FOLLOWING THE PATH OF WISDOM


TUESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT   

Isa 1:10,16-20; Ps 50:8-9,16-17,21,23; Mt 23:1-12

The Sole Teacher of Man

The two readings we have today confirm that our path to being like God is a path of dialogue and learning. We have conceived the whole universe as the school of man, where we learn the rudiments of God’s truth and the rule of harmonious existence. The whole creation coming from the Father and Creator of all things is loud in proclaiming the eternal and infinite qualities of God. Everything bears the imprint of the Eternal Wisdom through whom the Father created all things. With our God-given rationality, we are supposed to follow the imprint of Wisdom in creation to the presence of God, just as a train runs on its tracks. The corruption of our rational light by the serpent through the original sin derailed man from the natural path of wisdom in creation. The nature of created things shows an intelligible track of wisdom in creation through which we can attain to God. Each thing has a nature by which it indicates the presence of wisdom that guides us to God and the Creator of all things. Our use of natural things without recourse to their nature is a demonstration of our sinful desire to be like God without God, which is the cause of all sins.

The use of natural things without reference to their nature originates from our lack of attention to the Eternal Wisdom who desires to school us through the nature of things God created for our use. Our turning away from our natural teacher, coupled with our corrupted desire to be like God without God, are the roots of all our wrongdoings. The prophet Isaiah addresses the people of Israel with the symbolic names of Sodom and Gomorrah; the cities God destroyed because of their propensity for unnatural living and doings. “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the command of our God, you people of Gomorrah.” By using these symbolic names, Isaiah helps us understand the level of corruption of the people of Israel, who are called to be the people of God, to live in communion with Him. God, knowing how helpless we are without His grace and the light of His word, encourages us to come back to Him, to learn how to live righteously. “Wash, make yourselves clean. Take your wrongdoing out of my sight. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good, search for justice, help the oppressed, be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.” There is no way we can learn to live righteously unless taught by God’s word and activities among us and in nature. The path of a servant of God is a discursive path, wherein he learns to act uprightly by listening to God in nature and in scriptures. “Come now, let us talk this over, says the Lord. Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing to obey, you shall eat the good things of the earth.”

The obedience we learn by paying attention to nature and to the word of God is the foundation of true religion within us. The scripture says that obedience is better than sacrifice. The Lord confirms this through the psalmist. “I find no fault with your sacrifices; your offerings are always before me. I do not ask more bullocks from your farms, nor goats from among your herds. But how can you recite my commandments and take my covenants on your lips, you who despise my law and throw my words to the winds?” Our Lord gives the same teaching to his audience in the Gospel, urges them to follow the word of God and not the behaviour of the scribes and Pharisees. “Addressing the people and his disciples Jesus said, ‘The scribes and Pharisees occupy the chair of Moses. You must therefore do what they tell you and listen to what they say; but do not be guided by what they do: since they do not practice what they preach.” When we follow the natural principles and build our lives on the word of God, irrespective of the one proclaiming it to us, we are calling God our Father who art in heaven, and taking the Eternal Word, Jesus Christ, as our only Teacher. But when we bend nature to serve our interests and for our amusement and pleasure, we are setting ourselves up as self-righteous teachers of iniquity. The Lord promises not to keep silence about these sins. “You do this, and should I keep silence? Do you think I am like you?” Let us humble ourselves before Jesus Christ and confess our sins, that he may heal us.

Let us pray: Guard your Church, we pray, O Lord, in your unceasing mercy, and, since without you mortal humanity is sure to fall, may we be kept by your constant helps from all harm and directed to all that brings salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. 

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