13 July 2022
Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Why would the Father hide anything from anyone, particularly the wise and the learned? Why is it that the childlike receive the special revelations about God? Jesus says in the Beatitudes “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God,” (Matthew 5:8); in other words, there is something about an innocent heart that allows for us to see God more clearly. Children, in their innocence, are pure of heart not only because they are less influenced by sin but especially because of their humility. The root of all sin and the cause of our downfall was pride; humility, then, allows for us to pierce what mysteries of God to which pride blinds us.
Consider how often it is that Jesus is criticized by scholars and scribes, the “wise and the learned” who know everything. They have studied and thought about Scripture, and they know a great deal about God and their religion. Yet their understanding is their own: they have crafted their own image of God in their hearts and minds. A child, on the other hand, knows only what little they have experienced, but more so what they have been told by those in authority over them. In other words, children come to believe because they trust in those who teach them; the wise and learned come to believe because they trust in their own ability to understand. The Son knows the Father not because the Son is so wise and learned, but because He has a relationship with the Father, and the Father reveals Himself to the Son out of love, just as God reveals Himself to the childlike who love Him and believe in Him. Rarely was it the wise and learned that accepted Jesus, but rather those who would humbly admit their own lack of knowledge regarding God. But that very same humility will ultimately lead to a deeper relationship with Him for they have heeded the invitation of Jesus who says, “…learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart…” (Matthew 11:29).