew - our gospel writer for this year - we’ve been in the Year of Matthew - year A.

And today’s gospel presents the story of 5 wise virgins vs. 5 foolish virgins.

The wise virgins were prepared and stayed prepared; the fools were those young women who didn’t prepare - didn’t bring enough oil for their wedding lamps - and those who lived in the Mediterranean area knew the games folks played when it came to  being ready to meet the bridegroom when he comes - at a time everyone would least suspect.

JESUS AS A WISDOM FIGURE

The title of my homily is, “Jesus As a Wisdom Figure.”

As you know religion for some folks is declining.  My point in this homily is the following: “Okay some people don’t accept Christ as God - Christ as divine - God as Trinity - with Jesus as the Second Person in the Trinity.

I would hope parents and CCD teachers and Catechism and Catholic School teachers, would reflect on teaching our kids about Christ as a wisdom figure or teacher.

This is not to say, “Christ is not divine”. This is not to say, “We’re not trying to not push Jesus as divine.”

But it is to say, “Maybe those who have dropped away from the Church - those who dropped Christ as divine - might take this middle role for Christ - Christ as a wisdom teacher.

MY APPROACH WOULD BE

My approach would be to ask people who their wisdom figures are.

My approach would be to ask people, “Where do they get your wisdom?”

My approach would be to ask folks who their best wisdom teachers are and what they specifically learned from that person.

I would say I learned the Methodology of Questions from an old Polish teacher named Clement Jedrejewski.

I would say I learned a lot of wisdom from writers like Robert Coles, Patricia Livingston, Sheldon Kopp,  John Shea, Paul Tournier,  Barbara Taylor, Robert Fulghum, John Dunne, John O’Donohue, Sheila Moon, Elizabeth Howes, Thich Nhah Han, and many others…..

Currently I’m reading a book about what’s going on with religion in China. Someone recommended it when I asked him, “What book are you reading right now?” and he answered, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion after Mao, by Ian Johnson.

Then there are lectures, Ted Talks on YouTube, and many other sources and ways of  growing in wisdom.

If the other person is not interested in reading and learning and growing in wisdom - then forget it.

But if the person is seriously interested in growing in wisdom - even though they have dropped away from religion and church and Catholicism, then I would move to stressing, “Consider Christ as a wisdom figure.”

HOW TO DO THAT

I would suggest to that person to watch Zefferelli’s Life of Christ on their computer and just see Jesus as a wisdom teacher.   You can get that on YouTube for free.

Next I would suggest trying to get a copy of the black and white film on Jesus - called The Gospel According to Matthew - 1964. It’s directed by Pier Paolo Pasonlini.  Watch it as you would be seeing Christ as a wisdom figure.  You can also get this for free on the Internet.

You could also look at movie versions of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar.

Next I would suggest to people to line up their top 15 parables - and hear Jesus telling them as a wisdom figure.

Or I would suggest reading the Gospel of Matthew - our text for this year = and read as Christ telling wisdom stuff.  

I would go through the Gospel of Matthew and say things, “Some see it as Jesus giving us Wisdom teachings. Read the sermon on the Mount as a separate document - and pick out wisdom statements like: Go the extra mile - Turn the other cheek - don’t see the specks in your brother or sister’s eye and miss the big 2 by 4 in your own eye - don’t pray to be seen - when you pray go into your inner room where nobody sees you - adultery and robbery - you can commit those sins in your mind and heart - without doing it in actuality, You can’t serve two masters, you’ll either hate the one the other.  Enter by the narrow gate….

CONCLUSION

Get to know Jesus as a wisdom teacher and surprise you’ll be like someone on the edge of the crowd - who reaches out and touches the hem of Jesus’  garment and surprise all that will follow after that. Amen.

November 12, 2017

THERE’S  ALWAYS  GLUE 

When things break,

there’s always glue.

When bones break,

there’s always doctors.

When words break,

there’s always forgiveness.

When relationships break,

there’s always the hope of talking together.

When deaths break,

there’s always Easter mornings.

When I’m broken,

there’s always the sitting under a yellow cross.

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017
The Yellow Christ by Paul Gauguin, 1889
Albright-Knox art Gallery, Buffalo, NY

The Yellow Christ is a painting executed 
by Paul Gauguin in 1889 in Pont-Aven. 
Together with The Green Christ,
 it is considered 
to be one of the key works 
of Symbolism in painting. 
Gauguin first visited
 Pont-Aven in 1886.

November 11, 2017

THE  GREEN  CHRIST

Green, red, blue, yellow,
black, brown, grey, rust,
rainbow colored Christ,
I shift and hide and sort
myself out at your side - 
as I hide myself under
your cross - as I suffer
the sufferings of life -
these horrible unexpected,
unexplained,  moments  
when all goes wrong - 
a wrong day, a wrong word, 
a wrong turn.  I'm still green
with all this. Forgive me for
I don't know what I'm doing.
I want to hide from others
and let green tears flow from 
my eyes as your red blood 
still flows from your side
down through the centuries.

