He is Annoying to Us and the Censure of Our Thoughts

The bible is always surprising me. The other day I came across this amazing text in the book of Wisdom. In the passage the wicked are complaining about God's "righteous one." With its messianic overtones, Christians obviously apply the text to Jesus:

Wisdom 2.12-15
Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us;
he opposes our actions,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law
and charges us with violations of our training.

He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the LORD.

To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,
Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.

So much poetry in this text, making it a great Lenten meditation. Simeon prophesied over the baby Jesus that he would become a "sign of contradiction." Jesus is also a "stone of stumbling," a "scandal," an "offense." To these familiar NT descriptions I can now add the language of Wisdom 2.

Jesus, the Righteous One, is annoying to us, because he opposes our actions. Jesus is the Censure of Our Thoughts.

Because his life is not like our life, and different are his ways.