THE ETERNAL WISDOM OF GOD


17 DECEMBER

Gen 49:2,8-10; Ps 72:1-4,7-8,17; Mt 1:1-17

Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom of God

The Church starts the Christmas Novena today. During the Novena, she leads her children in meditating on various prophetic titles of Jesus Christ, which are used to prepare the minds of the people for his coming in human nature. These titles reveal various aspects of the mystery of Jesus Christ. Meditating on these various titles, we are gradually led into the deep mysteries of the Son of Man. As we noted yesterday, the coming of the Son of God in human nature is not an appendage to human history, but rather the centre and principle of it. Without the knowledge of the One who enlightens every man who comes into existence, the history of human existence remains dark and meaningless. The Eternal Word of God is the light that enlightens the whole creation and human existence and activities, especially. These special prophetic titles are, therefore, invitations to us to embrace Jesus Christ anew as our Saviour and personal Lord. They draw our minds to consider how God prepared creation, and men to receive his word that he created us to receive and house. God’s purpose and intention have never altered since the creation of the world; He made us for himself, that we may be a temple fit for the indwelling of His Word and Holy Spirit. This is the end and the glory of man, he made in his own image.

On the first day of the Christmas Novena, we honour our Lord as the Eternal Wisdom of God, who orders the whole creation for the purpose of God. The ordering of the whole creation is by the word of God, through whom they were made good. The Eternal Wisdom rules all things by their nature, through which they share in his existence. He rules all men by our rational nature, by which we are supposed to imitate and follow him. When the envy of the evil one caused man to derail from living through his rational nature by disobedience of sin, it is the work of the Eternal Wisdom to restore man to God. His coming in our nature was therefore immediately promised and prophesied as the coming of the king. Jacob proclaimed this when he was blessing his children. “Judah, your brothers shall praise you: you grip your enemies by the neck, your father’s sons shall do you homage, Judah is a lion cub, you climb back, my son, from your kill; like a lion he crouches and lies down, or a lioness: who dare rouse him?” The prophecy shows that kingship has its origin in him, for it was for him that the sceptre properly belongs. “The sceptre shall not pass from Judah, nor the mace from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs, to whom the peoples shall render obedience.” All who rule before him were holding the sceptre in place for him, and all who rule after him must give account of their stewardship to him. Hence, every leadership role is a gift from him, and to him all must render account of rulership.

The Lion of Judah is the One to crush the head of the serpent and bring peace to his brethren, as promised by God. We are therefore invited to extend his peaceful rule of all times to our own time by imitating his justice. The core of this justice lies in submitting ourselves to God in all things and desiring to do his will alone. The Psalmist prophesied about his reign of peace. “In his days justice shall flourish and peace till the moon fails. He shall rule from sea to sea, from the Great River to earth’s bounds.” The Gospel gives us the ancestry of the Son of Man from Abraham, to establish the fact that the call of Abraham was for the purpose of preparing for his coming to deliver us from sin and evil. All these confirm for us that our relationship with God is not an afterthought, but planned from the beginning for our good. Each of us is a work of the Eternal Wisdom, and our lives are planned by the Wisdom of God for the glory of God and our salvation. The divine and wise plan of God for us awaits our cooperation to come to fruition. If we refuse to be ruled by the Eternal Wisdom of God, then he will banish us from his kingdom of peace and justice to outer darkness with the demons. May God grant us grace to prepare our lives for the coming of the Eternal Wisdom into our hearts and lives.

 “O Wisdom, you come forth from the mouth of the Most High. You fill the Universe and hold all things together in a strong yet gentle manner. O Come to teach us the way of truth.”

Let us pray: O God, Creator and Redeemer of human nature, who willed that your Word should take flesh in an ever-virgin womb, look with favour on our prayers, that your Only Begotten Son, having taken to himself our humanity, may be pleased to grant us a share in his divinity. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.   

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