Sermon on 1 Kings 3:4-15 for the 2nd Sunday after Christmas, "Christ, the Wisdom of God"
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Today we come to the end of the Christmas season, and tomorrow January 6, officially begins the season of Epiphany, which focuses on Christ revealing Himself. Today’s reading are linked by the theme of wisdom. In the Old Testament we see King Solomon, the 3 rd king of Israel, and son of the great King David, having a vision from God and asking for wisdom. Then in our Gospel reading, we see the 12 year old child Jesus going to the Temple in Jerusalem, and “increasing in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Like any other child, Jesus grew in knowledge of the Lord, studied the scriptures, and sat listening to the rabbis, asking them questions. Yet in a marvelous mystery, the Scriptures also reveal Jesus to be the eternal, all-knowing, Wisdom of God. In fact, while Advent is still fresh in our memories, we might recall the first of the “O Antiphons” which prays to Christ: O Wisdom, proceeding f...