Jesus Sophia
Text: John 1:1-5,14; Matthew 11:28-30
Speaker: Joel Miller

“Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. And after they have reigned they will rest.”

These are the words of Jesus.  Maybe.  Probably?  

That first part might sound familiar.  In Matthew chapter 7, part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find…for everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds.” 

This is similar, and different: “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. And after they have reigned they will rest.”

This is not found in the gospel of Matthew, or Mark, or Luke, or John.  Instead, they are the opening words of Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas.  If you don’t remember learning that one with the books of the New Testament it’s because it’s not in the Bible.  The Gospel of Thomas was unknown in the modern world until it was found with other scrolls in the Egyptian desert in 1945.  Scholars agree that it’s old.  Maybe older than the other four gospels.  More likely, composed just a bit after. 

Thomas is a collection of wisdom sayings, rather than a story.  There are no miracles, not even the resurrection, or the crucifixion.  It is 114 sayings of Jesus.  About 2/3 match up well with other gospels.  Like the parable of the seed scattered on different soils, and the mustard seed and other parables;  Jesus blessing the children; most of the beatitudes.  Others are unique to Thomas.  Like when Jesus says, “Split a piece of wood; I am there.  Lift up the stone, and you will find me there” (v. 77).  Some scholars call it the “Fifth Gospel.”

It’s hard to say which is more intriguing: The fact that there’s an ancient document that echoes much of what the Bible says Jesus said.  Or the idea that there’s more Jesus out there than we previously knew.  It’s enough to make a person want to go home and split some wood, maybe lift up a few stones.  Add in the storyline of Thomas being a long- hidden scroll, perhaps hidden from the very leaders who were deciding what counted as official scripture and what didn’t, and you’ve got some high level intrigue.

You may be disturbed or marvel at the possibility of an additional gospel with additional words from Jesus.  But even without the wisdom sayings of this fifth gospel, the other four also identify Jesus closely with wisdom.  Even as the embodiment of Wisdom itself.

Wisdom, we might remember from two weeks ago, was a latecomer in the biblical writings.   In Proverbs Wisdom declares she has been with God since the beginning, rejoicing in the world and delighting in humanity (Prov. 8:30-31). 

Last week Mark told the story of Vashti from the book of Esther, written in the Wisdom era.  Queen Vashti refuses to comply to an unjust order from the Persian King.  Her replacement, Esther, uses her position as an insider to protect her people. Both are examples of “wisdom in action,” as Mark said.

Add in some additional material that didn’t make it into the Hebrew Bible and you’ve got Wisdom as part of the air and water first century Palestinian Jews were breathing and drinking at the time of Jesus. 

Like this passage from Ben Sirach: Again, Wisdom speaking for herself: “Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my fruits” (24:19).

Wisdom is in the air.  Wisdom is in the wood and under the stones and in the fruit.  Wisdom is in the stories of a people living under an unjust king, now Rome rather than Persia.  How and where will Wisdom show herself next? 

Of the four gospels, it’s Matthew and John that make the most direct connection between Jesus and Wisdom.  To an audience that knows the Wisdom words of Sirach, “Come to me, you who desire me,” Matthew has Jesus say, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Maybe that last part is what Thomas was picking up on when he wrote about those seeking and finding and being disturbed and marveling and reigning, “And after they have reigned they will rest.”  Jesus is the embodiment of Wisdom, and true Wisdom invites us to lay down our heavy burdens, and find rest.  So says Jesus in Matthew.    

To an audience that knew about Wisdom’s role in creation, John writes: “In the beginning was the Word/Wisdom, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God….All things came into being through the Word, and without the Word, not one thing came into being….And the Word, Logos, Wisdom, became flesh, and dwelled among us.”  It’s the Christmas story according to John.  Jesus is Wisdom in the flesh.

We’ve already been playing outside the boundary lines a little by entertaining wisdom from the nonbiblical Sirach and Gospel of Thomas.  And I’d like to play a little more.  Given these solidly biblical and extrabiblical connections between Jesus and Wisdom, I’d like us to imagine an alternative history, or at least an alternative present. 

As you may be aware, Christ is not Jesus’ last name.  Christ is a Greek word translating the Hebrew Messiah, which means “Anointed.”  Jesus the Anointed one, Jesus Messiah, and Jesus Christ all mean the same thing.  Christ was a title, a description, the early church gave to Jesus to represent who he was.  Jesus of Nazareth was Jesus Christ. 

I don’t want to mess with that, but I do wonder about a second option. 

Sophia is a Greek word translating the Hebrew Kochmah, which means “Wisdom.”  With Jesus so closely identified with Wisdom, I wonder how history would have looked different, or how different the future might look, if give to Jesus of Nazareth another title: Jesus Sophia.  And just for the record, I recently came across a book with this title so this is not an original idea, although I haven’t read the book so don’t know which direction the author takes it.

Just to get this into our system a bit, I invite you to repeat these words after me:

Jesus the Christ…..Jesus the Sophia….Jesus Christ…..Jesus Sophia….Jesus Sophia…..Jesus Sophia

Without taking away the meaning of Jesus Christ, Jesus Sophia adds a much-needed dimension to our impoverished experience of Jesus.  If feels a little strange, a little awkward, but let’s try it out.  

Jesus was a first century Palestinian Jewish man.  Sophia is the feminine expression of Divine Wisdom.

In Jesus, Sophia becomes flesh and dwells among us.  Jesus Sophia affirms the goodness of embodiment, delighting in the world. 

Jesus Sophia is baptized in the waters of creation, and enters the wilderness to resist the devil’s temptations to abuse power. 

Jesus Sophia calls out to those who wish to learn her ways.  Come to me.  Follow me Peter and Andrew,  Mary and Martha, James and John, Joanna and Susanna (Luke 8:3). 

Jesus Sophia blesses the children.

Jesus Sophia touches the sick, adds her strength to the weak, restores the outcasts to community.

Jesus Sophia invites people into Sabbath rest. 

Jesus Sophia gathers the small gifts of loaves and fishes, and multiplies them to feed a multitude.

Jesus Sophia walks up the mountainside and preaches blessing to the poor, blessing to the mourners, blessing to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.

Jesus Sophia lashes out against the religious elite who weigh people down with shame that is not theirs to bear.

Jesus Sophia plays with parables, trusting her listeners to find the meaning.

Jesus Sophia bleeds, and claims her blood as the life-force of her community.  Jesus Sophia kickstarts the cycle of life which had been spiraling down toward death.  “As often as you do this, do so in remembrance of me.”

Jesus Sophia teaches that the way to reign over all things is to serve the divine presence within all things. 

Jesus Sophia is unjustly accused, rejected, abused, abandoned.  But not abandoned by all, and not abandoned by God.  It’s the same story, just a different title to remember Jesus by.  Jesus Sophia doesn’t  role off the tongue quite the same way when you hit your thumb with a hammer, but maybe that’s not a bad thing?     

Jesus Sophia kickstarts the cycle of life which had been spiraling down toward death.  Death is no match for Jesus Sophia.  Jesus the Christ, Jesus the Sophia, is not in the grave.  The anointed one, Wisdom, has been raised up, and visits us who are huddled in fear behind locked doors.  “Peace be with you.” 

Jesus Sophia lives and reigns with God.  Not as a conquering king.  But as eternal Wisdom.  Wisdom which is always seeking out other bodies to continue the story of Jesus Sophia.  We are the body of Christ.  We are the body of Sophia.  And we too are seekers.

Jesus might have said: “Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and when they marvel, they will reign over all things, serve all things.  And after they have reigned they will rest.”