Gleanings (3) The invitation to Sophia’s party

I’ve greatly appreciated the work of Elizabeth Johnson, Catholic feminist theologian, from whom this provocative quotation comes:

In his brief ministry, Jesus appears as a prophet and child of Sophia sent to announce God as the God of all-inclusive love, who wills the wholeness and humanity of everyone, especially the poor and heavy burdened. He is sent to gather all the outcast under the wings of their great Sophia-God and bring them shalom.
(Elizabeth Johnson, ‘Redeeming the name of Christ’, in Catherine. M. Lacugna, The Essentials of Theology in Feminist Perspective. 117.)

Johnson wrote many superb books, not least She Who Is, and her very accessible Consider Jesus: Waves of Renewal in Christology. What is offered there is so well summed up in this paragraph.

What I glean from these two sentences is first of all the fundamental inclusiveness of its vision. The mission or purpose of Jesus is in fact not his own. He is described as the prophet and child of Sophia, an ancient Hebrew understanding of God as eternally creative wisdom. This is not wisdom as a block of ideas or truth, but a dynamic life inviting all life into being and becoming.
Thus Jesus announces what is already so: the all-inclusive love that wills and is working for the flourishing of all life, specifically names here as humanity (though I am sure Johnson does not exclude the rest of creation—her Sophia God is not so human-centred!). But it is crucial to note there are specific aspects to this divine purpose: the heavy-burdened, poor and outcasts of society are especially invited to Sophia’s party!

In addition, I note here that while the dynamic of this creative mission rests with the divine spirit, Jesus and his followers are urged to participate—so the term gathering is used, with another biblical feminine image, ‘under the wings’, as Jesus himself had used it to refer to the way a hen may gather her chick, for safety and succour.
The priority here is crucial. Neither Jesus nor his followers ever ‘create’ the hoped-for new reality: his mission, and ours, is to evoke awareness of that greater divine reality, that presence which may be seen in faith and hope, the ‘already but not yet fully manifest’ reality of life with God. That ‘shalom’, a peaceful justice, a healing hope, an affirming and accepting welcome, is not for us to build or create or even protect. It is simply given, and is to be received as children receive food from a loving parent.
This is the challenge of Jesus’ calling and passion. It rejects all our desires to help God out by saving the world by our commitment and efforts. How much harder it is for many, simply to receive—and to do so alongside all those we might imagine as less deserving or somehow unfit for this new creation.

Here in one short paragraph is the challenge and wonder of life in and with Sophia-God. May it be so, for us all.