Written By: Dave Rempel
Sixteen stained glass windows adorn the sides of the worship space at Ascension. Inspiration for the windows was taken from the fact that in Europe long ago, the faithful would learn the Bible from stories depicted in windows. It was intended that Ascension’s windows could be similarly educational. What follows is a meditation on one of the 16 windows. Look for additional reflections in future editions of the bulletin or on this Parish Blog.
The Wisdom of King Solomon
Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong. (1 Kings 3:9)
In this story, Solomon adjudicates competing claims to a child by first ordering that the child be divided and then awarding the child to the woman willing to give up the child to save it. As in other windows on the left side of the church, an Old Testament sacrifice presages God’s own salvific sacrifice of His Son.
The center of the scene is occupied by the baby, whose Tiffany blue table (matching the blanket) almost suggests a bassinet; but the prominent gray stone makes clear that the baby actually lies on an altar, just as Isaac does in a nearby window. Like Abraham, the women are tested, and the rightful mother is rewarded for her willingness to subjugate her own interest. Solomon himself has just passed God’s test by choosing wisdom instead of riches or glory—and was rewarded with the other two gifts as well. I am thus inspired to consider how I respond to life’s tests and whether I pursue that which God would choose for me.
Finally, I appreciate the artist’s contrasting portraits of the two women, one so indifferent, the other so frantic to save her child. In Scripture, the women are described as prostitutes, but Solomon judges them not for that sin but for their actions concerning the child. Just as in the case of the two thieves crucified with Jesus, only one chooses to redeem herself in the eyes of her king.