© Andy Costello, Reflections

Painting by Paul Gauguin,
The Green Christ, 1887

From Widipedia: "The Green Christ 
(in French: Le Christ vert) 
is a painting executed 
by Paul Gauguin in autumn 1889 
in Pont-Aven, Brittany, France. 
Together with The Yellow Christ, 
it is considered to be one 
of the key-works of Symbolismin painting. 
It depicts a Breton woman 
at the foot of a calvary, 
or sculpture of Christ's crucifixion. 
Calvaries are common 

in town squares in Brittany.

Topographically, the site depicted 

is the Atlantic coast at Le Pouldu. 

But the calvary depicted is an amalgam

 of calvaires from different sites; 

the cross is based upon that 

in the centre of Névez, 

a community close to Pont-Avenand 

several miles from the coast, 

and the figure of Christ is based 

upon the calvaire at Briec - 

also some distance from the sea.

Ave Maria.....

November 10, 2017

FALLING  LEAVES 

Might as well, float, spin,

do pirouettes before I hit

the ground. Up there in

the branches,  I was just one

in a crowd - and when I hit

the ground in a moment

I’ll be lost in a pile of leaves,

so this is my last moment - my

last chance, my last dance….

Now how do I do a parachute?
How do I do the helicopter.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

November 9, 2017

ONE  WORD 

Wondering: does everyone have one word

they use more than any other word - using

it over and over and over and over again?

Who’s counting? Could this be figured out?

Would we have to wear a tape monitor that

gets our every word? Would we want this?

Here are some candidates: sorry, help, hi,

crazy, God, remember,  stupid, great, stop,

when, why, how, thanks, no, yes, wow!

© Andy Costello, Reflections  2017

SUBJECT:  THE SPALDEEN

FOR THOSE WHO GREW UP IN NY YOU WILL HAVE FOND MEMORIES OF THESE.

THIS story is about a ball, the most wonderful ball ever invented.

It's better than a baseball, basketball or football. It's better than any ball you can name.

It was gone for 20 years, but it is back now.

It is called a Spaldeen, which might not mean anything to you, unless you grew up on the East Coast, preferably New York City before 1979. I grew up in Brooklyn in the 1950s and 1960s, which means my childhood memories are filled with Spaldeens.

Starting in the 1920s, the Spalding Co. manufactured tennis balls at its home base in Chicopee, Mass.

But overruns would occur, so there wasn't enough of the fuzzy stuff for the outside of the tennis balls.

Some anonymous genius -- and I use that word "genius" with reverence -- got the idea to market the bright pink, unused rubber cores as the "Spalding High-Bounce Ball."

Because New York City people don't talk so good, they pronounced Spalding as "Spaldeen"  -- as in, "Hey, Joey, you wanna play? I got a Spaldeen."

Spalding would box the Spaldeens and ship them down to New York City, where kids would buy them for a quarter each.

And, my God, when you bought a brand new Spaldeen, the aroma alone would cause ecstasy; it was the smell of Bazooka bubble gum and summer and childhood and joy and hope.

Then you would go out and play. All those legendary New York City street games began and ended with Spaldeens.

I'm talking about games you've heard about but might never have played -- stickball, punchball, stoopball, hit the penny and a million others.

When it came to inventing games with a Spaldeen, the only limit was your imagination.

We didn't have baseball fields or any other kinds of fields. We played ball on playgrounds -- really slabs of concrete surrounded by cyclone fences -- or we played in the street, using sewer covers as bases.

The virtue of a Spaldeen, besides that you could whack it a mile, was that it didn't break things.

You hit Mrs. Smith's Olds 88 with a Spaldeen, no big deal. No broken glass. No broken mirror. No broken nothin'.

Of course, Mrs. Smith would come running down her steps, screaming, "I'm gonna tell your mutha."

I apologize, Mrs. Smith, wherever you are.

I mostly played in the playground of St. Pat's or on 95th Street or Shore Road's handball courts.

And every kid would come to the playground with a Spaldeen in his back pocket. If someone had a stick, we'd play stickball.

The stick was an old broom handle or a dowel from the closet. We'd draw a box on the wall and pitch to it, and if the batter hit it over the fence, it was a homer.

We'd play handball with the Spaldeen, and sometimes we'd go to a friend's house for stoopball. A kid would throw the ball at the steps in front of someone's house, and as the ball sailed back, you'd try to catch it on a fly. If it bounced once, it was a single, twice a double, and so on.

But the king of Spaldeen games all over New York City was punchball. You'd toss the ball over your head.

You'd swing down overhand as if you were serving a tennis ball. And then you'd punch it with your closed fist.

Guys could hit it 200 feet, long fly balls that seemed to never come down. The puncher would be running around the bases -- painted squares on the playground's grimy concrete -- while the outfielders ran like mad after the Spaldeen.

THOSE WERE THE DAYS !!

[I want to thank Ms. Annette Hogan for sending me this bouncing nostaglia: the Spaldeen.]