We Fools Esteemed His Life Madness: The Just Man of Wisdom and the Wisdom of God Crucified
Old Testament: Wisdom 2:12-13, 18, 20
Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God. ... For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. ... Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.
Old Testament, also: Wisdom 5:1, 4-5
Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours. ... We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.
New Testament: Matthew 27:43; 1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-25
He trusted in God; let him now deliver him if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God. ... For the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved, that is, to us, it is the power of God. ... But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness: But unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
The connection
The Book of Wisdom lets us overhear the wicked plotting: "Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn ... He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God" (Wisdom 2:12-13). They set him a test: "if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. ... Let us condemn him to a most shameful death" (2:18, 20). At the Cross the test was spoken almost word for word: "He trusted in God; let him now deliver him if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God" (Matthew 27:43). Long before, some had said of Him, "He is become mad" (Mark 3:21), and others, "He hath a devil, and is mad" (John 10:20). Wisdom also tells the end of the story. "Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them", and the mockers confess, "We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. Behold how they are numbered among the children of God" (5:1, 4-5). St Paul gives the same verdict about the Cross: "the word of the cross, to them indeed that perish, is foolishness; but to them that are saved ... it is the power of God", and "we preach Christ crucified ... the power of God, and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Corinthians 1:18, 23-25). What the world counted madness was the wisdom of God. St Hippolytus reads Wisdom's judgment scene of Christ Himself: "This is He whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach; we fools accounted His life madness, and His end to be without honour." St Cyprian gives the same words to the martyrs who share His lot. The Catechism teaches that Christ crucified is the power of God and the wisdom of God, whose almighty power was shown in the voluntary humiliation and the Resurrection of His Son (CCC 272).
Moral sense
There are two kinds of fool in Scripture. One "hath said in his heart: There is no God" (Psalms 13:1), or hears and does not do, like the "foolish man that built his house upon the sand" (Matthew 7:26). The other is only called a fool: "We are fools for Christ's sake" (1 Corinthians 4:10), and Festus shouted at Paul, "thou art beside thyself" (Acts 26:24). Every Christian will be called a fool by someone; the only question is whose verdict lasts. "If any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise" (1 Corinthians 3:18).
Anagogical sense
The mockers' confession in Wisdom is spoken at the judgment, when the verdict is turned round in public: "Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us" (Wisdom 5:6). The just are "numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints" (5:5): "the just shall live for evermore ... Therefore shall they receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord" (5:16-17).
The Fathers
St Hippolytus, Expository Treatise against the Jews: "This is He whom we had sometimes in derision and a proverb of reproach; we fools accounted His life madness, and His end to be without honour. How is He numbered among the children of God, and His lot is among the saints?" St Cyprian, Testimonies III.16: "These are they whom some time we had in derision, and in the likeness of a proverb; we fools counted their life madness, and their end without honour. How are they reckoned among the children of God, and their lot among the saints!"
Warrant
Patristic. St Hippolytus reads Wisdom 5 of Christ, putting His name where the text has the just (Expository Treatise against the Jews), and St Cyprian applies the same passage to the martyrs (Testimonies III.16). The Book of Wisdom is among the books the Church received as Scripture (Council of Trent, Session IV), and the Fathers quote it as such. Checked in the Greek, and it bears on the title: the Douay, following the Latin, reads their life at Wisdom 5:4, but the Septuagint is singular, ton bion autou elogisametha manian kai ten teleuten autou atimon, we counted his life madness and his end dishonoured, which is how St Hippolytus reads it. Wisdom 2:18 has ei gar estin ho dikaios huios theou ... rhysetai auton, if the just man is the son of God, He will deliver him, and Matthew 27:43 has rhysastho nyn ... theou eimi huios, let Him deliver Him now, I am the Son of God, the same verb and the same claim. The mania of Wisdom 5:4 returns in the charges against Christ and His Apostle, mainetai, is mad (John 10:20), and eis manian, to madness (Acts 26:24). The title follows St Paul's own answer, that Christ crucified is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24), rather than calling the Cross foolish. Dunk found the entry from the verses where foolish stands, from the Psalms to St Paul.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 272.
The verses
Wisdom 2:12 · Wisdom 2:13 · Wisdom 2:18 · Wisdom 2:20 · Wisdom 5:1 · Wisdom 5:4 · Wisdom 5:5 · Matthew 27:43 · 1 Corinthians 1:18 · 1 Corinthians 1:23 · 1 Corinthians 1:24 · 1 Corinthians 1:25
