April 5, 2020: Divine Feminine Remixed – Scott Oppliger

Much has been made about the prologue to John’s gospel, and rightly so. It is there we read of the Cosmic Christ, one who “was with God … and was God” from the beginning. In John’s context he is clearly speaking of the historical Jesus - the Divine in human form who is the universal context we know as “The Word.” But here’s the thing: what John riffs on in the first fourteen verses of his gospel was not original with him. It’s a remix of a much earlier poem, one that, like John’s Prologue, speaks about the birth of the universe and the one through whom the universe came to be. The poem John references is found in Proverbs 8, but it does not speak of Jesus, nor does it speak of a male. It speaks of Wisdom and she is a woman. Wait, wait; then why would John apply this to Jesus when he was clearly a man? It’s possible John knew something about the universe and how it is all held together. Like Shekinah, Wisdom is often directly associated with the Divine, to the extent is becomes another way of speaking about God. Proverbs 8 shows us the extent of this connection by showing Wisdom’s role in bringing about the universe. Which means this world is not just masculine, but feminine as well. It is within this synergy that we exist and live and move and have our being.