The Creation Before Creation

I preached this sermon at Lawrence Road Presbyterian Church on Sunday, September 13, 2015. Inspiration for this sermon came from scripture, film, art, and theology analogies.

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Proverbs 1:20-33

20 Wisdom cries out in the street;

    in the squares she raises her voice.

21 At the busiest corner she cries out;

    at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?

How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing

    and fools hate knowledge?

23 Give heed to my reproof;

I will pour out my thoughts to you;

    I will make my words known to you.

24 Because I have called and you refused,

    have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,

25 and because you have ignored all my counsel

    and would have none of my reproof,

26 I also will laugh at your calamity;

    I will mock when panic strikes you,

27 when panic strikes you like a storm,

    and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,

    when distress and anguish come upon you.

28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;

    they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.

29 Because they hated knowledge

    and did not choose the fear of the Lord,

30 would have none of my counsel,

    and despised all my reproof,

31 therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way

    and be sated with their own devices.

32 For waywardness kills the simple,

    and the complacency of fools destroys them;

33 but those who listen to me will be secure

    and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.”

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On the seventh day, God finished the creation and he rested. He blessed and hallowed it, declaring it a day of holy rest after all the work God had done. Everything was good as it was created by God.

On the sixth day, “God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.” These humans would have dominion over the animals that covered the earth. And so before God created humankind, God created the wild beasts of the earth. Everything that ran or galloped; creeped or crawled, God created. God blessed the humans and the animals and said to humans, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth! Hold dominion over the beasts of the earth and the fish of the sea and the birds of the air!”

Which brings us back to the fifth day! God created the fish of the sea and the birds of the air! Everything from the great sea monsters to the tiniest of creatures; to the majestic eagles to the beautiful sparrows.  The waters swam and the air flew, filled with creatures of every kind, joining the great lights of the sky.

It was on the fourth day God created these great lights, the sun and the moon and the stars. During the day, one greater light would rule the sky and at night, one lesser light along with the stars would rule the sky. These were the signs for time and seasons. And the light that the sun and the moon gave covered the earth and the seas.

And that is why on the third day God created the earth and the seas. God took the waters from beneath the sky and gathered them into one place so that dry land would appear. The dry land was called earth and the gathered waters were called the seas. Upon the earth, vegetation was drawn forth. There were seeds and fruits and trees. These were the plants that would be nourished by the lights and the plants that would nourish the humans and the animals. This all occurred in waters below the waters of the sky.

Because it was on the second day God separated the waters by creating a dome in their midst. There were the waters below the dome and the waters above the dome. This dome was called sky and it was filled with both light and darkness.

And it was the light that God created on the first day. “Let there be light,” God declared. And the light was good. It was separated from the darkness. The light was called day and the darkness called night.  But before this separation, there was only darkness covering a formless void. There was nothing but God the Creator.

This is the reversal of creation story we know. It’s the story that starts our Bible. It’s the story we read time and time again, from our youngest of years in Sunday School to even now in Adult Education. We know this story. But reading this story in the reverse order causes one to think, what was God doing before the first day? What occurred on the days before days? What was God’s plan or intention?

 And that brings us to the book of Proverbs. In the days before days, there was a creation before creation. Before the humans or the animals were created, before the fish of the sea or the birds of the sky, before the sun and the moon and the stars, before the vegetation and the earth and the seas, before the dome called the sky, before the light was separated the darkness, before God swept across the formless void, God created something else: Wisdom.

 It was wisdom that was brought forth in the days before days and it was wisdom that was created before the creation. And it was wisdom that worked beside God while he created. And it was wisdom that rejoiced at the end of each day because of God’ work. It was wisdom that delighted in God’s human race. But we know what happened after the creation. Humankind sinned.

Our passage today is personification of an attribute of God as portrayed by Lady Wisdom. She is angry and frustrated with the sins of humankind. And her angry warning is supposed to create some sort of catalyst and spark a fear into our hearts. She is saying that she will abandon us for we have abandoned her. It’s a terrifying warning and it’s an even more terrible thought. But it through this fear explained by Lady Wisdom that we continue to learn more about the accessibility of God and how God comes to us.

First, we need to acknowledge, Wisdom, especially in its purest form, can be terrifying. It’s the truth. The cold hard truth. And it’s even more terrifying when we know it to be true but we wish it wasn’t.

When I first read this passage in preparation for this sermon, I instantly thought of the Lord of the Ring movies / books. I knew I had to watch the first movie again. So three hours later and three hours not studying for my classes at seminary, I made a conclusion. Lady Wisdom eerily reminds me of Galadriel. For those of you who haven’t seen the movie or read the book, Lord of the Rings is about a small and humble hobbit named Frodo traveling to a land of shadow and darkness to destroy a ring of great evil. Galadriel is a wise and beautiful elven queen he meets along the way. And at one point, Frodo offers her the ring to which she responds with a wicked and terrible speech… a wicked and terrible speech filled with wisdom.

