Justin Appel

Dear Friends,

Today’s Epistle reading is especially deep. Several things seem to be nested within St Paul’s rich text.

The first is that God’s wisdom, given in the Good News of “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” remains a mystery to those outside the faith. According to St Paul, that wisdom remains elusive to the “natural man,” the one who has not been enlightened and regenerated. This means that human wisdom—and this must include any system of thought that does not begin with God, including materialisms or humanisms—cannot arrive at God’s wisdom. That must be given by the Spirit and received with faith.

Second, St Paul reveals somethings critical about the role of preaching in the church. It cannot be for the promulgation of human wisdom, for the multiplication of “persuasive words.” In other words, its purpose is neither for the “inspiration” of the listener, nor for intellectual stimulation. Instead, the preacher aspires to do no less than to speak of God’s wisdom by the anointing and power of the Spirit. This is an awesome job, to be sure.

Third, St Paul says that the Holy Spirit searches even “the deep things of God” and communicates them, mystically, to the one filled with the Spirit. One can only wonder whether we, as finite beings, tend to create our own image of God, to fashion Him according to our conception and lights: as a polemic, as platitudes, as political cause, or whatever. The Scriptures, however, show us that God is Other from us, and that we receive Him through the Spirit’s procession, and in the Begotten Son given. Our faith begins from a place of humility and receptivity—a spirit demonstrated beautifully by the Mother of God.

Yours in Christ,

—Justin