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| Jesus Ben Sirach |
Secrets by Melanie Rigney
Saturday of the Eighth Week of Easter
When
I was young and innocent,
I sought wisdom openly in my prayer
I prayed for her before the temple,
and I will seek her until the end,
and she flourished as a grape soon ripe.
My heart delighted in her,
My feet kept to the level path
because from earliest youth I was familiar with her.
In the short time I paid heed,
I met with great instruction.
Since in this way I have profited,
I will give my teacher grateful praise.
I became resolutely devoted to her—
the good I persistently strove for.
My soul was tormented in seeking her,
My hand opened her gate
and I came to know her secrets.
I directed my soul to her,
and in cleanness I attained to her. (Sirach
51:13-20)
The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart. (Psalm 19:9ab)
Jesus and
his disciples returned once more to Jerusalem.
As he was walking in the temple area,
the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders
approached him and said to him,
“By what authority are you doing these things?
Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question.
Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.”
They discussed this among themselves and said,
“If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say,
‘Then why did you not believe him?’
But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?”–
they feared the crowd,
for they all thought John really was a prophet.
So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.”
Then Jesus said to them,
“Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.” (Mark 11:27-33)
Piety
Lord, open my mind to the secrets You desire to share with me.
Study
Wisdom is there for the asking. Or rather, wisdom is there for the asking by those who are receptive.
Consider Ben Sira, the Jerusalem sage who lived about two centuries before Christ. His thirst and desire for wisdom—a deep thirst for an acceptance, if not an understanding, of God’s love, mercy, and truth—led him to a “level path,” one on which he stayed for his entire life. The more he understood, the more he sought to understand.
Consider the chief priests, scribes, and elders who asked Jesus on whose authority He was acting. They weren’t really interested in the answer. They posed the question in an attempt to trap Him. As usual, Jesus’s response flummoxed them, even though they were well practiced in answering a question with a question. Their “We do not know” was not sincere. It was evasion. Instead of drawing closer to wisdom, their subterfuge drove them further away.
We live in a society where honest questions, the kind Ben Sira asked on his level path, are ridiculed or drowned out, where to fit in we are tempted to stay silent, to get along to go along. Too often, our “We do not know” or “It’s not for me to judge” do not come from a place of desiring answers to be drawn closer to God but rather to evade deeper conversations where we might find wisdom… or be the vessel for imparting it.
Wisdom is there for the asking for those who are receptive. For those who are not, it will never be found.
Action
At the end of the day, look at your
path. Was it level? Full of peaks and valleys or twists and turns? Pray for the
faith and strength to pursue the journey to wisdom more fully tomorrow.
Image credit: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons, https://en.wikipedia.
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