(Unsplash/Natalie Grainger)
by Carol J. Dempsey
In the Bible, the Book of Wisdom, or better known as the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the seven deuterocanonical books of the Old Testament. In Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Russian Orthodox churches, the book is considered canonical. In the Anglican and Protestant churches, the book appears among the apocrypha and was part of the Greek version of the Old Testament but not part of the Hebrew Bible. In Judaism, the Wisdom of Solomon is also not included in the Hebrew Bible.
Heavily influenced by Stoicism and Hellenism, this book, as well as other wisdom writings, sought to shed light on a wide range of viewpoints expressing the multifaceted religious, social and psychological struggles of a covenant community under foreign domination. Much of the content tries to deal with how to cope with life, especially those experiences we do not understand. One rather incomprehensible topic that the Book of Wisdom tries to offer "wisdom" on is death.
When the unexpected death of a loved one occurs, or even more tragic, the untimely death of a child, the one left to grieve sometimes cries out, "Why, God, why have you taken my loved one, my child from me?" "Why did you let them die?" "Why were they stricken with a deadly disease?" These questions were, no doubt, also asked by the biblical people as well.
Today's reading from Wisdom tries to provide some consolation and theological teaching in response to these heart-wrenching questions: Neither pain, suffering nor death originate with the divine. The Holy One desires life for all creation, and not just earthly life, but also immortal life. Only in the Book of Wisdom do we hear that the divine, imperishable, immortal Spirit is in all things (Wisdom 12:1). Death is part of earthly, material existence, and in the Christian belief system, death is not the final experience; it is merely a passage into deeper life as attested to by the good news proclaimed in the Gospel of Mark.
Today's Gospel features the story of a young 12-year-old girl whose father is heartbroken over his dying child. At the midpoint of the narrative, the child dies. What Jairus, a synagogue official, wants more than anything else in this world is for his daughter to be healed through the laying on of hands by Jesus.
The act of the laying on of hands as it relates to healing occurs numerous times in the New Testament. Interpretations of this gesture associate it with the transfer of power for physical and spiritual wholeness. In light of quantum physics, however, the transference of power is better understood as the transference of energy.
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When the unexpected death of a loved one occurs, or even more tragic, the untimely death of a child, the one left to grieve sometimes cries out, "Why, God, why have you taken my loved one, my child from me?" "Why did you let them die?" "Why were they stricken with a deadly disease?" These questions were, no doubt, also asked by the biblical people as well.
Today's reading from Wisdom tries to provide some consolation and theological teaching in response to these heart-wrenching questions: Neither pain, suffering nor death originate with the divine. The Holy One desires life for all creation, and not just earthly life, but also immortal life. Only in the Book of Wisdom do we hear that the divine, imperishable, immortal Spirit is in all things (Wisdom 12:1). Death is part of earthly, material existence, and in the Christian belief system, death is not the final experience; it is merely a passage into deeper life as attested to by the good news proclaimed in the Gospel of Mark.
Today's Gospel features the story of a young 12-year-old girl whose father is heartbroken over his dying child. At the midpoint of the narrative, the child dies. What Jairus, a synagogue official, wants more than anything else in this world is for his daughter to be healed through the laying on of hands by Jesus.
The act of the laying on of hands as it relates to healing occurs numerous times in the New Testament. Interpretations of this gesture associate it with the transfer of power for physical and spiritual wholeness. In light of quantum physics, however, the transference of power is better understood as the transference of energy.
