Double vindication, collective rebuke: Examining (Divine?) wisdom in Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35

Abstract

This biblical theological investigation into the parallel narratives of Matthew 11:2–19 and Luke 7:18–35 seeks to identify wisdom (σοφία) in the concluding vindication of the wisdom statement of each pericope. The presence of a Wisdom Christology in these Gospels has led to significant scholarly debate as to whether σοφία in one or both of these texts refers to Jesus as Wisdom Incarnate, or to a more generic expression of personified Divine Wisdom. This study has attempted to prevent automatically reading theological and Christological patterns which are debated in the Gospels on the whole into the individual pericopes in question by engaging the exegetical details of the statements in their literary contexts, especially in relation to previous research that does not seem to have been sufficiently taken into account. This investigation argues that when the vindication of wisdom statements in these pericopes are read in the context of the parables of rebuke, especially when apparently peculiar language is understood in light of the socio-cultural context, the evidence points to an identification of Divine, rather than Christological Wisdom. Additionally, the texts’ portrayals of wisdom’s vindication are contrasted with the dangerously puerile conduct of the ‘child judges’ in the parables and the equally misguided verdicts of ‘this generation’, offering a biblical theological glimpse into the human difficulties of adequately discerning and engaging with God and his Wisdom at work.

Contribution: By taking into account previously neglected observations regarding the socio-cultural background of the language used in Matthew 11:2–19 and Luke 7:18–35 and by relating Divine Wisdom to the difficulties of human perception and response in ways other investigations have not, this article has made a modest contribution to the interpretation of these episodes and to the biblical theology of wisdom.