17th Sunday in Ordinary Time (The Wisdom of Solomon)

Today’s first reading, telling us of King Solomon’s wish for anything he wanted, made me think of a story about three men—two workers and their boss—on their way, in the middle of the workday, to get lunch, walking to a place a few blocks away. Along the way, they passed an alley and one of the employees noticed a lamp, the kind in the story Aladdin.

          Intrigued, the first employee grabbed it, rubbed it’s side and said, “I wish I was on a tropical beach with a woman next to me and a cool drink in my hand”. Suddenly, poof…he was gone, and the lamp fell to the ground. The other two stood there, stunned with disbelief.

Then the other employee quickly picked up the lamp, and likewise, rubbed its side, and said, “My wish is to be on a Caribbean cruise, with a plate full of nachos and crab legs, and a glass of fancy champagne”. Suddenly, poof…he too was gone, and the lamp again fell to the ground.

          Alone and dismayed, the boss of the two men also picked up the lamp, rubbed its side and said, “My wish? I want those idiots back in the office before I return from lunch”.

Back to King Solomon and his wish. Solomon inherited his father’s kingdom at only 15 or 20 years old. He was the 3rd king of Israel and reigned for about 40 years, around 950 years before the birth of Jesus. There were many good things that came under his kingship: the building of the Temple, greater unity among the tribes of Israel, international relations, foreign trade, etc. However, with time he would prove to be a tragic figure, seeking primarily selfish desires. His waywardness led to a division of the nation and its people, those entrusted to his care and leadership.

But long before his unraveling, Solomon had been a young man with promise and a heart for God. Today’s reading tells us he was in Gibeon, a town less than six miles northwest of Jerusalem, where he had gone to offer a sacrifice. That night, while still in Gibeon, as we hear today, the LORD appeared to him in a dream, offering to grant whatever Solomon would request.

          In humility and obedience to the task of governing God’s people, Solomon responded, “Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong”.  We commonly say that Solomon wished simply for and was given wisdom, one of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to us too at Baptism. Wisdom is a special grace, a knowledge of sorts, that helps us to discern and understand God’s purposes and plan[1].

          I want an understanding heart, Solomon said. It’s interesting, because the Hebrew words that are translated as “understanding heart”, literally means a listening heart. In Hebrew, the verb to listen (or to hear) means to obey. In other words, it was understood that if one properly hears or listens, it gives way to obedience in carrying out God’s will in our lives.

          I’m convinced that an understanding heart only comes with prayerful patience. I find that the deep and important questions of my life, require that I place myself before God, write out the questions, sit with them and keep asking them. Over the course of days or even weeks, as thoughts emerge, I likewise write them down, so that I can then spend time with them, to prayerfully evaluate what I’ve written, then going deeper, and with care, finding what begins to feel like Gods will—rather than just my own.

          I realize such time and quiet is not always afforded in our decision making, but I do believe that it is so easy for us to simply be reactionary, coming to decisions on a moment’s notice, carried here and there by our fleeting emotions and irrational fears. Too often, our emotions and fears cause us to be overly reactionary, especially to news and social media posts.

For whatever way Solomon sadly, never recovered the beautiful promise of his youth, we can still seek God’s guidance, to employ the grace of Wisdom, poured into us at Baptism, to be intentionally prayerful in discerning and evaluating the happenings around us; and helping us in our important and impactful decisions, to know when to act and when not to; when to speak and when not to.

Like young Solomon, may we pray for “an understanding heart to judge…to distinguish right from wrong”, and in seeking this wisdom, may we be patient as God slowly leads us according to his purpose and plan, to the ultimate good He desires for us.

[1] Catechism of the Catholic Church, Glossary.