Wisdom from Above
“Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all”
The 19th C Japanese-American artist Toshio Aoki (1854-1912) landed in California in 1880, where he quickly gained a reputation as an exotic storyteller and able artist capable of grafting together Asian themes with the European tastes that predominate in the multicultural experiment emerging on the West Coast in those early years.
Here he depicts a Chinese myth: Chang-E flying to the moon. Chang-E was the wife of the legendary archer Hou Yi. After Hou Yi shot down nine of the ten suns that were scorching the earth, he was rewarded with an elixir of immortality. However, Chang-E, either through selfishness or to prevent the elixir from falling into the wrong hands (versions differ), drank the elixir herself. As a result, she floated up to the moon, where she remains to this day, separated from her husband and living a solitary existence as the Moon Goddess.
Aoki's artwork serves as a visual meditation on the complexities of human nature, the consequences of our choices, and the often blurred lines between selfishness and sacrifice.
"The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy."
- James 3:17
Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
O Lord, you have taught us that without love, all our deeds are worth nothing: Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts that most excellent gift of charity, the true bond of peace and of all virtues, without which whoever lives is counted dead before you; grant this for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Scriptures
Wisdom 1:16–2:1
Psalm 54
James 3:16–4:6
Mark 9:30–37
Good
I was delighted to discover that everyone’s favorite Dominican bluegrass band, “The Hillbilly Thomists” dropped a new album midsummer, titled “Marigold.” “Good” is my favorite track on the release: “It’s not fair how good you are to me,” the brothers intone. And indeed: it is not fair.
Jesus speaks of his death and his resurrection, and his disciples do not understand. Somehow, the topic of conversation shifts to which of them would be the greatest … who would get the choicest seat in Jesus’s government when he finally overthrew the yoke of Roman oppression and ascended to his rightful throne. They’re ashamed when Jesus calls them out on it, but Jesus doesn’t shame them. Instead, he gently redirects them to the values of his Kingdom.
I’ve walked so many miles down empty streets
And never once looked up from my two feet
But you make the deaf to hear and you make the blind to see
To see the truth in you and the truth will make mе free.
Of course, the disciples still don’t get it. Jesus predicts his death a third time (Mark 10:32-34), and they are still completely unprepared when the day finally arrives, and each of them scatters and abandons him. Yet here again Jesus is present to them, and loves them: indeed, this is the ultimate sign and seal of his love for them.
You looked me in the еye on calvary
Forgave me when I nailed you to the tree
Though it's true I have strayed, upon your heart I am portrayed
And when I lose my way, I’ll seek myself in thee
Thus are we enfolded in sweet torrent love that is unconquerable, unstoppable and forever; that can neither be turned away or defeated; that transforms our deepest evil into the wellspring of our redemption. And thus we collapse and resolve (as does this lovely little jam) into a place of restful and joyful thanksgiving that sustains us along this strange and rocky way.
