Wisdom Is Vindicated by Her Works

Wisdom Is Vindicated by Her Works

Memorial of Saint John of the Cross, Priest and Doctor of the Church

If [only] you would hearken to my commandments, your prosperity would be like a river, and your vindication like the waves of the sea; Your descendants would be like the sand, and those born of your stock like its grains, their name never cut off or blotted out from my presence. Isaiah 48:18-19

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He is possessed by a demon.'  The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they said, 'Look, he is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'  But wisdom is vindicated by her works." Matthew 11:18-19

Piety

Lord God, you gave Saint John of the Cross

  the grace of complete self-denial

  and an ardent love for the cross of Christ.

Grant that by following always in his footsteps

  we may come to the eternal vision of your glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

  who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

  one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(From Lauds)

Study

Matthew and Isaiah divide people into two groups. There are those who head the commandments and those who do not.  For the first group, there will be prosperity.  For the second, there will be no peace.

However, the real issue is how to discern which group is which because Jesus will not be cavorting with the powers that be.  He will not be with the wealthy and learned.  Rather he will be with the sick and the sinners. 

Vindication plays out in both readings.  It really has a double meaning.  First, this is the action of clearing someone of blame or suspicion. Second, it is proof that someone or something is right, reasonable, or justified. In the reading from the Hebrew Bible, the person who obeys the commandments, their justification/vindication is like the waves of the sea. Such vindication is as natural as the hours of the day. However, the image of those waves of the sea can be calm or they can be violent.  However, they also are regular and never-ending.

Of the 35 uses of the word “vindication” in the NABRE translation of the Bible, 29 of them occur in the Hebrew Torah.  However, while less frequently used, vindication also appears in the New Testament. This accountability to God and to the community remains a requirement. However, in the New Testament, almost exclusively, this is used about Jesus in reference to his vindication by God.  Despite the seemingly dishonorable way Jesus lives (cavorting with sinners, lepers and tax collectors) and then the way Jesus dies (executed on the cross between two common criminals), God comes to his aid. Jesus was not vindicated for living among sinners and tax collectors.  Jesus was vindicated for his active love of us.

Action

If God came to help Jesus in his hour of need, we pray that God will come to help us. In Morning Prayer, we ask this daily through Psalm 69: “O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me.  We seek such acquittal for our sins constantly.”  

For what do you see to be acquitted?  Bring that to God in your Advent prayers and the next time you seek the freely given sacrament of Reconciliation. All we must do to earn this is to hear the commandments and heed the commandments.