Supreme Wisdom Looks Foolish 大智若愚

Third Easter Sunday, Year A
Theme: Supreme Wisdom Looks Foolish 大智若愚

We think nobody understands us better than we ourselves. But in reality, this is far from being true because there are secret recesses in our mind which we are unable to reach. Usually we have many happy and successful experiences which we cherish all the time because those experiences cheer us up. However, there are also painful experiences and frustrations which are no less numerous and which we try to forget, to repress and to send away into our subconscious. Moreover, there are also a lot of things about ourselves of which we are not aware unless our friends are willing to tell us. But if we are not a sociable person or our relationship with friends remains functional or superficial or we encircle ourselves with “like-minded” people, they might not be willing to tell us the truth lest we would be embarrassed or offended. Then who on earth is willing to tell us the truth? Of course, He who Himself is the Truth (John 14:6) is!

During His public ministry, Jesus Christ proves Himself a great Teacher in possession of the Truth. The gospel of Matthew portrays the Son of God as a Teacher more authoritative than Moses. In the first two chapters of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-6) alone, Jesus says, “Amen/But I say to you” eleven times! To His followers, the teachings of the Beatitudes are lofty and unreachable without the support of the Holy Spirit. To those who oppose Jesus, “Turn the other cheek” is a laughing stock! In short, great teachings might not be able to motivate people! On the other hand, in the Lucan story today after His resurrection, Jesus proves Himself to be also a great Communicator! Not only is He able to convey His message effectively, but He is also able to motivate people to act!

The week before when Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph with many followers from Galilee in the north, the hope of liberation from Roman colonial rule among the common people in Jerusalem was heightened. The Romans could not tell whether the crowd were festival pilgrims or rebel soldiers. Nor could they understand the slogan of “Hosanna” which actually means “Save us Lord” in Hebrew! They remained bystanders to keep a minimum security. Otherwise, they would jump into action and probably the procession would turn into a massacre! Nevertheless, things began to turn sour when the Jewish authorities arrested Jesus and handed Him over to the Romans for crucifixion. It was totally devastating to ordinary Jews that the religious authorities would turn over a fellow Jew to the Gentiles! What had become of the Torah they had been upholding as a guideline to living?

Many people had witnessed the death of their Messiah because crucifixion was a public and humiliating execution to deter potential criminals. For the followers of Jesus, their previous “investment” in Jesus came to nothing. Moreover, the Romans might start purging the remaining gang after the death of their leader! Therefore, it was prudent of Jesus’ disciples to leave Jerusalem while it was still possible for them to travel far as soon as the Sabbath was over. Otherwise, the Romans, who were famous for their shift brutality, might begin to round them up like “caged birds”.

To say the least, the two disciples were confused and shocked by what had unfolded in the past week. On their way back to Emmaus, “they were conversing about all the things that had occurred … and debating” (Luke 24:14-15). They were still trying to make sense of what had happened. Jesus drew near and walked with them “but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him” (24:16). It is not necessary to speculate what caused their failure to recognize Jesus. Let’s focus on how the risen Lord engaged them in this encounter. He took the initiative! The Lord is merciful and anxious for our spiritual as well as physical well-being. He understands our needs better than we do. He also knows our personality through and through. He knows that our egos are big and we’re always reluctant to ask for help because it would show that we are weak!

Jesus asked a neutral question, “What are you discussing as you walk along?” (24:17) The question is ice-breaking and fact-finding in a non-aggressive way. Of course Jesus knows what they were discussing but the question merely shows His interests in their well-being and poses no threat. Cleopas, whose wife was standing by the cross with the BVM (John 19:25) and most likely stayed behind in Jerusalem to accompany the BVM, replied, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place there in these days?” (Luke 24:18). This reply gave Jesus one more opportunity to engage them. Maintaining His apparent “ignorance”, Jesus replied, “What sort of things?” (24:19a) and later, “As they approached the village to which they were going, He gave the impression that He was going on farther” (24:28). Was Jesus being untruthful with all those pretensions? Not at all. First of all, many things happened in Jerusalem the week before. People were preparing and celebrating the Passover. It was totally legitimate for Jesus to ask the two disciples to be more specific, wasn’t it? Secondly, in the end, Jesus did reveal the Truth. In the meantime, the two disciples need to keep the engagement going so that they might have enough time to go through the process to understand. Furthermore, I would argue that as a Chinese idiom goes, “Supreme wisdom looks foolish 大智若愚”, it is unwise to boast of one’s wisdom! It only satisfies an immature ego to show off. Moreover, such boasting would threaten or antagonize the intended audience. Then communication would collapse. Therefore, Jesus wasn’t pretending but engaging.

Only after the disciples had let go of their resistance/defence did Jesus start explaining the truth: “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into His glory?” (24:26). This time, Jesus’ teaching was effective even before the disciples were able to recognize Him. “They said to each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He spoke to us on the way and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (24:32) Jesus was effective in motivating the two disciples to hurry back to Jerusalem even though “the day is almost over” (24:29). His vanishing from their sight must have stimulated their desire to seek more from where they had come --- Jerusalem, since they might have left too early or have overlooked something there.

Brethren! Have you ever had the experience of your hearts burning when you hear people explaining Bible passages, say during mass or bible study fellowships? Have you ever desired to obtain more from Lord Jesus? Pray that you open your hearts to the merciful risen Lord and His words. Moreover, learn the engaging skills from the merciful Lord. Learn to be humble so that we may become more effective in communicating His gospel to our neighbour. God bless!
2020 Reflection
Picture Credit: wikipedia.org