As I was reflecting on the related Old Testament prophecies and John’s gospel pertaining to Jesus’ death on Good Friday, I also recalled a related passage from the Apocrypha, the Wisdom of Solomon.
[Note: In Article 6 of the Anglican 39 Articles of Religion states that the Apocrypha isn’t used to establish doctrine but it is good for instructing and example of living a Christian life.]
In Wisdom 2:12-22, there is an interesting connection to Good Friday:
12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law,
and accuses us of sins against our training.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God,
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
15 the very sight of him is a burden to us,
because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.
16 We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
and boasts that God is his father.
17 Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;
18 for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him,
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us test him with insult and torture,
that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
Wisdom 2:12-22 (RSV)
for their wickedness blinded them,
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hope for the wages of holiness,
nor discern the prize for blameless souls;
The context of Wisdom 2:12-22 is about how evil men oppose God by disregarding his justice through their words and deeds. These involves them plotting to harm a righteous man because of his rebuke to them and to test his claim of being the Son of God. This righteous man in Wisdom chapter 2 is not named, but when it is read in understanding of the gospel, that righteous man is actually Jesus Christ.
Next, Wisdom 2 ends with a warning about death in verses 23 to 24:
23 for God created man for incorruption,
Wisdom 2:23-24 (RSV)
and made him in the image of his own eternity,
24 but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his party experience it.
As an Anglican Christian, I think Wisdom 2:23-24 is to be understood as an instruction by way of a negative example, to the permanent death which will happen to evil people who reject God, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as Son of God and their Lord and Saviour. This same warning is also given by Jesus Christ in the gospels to repent from our evil ways and believe in him as God and King or to face eternal death.
Given the warning, we have to examine ourselves in a few ways:
- Do I know the secret purposes of God which are revealed in Jesus Christ’s life and teaching as testified of in the Gospels?
- Is there anything wicked that I need to repent of and turn to Jesus Christ for help?
- Do I hope for “the wages of holiness” and “the prize of blameless souls” as sealed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
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