"The word of the Lord came to me: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them: This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Woe to you shepherds of Israel who only take care of yourselves!"
Ezekiel
I've read recently that "Wisdom" is the substitution of Divine truths for ordinary appearances. How things ordinarily appears to us in our day-to-day life are often not a reflection of Divine truths.
We have to work at receiving and understanding Divine truths. We have to pray about it. We have to look beyond ourselves, and examine things from God's perspective.
This is what Ezekiel is doing in the above scripture. He is noticing that those who have been called and appointed as shepherds of the people of Israel are looking after themselves, and failing in their vocational call of being shepherds of their flock. As a result, the flock becomes scattered.
The answer from Wisdom, from Divine truths: "I am going to call the shepherds to account. I am going to take my flock back and I will not allow the shepherds to feed my flock. I am going to look after my flock myself".
In this way, it is hopeful that both the shepherds and the flock will grow up to be rescued by Wisdom. It is hopeful that the shepherds will learn to stop feeding themselves and trust in God, and the flock will personally accept God's care and compassion in an act of trust.
In ordinary appearances, we feel we have the right to look after ourselves first. We all want to receive a fair wage for what we do based on the energy we put out and the talent we possess, to look after our own needs whatever they may be. Wisdom tells us otherwise. Wisdom tells us that we have a responsibility to care for others in the same way that we care for ourselves because we are all connected. If my brother or sister suffers, then the whole community suffers as well.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus begins: "For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard." In the story, we see people being called at various times of the day to work in the vineyard. Some work all day, some work half a day, and some work for only an hour. At the end of the day, each laborer receives the same wage. From ordinary appearances, we can say: "Where is the fairness in this? The ones who did most of the work, who put out the most effort, who made the greatest sacrifice, are no better off than those who were called in the last hour."
From a Divine perspective, we see everyone getting sufficient food for the day to feed their family. We see the compassion and generosity of the landowner who was able to recognize the needs of the people in his employment. From a Divine perspective, we see that we should not be happy with our abundance when others are going unfed.
It's hard to live from a Divine perspective for it asks us to be as concerned for others as ourselves. We often fail in this, but this is the stuff of wisdom. It is the stuff of the Kingdom of Heaven. "Wisdom is the substitution of Divine truths for ordinary appearances." It's learning to see God's compassion and love for us, His generosity in shepherding us so that we may share love and compassion with others and be generous in our own shepherding.
As Christians, we see Jesus as the dispenser of God's wisdom. It is not something that He just talked about but something He lived.
No comments:
Post a Comment