Now mind you, I was nine when this movie first came out. As the movie was PG-13, I begged my mom to take me. She thought it was be too gruesome and that I would be too afraid. So after I begged and begged, the two of us ended up in the theatre. I remember at one point during a battle scene, one of the monsters is decapitated by one of the heroes and my mom looks over at me and asks how I’m doing. Here I am, at the edge of my seat, grasping the arm rests for dear life, with a look of excitement on my face screaming, “This is awesome!!” But mothers always seem to know best because my mom was right in the assumption that I would find this movie scary, and it was actually Galadriel’s speech that made me cower in fear. This beautiful elven woman in a beautiful long and flowing dress instantly became dark and negative, covered in body armour, shouting her speech in a dark and twisted voice:

“And now at last it comes. You will give me the Ring freely! In place of the Dark Lord you will set up a Queen. And I shall not be dark, but beautiful and terrible as the Morning and the Night! Fair as the Sea and the Sun and the Snow upon the Mountain! Dreadful as the Storm and the Lightning! Stronger than the foundations of the earth. All shall love me and despair!”

It only lasted ten seconds before she was the small and beautiful queen once again, but as a boy of nine, I was terrified. Her words rang true with ambition and wisdom. But because this speech and the wisdom in her words, Frodo knew he must be the one to continue to carry the ring. It was through her terrifying wisdom that Frodo realized that this was his journey, not hers.

For another example, think about it like this. Lady Wisdom is similar to a parent scolding a child. Whether you’ve been the one scolding or the one scolded, we know this feeling. It’s not a good feeling for either party. But we understand it is something necessary we need to do. As the one scolding, parents don’t do it because they want to; they do it because they have to. They probably dislike it just as much as the one being scolded. They firmly tell their child what he or she has done wrong and the consequences that will follow. They do this to teach the child a lesson. But even in the scolder’s anger or frustration, their love for their child does not diminish. This is an act of wisdom. As the one being scolded, they don’t want it happen; they don’t even want to admit it needs to happen. They may whine or complain, but eventually they will listen to their parents. They suffer through the consequences and they learn. They try not to let it happen again. And even here, in the shame and sorrow of the one being scolded, their love for their parent does not diminish. This is a response to an act of wisdom; therefore, this too is an act of wisdom.

Lady Wisdom is a scolding parent whose love for her children is being expressed through anger. We are those children. We have been the simple or those who choose to remain ignorant. We have been the scoffers or those who take pleasure in cynicism. And we have been the fools or those who despise knowledge. And each time, we have rejected her wisdom. Time and time again, we reject God’s wisdom. And for rejecting wisdom, wisdom will reject us. There will be sudden and unpredictable consequences that come like a storm and a whirlwind upon us. We will reap what we have sown and we shall be punished for our evil deeds. As I said, wisdom, especially in its purest form, can be terrifying.

While this passage is supposed to light a fire of fear within our hearts and minds, it also can be used to give us an overwhelming sense of peace. See, we have been punished. Our God came to earth in the form of a man – our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – to die on a cross. That was our punishment. And our God continues to be punished on our behalf. For being simple and for being the scoffers; for being the fools who despise knowledge; for rejecting wisdom and for rejecting God; God is willingly and lovingly being punished on our behalf. God came to us to bear all our sins. God continues to come to us to bear all of our sins. We know this to be true!

Hear the first two verses once again, before Lady Wisdom gives her fearful warning:

Wisdom cries out in the street;

    in the squares she raises her voice.

At the busiest corner she cries out;

    at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:

No matter where we go, God is with us. It proves how accessible God is for us. We find God here in church. We find God reading scripture. We find God in our conversations with one another, with our family and friends. We find God in nature and we find God in our cities. In the streets and in the corners, in the squares and at the entrances, God is present, crying out for us. And it is only through wisdom that we are able to hear it.

There’s very well known images of Jesus knocking at a door. The images portray Jesus coming to us. What we don’t see is what is on the other side of that door. That’s us. But we’re not there ready to open the door. We’re not even preparing our house to welcome Jesus in. Rather, we’re doing everything to keep Jesus out. We’ve shut the door tight, locked all the locks, closed all the bars. Jesus is still knocking. And so then we move the couch in front of the door. And then the fridge. And the kitchen sink. And then your second-born son. Jesus is still patiently knocking.

And that is where grace comes in. Grace and wisdom and salvation. It is through these natures of God that the door is opened. It is through them that we are able to welcome Jesus into our homes and into our hearts. It is Jesus who is knocking at our door and it is through the resurrection of Christ that the door is opened.

We need to fear God. That is why we are doing everything we can to keep God out and that is why we have rejected wisdom. But there should be a greater fear in a life without God. We should fear that without God’s wisdom and love and grace, that door would never be opened.

From the creation story to the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, there was the almighty wisdom of God. It worked alongside God then and it continues to work alongside God now. It rejoices with us and it delights in us. That is why we as humankind, in our brokenness and in our sins, have been saved. It was all part of the plan. In the days before days and in the creation before creation, God had wisdom, and in that wisdom, God chose to love us.

If we live in wisdom, we will live in peace. If we fear the Lord, then there is no fear for misfortune. Because our God – our God of infinite love and wisdom – will always cry out for us.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. 

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All mighty and all loving God. In the days before days and in the creation before creation, you created wisdom. In that wisdom, you chose to love us. Help us to live into this love. Use your hand to guide us in ways that best serve you. Forgive us when we abandon you or when we reject your wisdom, for we know it by your grace that the door to eternal life has been opened. We pray these things in the holy name of your Son, Jesus Christ.       Amen.

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