Both the Gospel and the first reading from the book of Sirach today, speak of wisdom. The author of the book of Sirach ardently pursued wisdom as the focus of his life.When he was still young he said that “I sought wisdom openly in my prayer” and that he “resolved to live according to wisdom”.
Many people in our modern times seek to develop their talents such as playing a musical instrument, cooking, carpentry, and they especially want to progress in their careers. But, all that the author of the book of Sirach wanted was wisdom. He did not set out as a young man to be successful in anything else in life except wisdom. The wisdom that he desired though, was not attainable by human means. It wasn’t an education that he sought as much as wisdom. He sought to know and understand about God, himself and human beings in general.
In this day and age, almost all young men and women are expected to obtain an education or additional training in order to have a good job to support their families with. Very few young people today dedicate their lives to understanding about God, themselves and other people, or about life itself. Those who do are not always viewed as being “successful” in our modern times. Priests, nuns and the laity who are homemakers for an example are not viewed as being “successful” materialistically either, yet how could the world function without them? The rest of us are too busy to think straight most of the time, let alone have time to really contemplate where we are going or what we are trying to achieve in life. Actually, we often get side tracked onto things that do not really matter in the larger scope of things. Our minds are always busy and it’s easy to become distracted by all the events and people we encounter each day, if we mindlessly go through our day without really thinking about what we are doing. How often have you found yourself being pulled into doing something that you really didn’t want to do? You simply went along with whatever the person in front of you wanted, without giving it much thought? Just because they want something from you, doesn’t mean it is the right thing for you to do though.
And that is exactly what happened to Jesus in today’s gospel. He was walking in the temple, probably thinking about things and maybe he planned to stop and pray for a while, but the chief priests, elders and scribes interrupted him with their questions. By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus was operating outside their realm of control and they were not happy about it. Jesus probably knew he couldn’t just ignore them because they wouldn’t leave him alone until he addressed their questions. However, the Lord did something that we all need to make a note of. He thought about what he wanted to say before he said it. Jesus obviously didn’t want to answer their question and may have resented them asking it. So, after giving it some thought he turned the question back around to them. He was very wise in doing this. He evaded this carefully laid trap by thinking about it before he spoke.
The Lord was a man of prayer and was probably in the temple that day to pray and maybe think about the circumstances of his life in his Father’s house. The author in the first reading today was also a man of prayer too. The author of the book of Sirach said while he was searching for wisdom he said he “directed my soul to her, and in purity I found her”. (The Lord and the author of the book of Sirach both are named Jesus by the way.) And they both sought understanding in the temple, before God and in prayer and understood the complexities of human nature much more deeply because of their prayer life and dependence on the Father.
We too, should realize that we can not understand everything perfectly on our own. We are busy with so many things on our minds, that sometimes it seems our problems are insurmountable. But, that is when we should follow the example Christ himself set for us. When things weigh heavy on our minds and in our hearts we should spend some time in prayer in a place of quiet, holiness and peace. An adoration chapel or prayer before the tabernacle at church is an excellent place to clear our minds and open our hearts before the Lord. The Holy Spirit speaks in the silence when our minds are still and our hearts are open enough to hear His voice. Reading sacred scripture in a quiet place like an adoration chapel will help us gain new insights and some sound guidance for our lives as well. Jesus Christ is the source of all genuine wisdom, but we need to be still, and empty ourselves enough to hear his voice, and learn from him.
