In Plato’s Phaedrus, which was written almost 2,400 years ago, Socrates discussed the issue of speech and writing. Phaedrus claims that to be a good speech-maker, one does not need to know the truth of what he is speaking about, but rather how to properly persuade. In Phaedrus, Socrates shared a legend of King Thamus who told people only the semblance of truth, “they will be hearers of many things but will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality.”
Plato’s Phaedrus is an apt illustration of the digital age where we live in today. People seem to believe that they have learned and know many things, but they only have the semblance of truth and they only know the surface of the reality. This situation is also happening in the life of the Church; people seem to know everything and they are confident that they are knowledgeable of the word of God and the tradition of the Church because they have access to internet and all of the information. But, like the Jews who have a stumbling block when trying to understand the notion of Jesus as a crucified messiah, many modern Christian men and women are struggling to understand Jesus as the suffering messiah. In the scripture today, St. Paul evokes the fourth Isaiah servant song in order to teach the words of the prophet Isaiah, which indicate that the Messiah, as the God’s servant, must suffer and die. St. Paul implicitly leaves a hint to the Jews, that their knowledge of Torah should enable them to recognize Jesus as the suffering messiah that Isaiah proclaimed. Paul’s message two millennia ago is still relevant today because modern men and women want to have everlasting happiness but do not want to accept suffering. So it is hard for us to accept the notion of a suffering Messiah who did not come to eradicate suffering but rather to embrace it.
Today is the feast of St. Andrew. Legend says that Andrew preached the Good News in what is now modern Greece and Turkey and was crucified at Patras on an X-shaped cross. St. Andrew died for his faith because he believes in Jesus Christ, the suffering Messiah. Many people today have not received the faith-based message about Jesus as the suffering Messiah. Even among the Christians, not all have absorbed the notion of the suffering Messiah. In prayer this weekend, reflect on the understanding of the suffering Messiah and Christ’s relation to our lives.