Jesus: WISDOM INCARNATE: The Father’s Christmas Gift

The Father’s Christmas Gift

Who is the child hidden in Mary’s womb during this Advent season? Who is the “infant lying in the manger” on Christmas night?

The Scriptures answer these questions through the carol sung by the choir of angels: “Today is born to you a Savior who is Christ, the Lord.” Savior, Christ, Lord: the three great titles of Jesus during the Advent/Christmas season. These names disclose who Jesus is: He is the Messiah (Christ), he is the redemption of our sins (Savior) and He is Divine (the Lord).

To these three great Christmas titles, Scripture adds more; the Alpha and the Omega, the Lamb of God, the Son of God, the Son of Man, and many others. Each of these titles discloses a unique facet of this infinite Gift who is Jesus. A meditation on the scriptural names of Jesus is a contemplative gaze into the awesome mystery of God become our brother in the womb of Mary.

Another Seldom Used Name by the Writers of Christmas Carols

There is, however, another scriptural name of Jesus – and a favorite of Saint Louis de Montfort – which is seldom used by the writers of Christmas carols or, in fact, by most western authors of spirituality: WISDOM. So much does Father de Montfort appreciate this title that he has dedicated an entire book to The Love of the Eternal Wisdom.

The title is intriguing yet not immediately understood by those who hear it for the first time. To respond to the question: “Who is the Child in Mary’s womb?” by proclaiming: “He is Wisdom,” seems to cause more confusion than clarity. What is needed is a discovery not only of the title itself but also of its rich meaning.

To unfold the depth of the title “Wisdom,” meditate on the beautiful words of the sapiential literature of the Old Testament. Especially Proverbs 8- 9:6, Sirach 24, Wisdom 7-9 reveal a rather unknown aspect of Jesus, the Father’s Christmas Gift. A prayerful study of both the Scriptural Wisdom texts and of Saint Louis de Montfort’s little book on Wisdom, reveals the person of Jesus not only as the Way, the Truth and the Life, not only as Eternal. To the surprise, if not the shock of some, the title Wisdom reveals the God-Man as creatively, tenderly playful who yearns to be with us. Tender, creative, playful: these are in a special way specific to Jesus’ Wisdom and are, therefore, among those qualities of Wisdom accentuated by Montfort.

Tender, Creative, Playful

Playful.’ “I was God’s delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of the earth and I found delight in the children of men”.  (Proverbs 8:30-31).  Montfort paraphrases this text in the words he places on Wisdom’s lips: “ ‘I was with God and I disposed everything with such perfect precision and such pleasing variety that it was like playing a game to entertain my Father and myself.’ This mysterious game of divine Wisdom is clearly seen in the great variety of all he created”.  (LEW 32-33).  Wisdom is, then, playfully creative in all his works.

Tender: Montfort devotes a large section of his work on Wisdom to explain this paramount insight into Wisdom. Culled from a variety of wisdom texts, Saint Louis Marie’s summary of the tenderness of Jesus Wisdom is simple yet profound: “If we consider him in his origin he is everything that is good and gentle. He is a gift sent by the love of the eternal Father and a product of the love of the Holy Spirit. He was given out of love and fashioned by love. Jesus is therefore all love, or rather the very love of the Father and the Holy Spirit”.  (LEW 118).

Infinite Love has Surprised us with a Gift

How can we gaze at the Christmas crib and not see the creative, tender playfulness of God? Beyond our wildest dreams, Infinite Love has surprised us with the gift of his very being; a helpless child born of a virgin mother. More than the varied magnificence of creation, more than the myriad of glorious angels, is Jesus the manifestation of the playfulness of our God. To be joyfully wise is to be one with this divine, tender, playful Child, the son of Mary. The world considers this foolishness but Scripture forcefully declares: “Christ Jesus whom God made our wisdom . . .” (lCor 1:30).

Jesus is the Tender Smile of the Father

As we contemplate Eternal Wisdom enfleshed and see Jesus as the tender smile of the Father, we must let him qualify our life, our thoughts, our plans. Each moment of life is filled with the creative, tender, playfulness of Wisdom. The sin of the world and our own sins interfere with this game played with us by divine providence. But the joyfulness of the Christ Child will conquer even our sins. Jesus, the tenderness of God, will overcome the hardness of our hearts. The Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom, lying in the manger and one day hanging on the Cross, is in his person not only the announcement of the victory but the triumph itself. Jesus Wisdom: the Mysterious, Joyfully Creative Way of Love.

Christmas is the birth in time of the Eternal Wisdom of the Father. Not only is he Savior, Christ, Lord but he is Wisdom: the creative, joyful, playful tenderness of God. No wonder we say to one and all, “Merry Christmas”!