Wisdom 2:1-16: a reflection

1For they said within themselves, with unsound reasoning, “Our life is short and sorrowful. There is no healing when a man comes to his end, and no one was ever known who was released from Hades. 2Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we will be as though we had never been, because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our heart, 3which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes, and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air. 4Our name will be forgotten in time. No one will remember our works. Our life will pass away as the traces of a cloud, and will be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the rays of the sun, and overcome by its heat. 5For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and our end doesn’t retreat, because it is securely sealed, and no one turns it back. 6“Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist. Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth. 7Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by. 8Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. 9Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry. Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere, because this is our portion, and this is our lot. 10Let’s oppress the righteous poor. Let’s not spare the widow, nor regard the gray hair of the old man. 11But let our strength be a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is proven useless. 12But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, is contrary to our works, reproaches us with sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training. 13He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. 14He became to us a reproof of our thoughts. 15He is grievous to us even to look at, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are strange. 16We were regarded by him as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness. He calls the latter end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father.

This passage sets out the reasoning of the ungodly, who, believing life is short and death the end, resolve to live for pleasure and to oppress the weak. And they turn their hostility against the righteous man, for a telling reason: his life reproaches them. He is inconvenient to us, they say; he opposes our doings, reproaches us with our sins, and his very life is a rebuke, because it is unlike ours. The righteous person's life, simply by being different, silently reproaches the ungodly, and so provokes their hostility.

Notice why the ungodly turn against the righteous: not because the righteous person has wronged them, but because his life reproaches them. The righteous man's different way of living, his refusal to join their wrongdoing, is a silent rebuke; it exposes their sin by contrast, and they resent it. His goodness, simply by being goodness, reproaches their evil, and so provokes hostility. The righteous life draws opposition precisely because it is a reproach to those who do wrong.

That is worth understanding, for a genuinely righteous life may draw opposition for the same reason. When we live faithfully, refusing to join in wrongdoing, our lives can be a silent reproach to those who do wrong, exposing their sin by contrast; and this can provoke hostility, not because we have wronged them, but because our goodness rebukes them. Do not be surprised, then, if living righteously draws opposition; the righteous life reproaches the ungodly, and can provoke their hostility. Do not abandon the righteous life to avoid this opposition, or conclude you have done wrong when goodness draws hostility. The opposition may come precisely because your life reproaches those who do wrong. Live righteously even when it draws hostility, knowing that your faithful life may reproach the ungodly and provoke their opposition, as the righteous man's life provoked the ungodly here; and take it not as a sign of failure, but as the cost of a life that silently rebukes evil by its goodness.

Lord, this passage sets out the reasoning of the ungodly, who live for pleasure and turn against the righteous man for a telling reason: his life reproaches them; he opposes their doings, and his very life is a rebuke, because it is unlike theirs. Help me understand why the ungodly turn against the righteous: not because he has wronged them, but because his life reproaches them, exposing their sin by contrast. That a genuinely righteous life may draw opposition for the same reason is worth grasping. When I live faithfully, refusing to join in wrongdoing, my life can be a silent reproach to those who do wrong; and this can provoke hostility, not because I have wronged them, but because my goodness rebukes them. Keep me from being surprised if living righteously draws opposition; the righteous life reproaches the ungodly. Keep me from abandoning the righteous life to avoid this opposition, or concluding I have done wrong when goodness draws hostility. The opposition may come precisely because my life reproaches those who do wrong. Help me live righteously even when it draws hostility, Lord, knowing that my faithful life may reproach the ungodly, and taking it not as a sign of failure, but as the cost of a life that silently rebukes evil by its goodness. Help me live righteously despite opposition.