Delighting in the Children of Man

Holy Trinity – C                                                                                  LSB #’s 507, 578:1-3, 5; 506
Text – Proverbs 8:30-31
 
Then I was beside Him, like a master workman, & I was daily His delight, rejoicing before Him always, rejoicing in His inhabited world & delighting in the children of man.
 
DELIGHTING IN THE CHILDREN OF MAN
 
 
How many of you have seen  a turtle?  I expect  most of you have.   Have you ever seen a turtle  sitting on top of a fence post  in between two fields?   If not,  maybe you have heard of Alex Haley.  He was the author of Roots, a bestselling book made into a TV miniseries.  It began with his ancestor taken from The Gambia who was sold as a slave & transported to the US. 
Alex Haley kept a picture in his office  of a turtle  sitting on a fence post.   He said it reminded him of a lesson he learned long ago: If you see a turtle on a fence post,  you know he had some help getting there.  Haley said, “Any time I start to think, ‘Look how good I am,’   I look at the turtle – me – & realize I did not get here by myself.”  
What Alex Haley had learned about achievement,  applies above all  to our relationship with God.   No matter where,  or what,  you are  in this broken world,  you did not get there by yourself.   All of us  are like turtles sitting on fence posts.   We’ve had help  getting here. 
You probably don’t think of that  as a very glamorous thing,  or place,  to be.   But, over history, the human race has distinguished itself as being ignorant, foolish  & yet proud  in so many ways.  The 4th verse of the reading from Proverbs leads us to that point at verse 5: “To you, O men, I call,  & my cry is to the children of man.  You gullible people,  obtain prudence.” 
The leaders of our nation are divided & hurling insults at each other on a daily basis.  The war in Ukraine seems like it will never end.  The war between Iran & Israel is heating up to a fever pitch.  The major news outlets have lied to us so often, they’ve lost credibility.   It’s difficult to know what to believe  whenever sinful human beings are speaking.  Proverbs 8 rings true because it reminds the reader that all humans are inclined to foolishness because all of us are conceived & born with a sinful nature.  As part of that sinful human race,  for our benefit, we must acknowledge that Wisdom’s call to the gullible & foolish is the call to everyone & anyone to repent  & to believe the Good News of Holy Scripture. 
For better  or for worse,  not a one of us  got here by ourselves.   Evolutionary theory insists that we did.  If you just wait long enough   somehow  a turtle can end up on a fence post  all by itself.   Evolutionary theory offers the hope  that if the human race just survives long enough  then everything will get better.  And if you’re dead before then,  “Oh well.” 
Take an honest look at the world,  & at the people you know personally.  Are you seeing anything,  or anyone,   truly getting better?   The White House & the major news networks all said that Joe Biden was running circles around everyone.   Donald Trump said he’d end the war in Ukraine in weeks,  if not days. 
Electric vehicles were going to save the planet  until Elon Musk went to work at DOGE.  Then,  they said burn those EV’s to the ground.    “To you, O men, I call,  & my cry is to the children of man.  You gullible people,  obtain prudence.”  (Proverbs 8:4-5a)   
That is Wisdom speaking,  & Wisdom, in this text from Proverbs,  is Christ,  the 2nd person of the Holy Trinity.  He is offering a far better hope than merely waiting long enough, millions or billions of years, until everything gets better.   The Triune God sent us His Word in order to help us get somewhere  that you or I  could never arrive at  on our own. 
As Jesus said to one of the criminals being crucified with Him, “…today  you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:43 ESV)   There’s no if  &  maybe.  There was nothing the man had to accomplish before he died,  no long prayers to be made  or offerings to give.  The man simply turned to Jesus  & the Wisdom of the universe welcomed him  into heaven.   The man had admitted  he was being crucified justly, receiving the due reward of his deeds.  (Luke 23:41)  Nevertheless, it delighted Jesus to welcome the man to a place where the effects of sin  would never follow him.   Jesus has also invited you as Proverbs 8 declares:
“Does not wisdom call?  Does not understanding raise her voice?   On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;   beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: ‘To you, O men, I call,   & my cry is to the children of man.’”  (8:1-4 ESV)   In other words,  from everywhere,  & from here,  Wisdom is calling to you. 
Putting aside  your pride,  you may ask, “Why?”   Many people today recognize that it’s good  to save our planet.   It is, after all, our current home.  Trying to reduce our pollution of it  is a good thing,  yet Wisdom,  with a capital “W,”  delights not simply in the planet Earth,   but especially  in the people whom Yahweh created  to inhabit the Earth. 
The point of Proverbs 8 is that Wisdom was rejoicing during all the process of creation,  especially in human beingss as the ‘crown’  of His creation: “Then I was beside Him, like a master workman,  & I was daily His delight,  rejoicing before Him always,  rejoicing in His inhabited world  & delighting in the children  of man.”   (8:30-31 ESV) 
So much so, that Wisdom was pleased to take on human flesh, to unite humanity to His very being,  all for the sake of redeeming the entire human race.   Therefore, in heaven, humans will be without sin once again,  as Wisdom created them to be. 
Wisdom was the master workman in whom the heavenly Father took delight.   In turn, Wisdom rejoiced before the Father & in the world He created,  taking particular delight in the children of man.  All that was before The Fall into sin.  Adam & Eve destroyed the perfect harmony by disobeying the voice of their loving Father. 
Christ is the Wisdom of God, the originator of Creation & also the goal of history.  He is
the purpose for which this creation continues – up to the end of this world & into the new creation of everlasting life.  All that is part of what Jesus means when He declares, “I am the Alpha & the Omega, the first & the last,  the beginning & the end.”  (Revelation 22:13 ESV) 
The upshot,  is that contrary to what you & I see of humanity, God delights in the children of man as the crowning achievement of His creation!  That is certainly not what the evening news, or all-day cable channels broadcast, let alone celebrate.  And all of us certainly continue to experience all the negative & even horrific effects of sin. 
Proverbs 8:31 expresses the love of the Father & the Son that would be revealed fully in the redemption of humanity through the unblemished life, vicarious suffering, atoning death & glorious resurrection of Jesus.  As much as this chapter says about Wisdom, the high point is the presentation of the Good News of God’s favor in Christ, whose delight is in human beings. 
From there, the reader can see & be drawn to Wisdom as Christ, God the Son, who shaped creation & who, in the fullness of time, assumed the human flesh of those in whom He had delighted – Adam & Eve before their fall into sin.  Through His Word, the Holy Spirit guides us into that mystery of our salvation
Through Baptism, Holy Communion, & faith in the 2nd Adam,  descendants of the 1st Adam become fully  the children of God in whom He delights.  We certainly did not get here by ourselves.  The triune God put you & me here  because He delights in us  even while we are still sinners.  Neither will we get to heaven by ourselves.  God promises to bring us there.  Amen. 
 
 
Thy strong word did cleave the darkness;  at Thy speaking it was done.  For created light we thank Thee,  while Thine ordered seasons run.     Lo,  on those who dwelt in darkness,  dark as night & deep as death,  broke the light of Thy salvation,  breathed Thine own life-breathing breath.     Thy strong word bespeaks us righteous;  bright with Thine own holiness,  glorious now, we press toward glory,  & our lives our hopes confess.    Alleluia, alleluia!  Praise to Thee who light dost send!  Alleluia, alleluia!  Alleluia without end!  Amen.  LSB 578:1-3.