Children of Wisdom

Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time C-2

Entrance Antiphon Cf. Sir 36:18 Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you, that your prophets be found true. Hear the prayers of your servant, and of your people Israel.

Collect Look upon us, O God, Creator and ruler of all things, and, that we may feel the working of your mercy, grant that we may serve you with all our heart. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Scripture today: 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13; Psalm 32; Luke 7:31-35

Jesus said, To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children sitting in the market‑place and calling out to each other: ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not cry.’ For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by all her children. (Luke 7:31-35)

Children of Wisdom For some centuries now, perhaps the main focus of the Anglo-Saxon philosophical world has been epistemology, which is to say the philosophical study of knowledge and justified belief. What is it to know something to be the case, and how is this to be justified? It is clear that epistemology remains a vigorous area of inquiry at the heart of philosophy. Why is this so? There would be numerous reasons, but I suspect that a principal one has been the mere fact, in Western culture and society, of vast disagreement among so many on fundamental matters. When society is agreed that a number of fundamental things are true, then one would think that there is little incentive to ask if the human mind can know the truth, and what justifies man in thinking he has the truth. But when there are profound cleavages in opinion in very important matters (such as that there is a good, infinite God, or that Jesus is God and that he founded his Church, and that certain things are morally obligatory), then the questions arise, who is wrong? Is there a truth to be attained anyway? What enables the apprehension of the truth? This, then, is the question being raised: What are the factors involved in the attainment of the truth? This is fundamental for religion, for if a religion is not perceived as true, then of what use is it? I say this advisedly, because for some two centuries now the widespread question is, not is it true, but is it of use? Will it work to the purpose? Will this or that religion or way of life get me what I want? The objective truth of matters religious and moral is set aside as essentially controversial and in effect unresolvable, while its utility is able to be discussed and agreed on. What is important is that I and others be “happy”. Well then, let this serve to introduce our Gospel today (Luke 7:31-35), in which our Lord laments that whatever God tried in his efforts to bring the people of “this generation” to right conviction failed. On the one hand “the flute was played, and you did not dance”. On the other hand, “we sang a dirge, and you did not cry”. Our Lord was using a game among children to make his point that nothing converted the people to a right perception of the truth of his Chosen One, Jesus. John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’

The question this raises in our minds is, is there a special factor which is necessary to attain the truth? Yes, there is – what is particularly decisive is a right lived disposition. This brings us to our Lord’s conclusion: But wisdom is proved right by all her children. The “wisdom” to which our Lord refers is the mind of God expressed in his varied works and words – as manifested in his Revelation. The Old Testament has much to say about the divine “wisdom” and its immense benefit to man. This “wisdom” is expressed in the Scriptures, and it is personified in the person of Jesus himself. He is the “wisdom” of God, the Logos, the Word. He who is the “wisdom” of God was with God in the beginning. All things were made through him and he, the Logos who was the light and life of men, was coming into the world. We read in the first chapter of John’s Gospel that “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own but his own did not receive him” (1: 10-11). Some did, though – it is they who were the “children” of “wisdom”. Those who were of God, those who accepted the “wisdom” of God and who (according to their lights) chose to live according to it, recognized Jesus and received him. It is not hard to see that in almost any sphere of human knowledge a disposition of openness to the subject is needed if there is to be a true apprehension of it. If you are not interested in painting and have little desire to paint, even though you may have a native talent for it you will never be a truly good painter. You are not sufficiently disposed to focus your abilities sufficiently on the ongoing work that will be needed. There has to be an interest, a readiness, a desire, otherwise the mind will be closed and one’s powers for the task will not be aroused and applied. The same goes for the things of God. But it has to be emphasized that more is needed than mere interest – the interest has to have been effective and operating. In matters moral and religious, the apprehension of the truth requires a sincerity of conscience shown in one’s actions. One may be very mistaken as to the truth up to and prior to grasping the truth of God, but sincerity of conscience will count greatly in its apprehension. The apprehension of religious and moral truth generally requires, in some sense, a living of the truth according to one’s lights. In this sense, it is the “children of wisdom” who are able to “prove right”, or vindicate, the truth of wisdom.

All this is to say that the way to attain the light is to live according to the light one has been given. In this way one becomes a “child” of “wisdom”, and thus disposed for the truth. When St Paul was traveling along the road to Damascus he intended to stamp out the error of the fledgling Christian creed. He was blind to its truth. But he was sincerely acting according to his mistaken conscience and living a truly upright religious life as he understood the Law of God to require. He was living sincerely according to his lights, and in this sense was well prepared for the Light when it suddenly came. He had been, though quite mistaken, a “child of wisdom”. When Christ spoke to him he responded totally and became the foremost champion of “wisdom”, and able to vindicate and prove its truth. Let us then resolve to be true children of the wisdom of God. If we live according to the “wisdom” that has been granted us, still more light will be granted.

(E. J. Tyler)

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