Jesus rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit and said, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him."

Turning to the disciples in private He said, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it."

Wisdom and knowledge are very different things. In his book Living, Loving & Learning, Christian writer and lecturer Leo Buscaglia spells this out in his characteristically direct style:

"We’re very impressed with people who have impressive labels. We believe that an M.D. or Ph.D. makes one wise indeed. I have news for you! Some of the most stupid people I know have Ph.D.s! Some of the wisest people I know don’t even know what a Ph.D. is!" (p. 73).

This idea is taken a step further by author John Carmody and applied to that special wisdom which consists in knowing God. This is what he writes:

"Certainly in most traditional cultures the mark of the elder and sage was knowledge of the sacred mysteries by which the tribe oriented itself. The secularism of modern culture, combined with the unattractive features of fundamentalist religious know-it-alls, had discouraged most men from considering religious wisdom a manly pursuit. Yet serious Christians have to admit, in their heart of hearts, that knowing God, in the intimate way suggested by the Bible’s carnal analogue, is most of what matters. Not to know God is to be ignorant about the one thing necessary and what makes for peace" (Toward a Male Spirituality, pp. 91-92).

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus opposes precisely those who are, in his words, "the wise and the learned" but who are ignorant of God’s secrets—to those he calls "the childlike" but who have received the greatest of all privileges, the knowledge of God’s secrets, thanks to the revelation brought by Jesus. The discovery of God in the person of Jesus is the greatest of all discoveries, the only discovery that can finally bring rest to our restless hearts.

SOURCE: "365 Days with the Lord," ST PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.