Title: Knowledge and Wisdom
Contents
One.
Today's words have been interpreted from the perspective of 'Ongojishin' for a long time. A good jurist, or teacher, like 'a landlord who brings out the new and the old from his treasury', drew a lesson on the importance of learning a balance between tradition and new change. That's right. This is because if you do not accept the new changes of the times by clinging to traditions, it will be old-fashioned, and if you do not learn the traditions while chasing only the new, you lose the roots of your thoughts.
But the secret of today's Word lies elsewhere. If we consider the circumstances before and after this verse, we can immediately see that the secret of this verse lies elsewhere. As soon as he finished these words, Jesus was rejected from his hometown of Nazareth and had to leave (Mt 13, 57). The reason is that people did not like Jesus. As the story of the execution of John the Baptist soon follows, we can foresee that Jesus' ministry will have more serious consequences.
The secret of today's Word is this. Jesus did not intend to make his disciples into intellectuals balancing tradition and new. The core of the message is that Jesus defined his disciples, fishermen and farmers from Galilee, as 'legislators trained for the kingdom of heaven'. And this infuriated the teachers of the law, the educated teachers of the law. Jesus was very displeased with the attitude of Jesus, who confronted the lowly, uneducated disciples with the high-ranking jurists who received formal education and were in a respected position in society. Here lies the secret of the Word. Jesus defined his disciples as 'the scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven'. Then, how are the scribes trained for the kingdom different from other scribes?
2.
Learning to 'trap swing' at the age of 70 has never been easier. But Sam Keane starts 'Trape Ride'. He was trying to prove that growing old by challenging hard work was not synonymous with being useless. As he learned to ride the trapeze, he knew that 'you become old by standing still, not by sitting because you are old'. But every time I went up to a high place, I was afraid. Fear and horror came over him, but he was surprised to hear that even the world's top players are terrified every time they take the trapeze. He slowly realizes that he 'learns to fly by practicing daily courage rather than dispelling his fears'.
But what he sometimes couldn't stand was a change of heart:
'I can't help but marvel at the spectacular stunts and daring movements of the great aerial craftsmen and fellow acrobats who are better than me. But sometimes evil magic arises within me, comparing their perfect skills to my meager movements. Then I get depressed right away. Rather than appreciating their amazing feats, they feel envious and fall into despair.
I realized through hard experience that comparisons make people uncomfortable. Within a few days of thinking of myself as inferior, I completely change my mind and consider myself superior. I'm not as good as Cardona, but I think I swing a lot better than the fat Cluts Max.
But as I practiced the trapeze, I continued to realize that comparing and judging was foolish. When evaluating yourself compared to others, it doesn't really matter that you consider yourself inferior or superior. The important thing is that in doing so you lose your uniqueness. Such a person keeps oscillating between high and low, superior and inferior, sadistic and sadistic. In this way, the self exists only in comparison with others.
God doesn't tell me to be someone else. If God could give an eleventh commandment, it would be this: Do not compare yourself to others'.
While learning to ride the trapeze, Sam Keane learned that he didn't learn to climb on the swing first, but to fall over the net. All learning is, in fact, meant to rise high. The reason why we spend so much money on private education to educate our children is that top-ranking universities guarantee good jobs and high incomes. Today's education is only for an increase in status, a corresponding increase in income, that is, to rise. By the way, 'Trape Ride' teaches you how to fall first. No one will go up to fall. Even those who have lived only to climb, and those who have reached the top, must come down at some point. There is an order when you come into the world, but there is no order when you leave the world. Sam Keane, who has reached an age that cannot be denied that he is getting older, is old enough to live consciously of his approaching death. He says: 'So far I've been better at catching the swing than letting it go, but to complete the final stunt I have to learn to fall gracefully'.
3.
Let's turn our eyes back to today's words. Matthew 13:51-53 is the culmination of a series of parables that begin with verse 1. As he concluded the parable of the sower (1-9), the parable of the grain and the weeds (24-30), the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven (31-33), and the three parables of the kingdom of heaven (44-50) Word.
Jesus said to his disciples, Have you understood all these things? ' and they answered yes. Jesus said to them. 'Therefore, every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who brings out new and old things from his treasury'.
In Judaism, a scribe means 'Rabbi', 'a great man', 'a teacher who studies the hidden meaning of riddles of words and immerses himself in the riddles of parables' (Sir 39:3). Jesus mirrors Judaism's scribes with 'the scribes trained for the kingdom of heaven', that is, his disciples. Jewish scribes were displeased with their identification with the villagers and outskirts of Galilee. So he whispers: 'Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And don't all his sisters live with us? But where did this man get all these things?' (Mt 13:54-57).
They marveled at how the carpenter's son, who had never attended a proper school let alone a first-class university, got such wisdom and amazing abilities. No, Jesus didn't like it. It may be that the learning and knowledge of the scribes raised their status, but their knowledge lacked wisdom and power. Jewish scribes are either learning to be teachers or learning to be leaders. But those who learn for the kingdom of heaven are those who learn to serve. The accumulation of knowledge is important to Jewish jurists, but wisdom and understanding are important to those who learn for the kingdom of heaven.
4.
What is commonly learned today is related to the quantitative accumulation of knowledge and personal skill or ability. Although skill-oriented learning is an unavoidable reality in a competitive society, it is a problem because it only allows dictation, imitation, and memorization, not creativity and participation.
Enlightenment is not learning based on gathering information, but learning based on experience. Accumulation of knowledge may be different for those who teach and those who learn, but enlightenment is participatory. Both the teacher and the learner learn from each other.
Knowledge raises the boundaries between people, but enlightenment breaks them down. It transcends national borders, ethnicities, ethnic origins, gender differences, and the abilities and potentials of individuals or groups.
Enlightenment is practice-oriented. We do not stop at the delivery of information, but move the enlightened person into action. Enlightenment is directed not only at the change of consciousness, but also at the change of being.
As Lester Surrow said, the knowledge of our time is oriented toward 'domination'. But wisdom and enlightenment aim for change and 'symbiosis'. If we were to paraphrase 1 Corinthians 13, we would say, 'Information, knowledge, and wisdom, these three things, will always exist, but the chief of these is wisdom'. I pray that the church to be engraved becomes a community that learns and realizes God, the source of wisdom. I pray that the church that opens a new path for the Korean church, a church that goes on a new path, and thus Saegil Church that eventually becomes a new path itself. May the Lord be with you.
Amen.