The Wisdom of the World

It seems that everywhere we turn these days, we are offered words of wisdom - freely given to any that would but only listen. Whether it's on the internet, T.V, Movies, even billboards, the wisdom of the world is ours for the taking. To be honest, most of it is pleasing to hear and seems right by the values of our times. A few nuggets of wisdom that have crossed my desktop recently: "It's more important to be kind, than it is to be right." "It's Okay for you to believe what you want; it's not okay for you to insist that everyone else believe what you believe." "You'll never find a rainbow if you're looking down." Who can argue with such simple and obviously sound logic?

This is the situation in this Sunday's Gospel; the 40 days are over and we might assume that the Lord's fast is completed too. "When they (the 40 days) were over, He was hungry." Jesus is tempted by the evil one: "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Now, scripture identifies this as a temptation; but I have to ask myself what's so bad about this? Assuming that this is something that you can do, it is a perfectly reasonable solution to the problem. Isn't it? Mind you: there's no commandment that says "thou shalt not turn stone into bread." So what could possibly be the problem, here?

I'll offer my thoughts on this for your consideration: I think it's an attack on the Lord's very identity. It's an attack that comes in the form of a reasonable solution to a real problem.

Jesus IS the Son of God - this is the Truth, of course, but He is also the Stone that the builders rejected and the Bread of Life. This reasonable solution to His problem is meant to be a trap; there may be nothing wrong with turning stone to bread, but if Jesus does turn this stone into bread in order to satisfy His hunger and affirm His identity, then it follows that He can break THIS bread and feed THIS bread to His Church.  He doesn't really have to be broken Himself, now, does He? And we know that He prayed fervently in the Garden of Gethsemane for that cup to pass Him by. So this, I offer for your consideration, was perhaps a real temptation for our Lord.

Jesus's response is Wise beyond our ability to fully grasp. He doesn't take the bait, but turns to scripture instead. "It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’”  (but by all that comes forth from the mouth of the LORD.) And by the way - Jesus is also The Word Incarnate, so it can be said that He responds to an attack on His identity as Son of God, Cornerstone and Bread of Life, by asserting His identity as Word Incarnate.

This causes me to consider the wisdom of the world a little more carefully; Can it be that there is more to it than meets the eye? Can the wisdom of the world be a trap for us, too?

Since we can't read hearts, we tend to rely on appearances in order to make everyday decisions. If we accept that it is more important to be kind than it is to be right, then we can easily fall victim to the wolf in sheep's clothing. The wolf, who appears to be kind, but is not. By that standard, Judas who betrayed Jesus in the garden with a kindly kiss might have succeeded in that charade.

I wonder if "...it's not okay for you to insist that everyone else believe what you believe" basically translates to ".....just keep your beliefs to yourself?" If so, What does that say about our apostolic mission to spread the good news to the ends of the Earth? Of course we should never insist that everyone believe what we believe, there is truth in that; But that was never our mission anyway. We are simply charged with the task of witnessing to the truth, always and everywhere - and we should never be silent on matters of importance. This is how holocausts happen.

Consider this picture* of a rainbow shining through a window and visible on the floor:

Is this a prison cell? I don't know: it's not a particularly splendid floor. Yet there is a rainbow, right there for the person looking down to see. Perhaps we forget that the rainbow is a gift from God. I think that God meets us wherever we are, and sends His gifts because we are beautiful in His eyes and well loved. Wherever we are, God (is) With Us.

A closing thought: sometimes what is pleasing to hear and right by the values of our times seems perfectly reasonable, but can lead us down the wrong path. In these difficult times, let us pray for the grace to be able to discern what is right and good.

~Peace,
                 + Theophilus

* (Wikimedia Commons contributors. File:Rainbow on the ground.jpg [Internet]. Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository; 2015 Aug 18, 12:45 UTC [cited 2019 Feb 6]. Available from: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Rainbow_on_the_ground.jpg&oldid=168947579. )