Monday, November 3, 2014

Wisdom & Light




Paul: Where is the wise man? Where is the arguer of this age? Has not God made the world's wisdom foolish?
[1 Corinthians 1:20]





Jesus: There is light within a man of light, and he enlightens the world.
[Gospel of Thomas 24]



Paul, as an evangelist, spent much of his time trying to spread his faith and discovered that the Jews would only believe if they experienced signs and wonders -- miracles, undeniably extraordinary events; whilst the Greeks and Romans expected clever arguments and persuasive logic. He therefore came to the conclusion that to the world of men the gospel was dull in its ordinariness and foolish in its message.
  Yet, as we know, the faith spread and thrived. Time and time again as we read the New Testament texts, a picture emerges of a community that is at odds with the world around it; on important points this community is  literally extra-worldly: a fact crystallised in Paul's insistence to the Roman community that they don't conform to the world system but think differently and a consequence live different lives. 
  And so they did. Their economic approach arose out of Jesus' parable about the generous capitalist in Matthew 20. They taught that a woman's beauty is not in braided hair and fashionable clothings but in good deeds and character; they stressed that a man should be known for his gentleness, not his aggression; they avoided political debates and didn't follow the latest celebrity gossip of the day. In gently correcting each other, they taught by example that love is not an adjective but a verb; not a feeling, but a doing; and ultimately they eschewed talking the talk, promoting walking the walk instead.


In writers' language, this is show, not tell. Saying "Lord, Lord" and "God bless you" doesn't fill an empty belly or help repair a dilapidated dwelling. These communities didn't discuss wisdom but lived it. In short, they became wisdom; that is, their lives revealed the extent of their transformation by God and their difference from the world. As Jesus expressed it in the Gospel of Thomas 24: people of light enlighten the space around them.

In short, you don't possess wisdom; you become wisdom, as demonstrated in the way you live your life.

This is important to understand, especially for us, we dwellers in a world of seemingly unlimited knowledge -- the so-called Information Age. Knowledge is not wisdom. Increasingly we see this confusion proliferating in students' and researchers' work: someone will google a search topic, find a relevant article, and simply present that article as an answer; yet the topic will not have been understood. Jesus was wisdom, just as a skilled carpenter understands intuitively how to craft a piece of furniture. Wisdom and Light; qualities expressed from the core of being.

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