Wise Guys

Friday of the Twenty-First Week in Course 2024

Wise Guys

“For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

In the first century, Greek culture still valued philosophy, the “love of wisdom,” and Greek tutors, who were usually slaves, were highly valued by elite families of Rome. What would be taught to the young Romans was some school, or brand of philosophy. For instance, Stoic philosophy would focus on steeling the child against danger, or valuing his feelings too highly. There were many schools. Most of the time, the studies were focused on enabling the young to function most effectively, with least danger, in elite society. And if the philosopher strayed too far from that path, he risked following Socrates to an inevitable early death.

But Saint Paul, despite his background in Greek philosophy, was before everything a Jewish follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught the truth to His disciples. He WAS the truth of God, the very Word Incarnate. And that truth was so unpopular with the Roman and Jerusalem elite that they conspired to crucify Him, thinking that would put an end to it. A humiliating death of a slave. But three days later God proved Him to be true when the authorities pronounced Him false, good when the authorities called Him bad, and beautiful in His Resurrection from death, even with His wounds visible in hands, feet and side. In other words, His Resurrection turned everything upside down.

Human philosophy tries to make sense of the world with the view to making the student independent, the arbiter of truth and falsehood, goodness and evil. The Christian worldview makes sense of the world by turning the looking glass around so that everything is hanging, dependent on God who holds the whole world in “His creating hands”. He does, of course. He is constantly sustaining us in existence. Without His providential care, we would fall out of existence.

As G.K. Chesterton reminds us, “for the very word dependence only means hanging. It would make vivid the Scriptural text which says that God has hanged the world upon nothing.” What must be our response to this reality? Praise and thanksgiving, right? If we depend on Someone for our existence, we have to constantly be aware of that and give thanks and praise to the One who does it.

So why did the foolish virgins not take oil for their lamps? They probably did so because of a worldly outlook. They might ask, “Will there even be a wedding?” “Will the Bridegroom show up?” “What if I’ve gone to all that trouble for nothing?” “Do I have something better to do?” “What’s on that new network program?” “Why was I chosen to be a bridesmaid AGAIN?” “Why do we have to carry our own lights?”

After spending so much time arguing with herself, the bridesmaid still finds herself locked out, and there is nobody to blame but herself. We might all—male and female alike—ask ourselves that last critical question, “Why did I ever think something else was more important than following Jesus?”