Ancient Wisdom

We sometimes have a tendency to think of people from the distant past

As less sophisticated, or more gullible, or less intelligent than we are today.

Maybe we suffer from some scientific and technological snobbery.

We have made enormous advances in those areas.

But it’s clear from history and from reading what they wrote,

That the people who lived thousands of years ago were just as intelligent,

Just as capable of reasoning, and just as discerning as we are today.

That’s certainly the case for the people who lived just 2,000 years ago.

A few hundred years after Socrates and Plato and Aristotle.

Those people of 2,000 years ago weren’t easily fooled or deceived.

They were just as perceptive and just as skeptical about outlandish claims as we are.

They questioned authority the same way we do.

So when Jesus showed up in Palestine, he was scrutinized by intelligent, savvy people.

They were impressed with his speech and his knowledge and his wisdom.

But they were still skeptical of his authority.

Why should they listen when his teaching contradicted the prevailing ideas of the day?

Things like:

You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

But I say to you, love your enemies…

Or, It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.

And why should they keep listening even as his statements grew more and more radical.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

I am the way the truth and the life.

Unless you eat my body and drink my blood you shall not have life.

There’s no doubt that he spoke as one having authority.

And there’s no doubt that many people did question that authority.

But he convinced them; he demonstrated his authority.

He drove out demons.

He cured diseases.

He raised the dead.

The people were amazed.

Thousands of those intelligent, discerning, questioning people came to believe in him.
And when his death shook their faith, he bolstered it---increased it---by rising again.

It’s okay for us too, to question his authority.

It’s more than okay.

It’s good for us from time to time to contemplate the question of Jesus’ authority;

To test his teachings and his claims against our life experiences.

Should we really believe that Jesus was who he said he was?

Our life experience tells us, Yes; or at least Why not?

Our gift of faith tells us, Yes.

The voice of the Spirit dwelling within us tells us, Yes.

The testimony of billions of other Christians, past and present, tells us, Yes.

And—not least of all—the testimony of those intelligent, savvy eye witnesses tells us, Yes.

Tuesday, 1st Week of Ordinary Time
Mk 1:21-28           Read this Scripture @usccb.org