Wisdom: Part 1
A group of us were looking at the book of Proverbs the other night, and during that time, a theme caught my attention. The discussion centered around wisdom and several aspects of it. One aspect I thought was interesting is that wisdom is not just knowing WHAT to say, it is also knowing WHEN to say it. That is, if you have something that is true and right, having wisdom means you know when to actually deploy that nugget of truth. The goal of having something to say is for it to stick with who you’re sharing it with. You don’t want the other person to tune you out.
In mulling this over later, I thought of the story in John 8 where the religious leaders brought to Jesus a woman they had caught in the act of adultery. In this story, there were actually two wrongs, and Jesus addresses them both. He first addresses the religious leaders, those who should know better. While he doesn’t disagree with their accusations, neither does he support them. He simply tells them that whoever is without sin should be the one to throw the stones. These words had the effect of hanging around in the air before anything happened. In this simple statement, Jesus gave the religious leaders something that they did not tune out, but something that came home to rest in their hearts. It took a few minutes for it to really take effect, but it did. Because shortly thereafter, the leaders all walked away. Jesus effectively showed them their error with some wise words effectively placed. And better yet, instead of really showing them the error of their way, his words had the effect of allowing the religious leaders to come to their own conclusion of what they had done.
There was also the wrong of the woman, and then Jesus addressed that. He never tells her that she did no wrong, but he does tell her not to do that wrong any more. In this case HOW Jesus addressed the woman was also an effect of wisdom, and allowing wisdom to be penetrated into its intended target. Jesus’ words were not tuned out by the woman. Why is that?
One reason may be because, unlike the religious leaders, Jesus was not harsh to the woman. He valued her, and was not using her as a pawn in some greater objective. Jesus was not condescending to the woman. Through these actions, she saw that Jesus treated her differently, and thus thought of her differently. He saw value in her, and she felt that value in that she stayed when all the others left.
The wisdom of Jesus is in how he treats the two errors. As regards the religious leaders, Jesus knows they are smart and educated. He knows they know the scriptures. His words are deployed in a way that allows the people who know better to see their error, and it allows them to learn from it. They are smart guys, they see their error, and they understand what Jesus is getting at. In doing so, perhaps the religious leaders will be more inclined to do the right thing going forward.
When it comes to the woman, Jesus is kind and gentle with her. She’s been mis-treated, probably by more folks than just the religious leaders. She knows what she’s doing is wrong, and she doesn’t need a group of religious leaders to catch her in the act and let her know about it. What she needs is someone to care about her, to help her, to love her, to extend mercy to her. With the right response that Jesus provides to her, she too will be more inclined to do right going forward.
We try to use wisdom, and we try to use it wisely. The more we can be like Jesus in this area, the more good we will accomplish for the Kingdom.
-Mike Hendricks