Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25: Difference between revisions
Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25 (view source)
Revision as of 09:15, 9 August 2024
, 9 August→What childlike is and is not
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So let us just be amazed while learning what we can from the Maid of Orleans''.'' | So let us just be amazed while learning what we can from the Maid of Orleans''.'' | ||
== | == Ears to hear, eyes to see == | ||
When Jesus reveals himself to the "childlike" he isn't dumbing-down his divinity. He demands thought and reason in his followers, and then helps them to build a ''logic of faith'' (after all, he chose St. Paul to teach it!). | When Jesus reveals himself to the "childlike" he isn't dumbing-down his divinity. He demands thought and reason in his followers, and then helps them to build a ''logic of faith'' (after all, he chose St. Paul to teach it!). When the disciples don't understand the Parable of the Weeds ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?36 Mt 13:36]), Jesus explains it, and after continuing with analogies for the Kingdom of Heaven ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?44 Mt 13:44-50]), like a teacher, he asks them, <blockquote>“Do you understand* all these things?” </blockquote>And the good students reply, "“Yes.” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?51 Mt. 13:51]) | ||
So let us here flush out some meaning, so that we can more fully understand. | But, ''verily, verily'', as the Lord might say, reason has its limits, and it is by the Grace of the Father that Jesus reveals himself to those willing to look beyond the limits of their comprehension and simply believe, which the NAB calls, "The Privilege of Discipleship," <blockquote>“But blessed are your eyes, because they see, and your ears, because they hear. | ||
The common | Amen, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13?16 Mt 13:16-17]) </blockquote>In the next verses, in the "Parable of the Sower," he illustrates what we are when we hide what we see and hear behind our biases: <blockquote>The seed sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in his heart. ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13:18 Mt 18-19]) </blockquote>as opposed to -- and he uses the word here, when we do "understand": <blockquote>But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold.” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/13:23 Mt 13:23]) </blockquote>I'm starting to get it: full, intellectual understanding requires an open mind, you know, like a child's. We even have an expression for it, one I hear all the time from students who come to understand a concept or lesson: "I get it now!". To "get" it means both to ''receive'' and to ''accept'' it. | ||
== What "childlike" is and is not == | |||
So let us here flush out some meaning about what it is to be "childlike," so that we can more fully understand and more fully believe. | |||
The common use of the words, | |||
{| class="wikitable" | {| class="wikitable" | ||
!The wise and the learned | !The wise and the learned | ||
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|- | |- | ||
|''educated'' | |''educated'' | ||
|'' | |''unschooled'' | ||
|- | |- | ||
|''crafty'' | |''crafty'' | ||
|'' | |''obedient'' | ||
|} | |} | ||
Those characterizations do not work in the context of having a -- the Father. One simply doesn't approach one's father in ignorance, nor even without questioning -- every father and mother knows too well the words, "Why? Why? Why!" | Those characterizations do not work in the context of having a -- the Father. One simply doesn't approach one's father in ignorance, nor even without questioning -- every father and mother knows too well the words, "Why? Why? Why!" | ||
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|independent | |independent | ||
|orphaned | |orphaned | ||
|- | |||
|free thinker | |||
|closed-minded | |||
|} | |} | ||
As we have seen, "wise", "learned" and "childlike" are not incompatible qualities -- the two wings needed to fly. But Jesus doesn't care about that - whoever we are, whatever our intellect or station, he wants us to be holy children who believe, accept and obey the Father. | As we have seen, "wise", "learned" and "childlike" are not incompatible qualities -- the two wings needed to fly. But Jesus doesn't care about that - whoever we are, whatever our intellect or station, he wants us to be holy children who believe, accept and obey the Father. | ||