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Thursday – Twenty-second Week – OT2
Readings: 1 Cor 3:18-23; Lk 5:1-11.
Reading 1 (1 Cor 3:18-23): Brothers and sisters:
Let no one deceive himself.
If anyone among you considers himself wise in this age,
let him become a fool, so as to become wise.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God,
for it is written:
God catches the wise in their own ruses, and again:
The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you,
Paul or Apollos or Cephas,
or the world or life or death,
or the present or the future:
all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.
Gospel (Lk 5:1-11):
While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God,
he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret.
He saw two boats there alongside the lake;
the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets.
Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon,
he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore.
Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
After he had finished speaking, he said to Simon,
“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.”
Simon said in reply,
“Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing,
but at your command I will lower the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish
and their nets were tearing.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat
to come to help them.
They came and filled both boats
so that the boats were in danger of sinking.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said,
“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him
and all those with him,
and likewise, James and John, the sons of Zebedee,
who were partners of Simon.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid.
from now on you will be catching men.”
When they brought their boats to the shore,
they left everything and followed him.
Fr. Anthony Dinh Minh Tien, O.P.
I. THEME: Divine wisdom versus human wisdom
Wisdom is a necessary virtue for human survival. The wise know how to think, to reason and to decide so that they shall attain their desire. There are many kinds of wisdom, and not all of them are good. The Vietnamese even differentiate between wisdom and craftiness or cunning.
Today readings make a difference between divine and human wisdom. In the first reading, St. Paul said that divine wisdom is much better than human wisdom. He also listed out some characteristics of divine wisdom to help the faithful to search for it instead of to be pleasing with human wisdom. In the Gospel, when Peter was tested to choose between doing Jesus’ will and following his experimental prudence, he chose to follow Jesus’ command. By doing that, he gathered a great catch which exceeded his expectation.
II. ANALYSIS:
1/ Reading I: For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.
1.1/ The difference between the divine and human wisdom: Divine wisdom is different with human wisdom because it aims the ultimate purpose of life, and all thinking and decisions must be based on this ultimate purpose, while human wisdom aims only worldly purposes. Since their purposes are different, divine wisdom is often opposed to human wisdom. For examples, the wisdom of the cross which St. Paul later expounded on it. According to the divine wisdom, the cross is God’s wisdom and power because it takes away all human sins and brings salvation for human beings. According to human wisdom, the cross is foolish to the Gentiles and scandalous to the Jews because they can’t understand why a powerful God chose the way of the cross to save people. Or Jesus said that if anyone wants to follow him, he must give up his will, carry his cross and follow him while people try all possible ways to protect their will and to avoid the cross. Again, the difference is in the goal or the end which a person aims at. If he aims at the ultimate goal of life, he shall do according to Jesus’ teaching; but if he aims at worldly goals, he shall not do it.
– “Let him become a fool so as to become wise”: At first, this sentence seems to be contradictory; but if one understands Paul’s context, it becomes clear. Paul wanted to say if one realizes that he is a fool (môros) according to the divine standard, he shall try to learn God’s wisdom so that he can become truly wise; but if he thinks he is already wise, he shall not bother to learn it. St. Paul thought that human wisdom is foolish before God, so he advised the Corinthians, “If any one among you considers himself wise in this age, let him become a fool so as to become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the eyes of God.”
1.2/ Why does divine wisdom exceeds human wisdom? The certain answer is because God creates human beings; moreover, God also knows all what they think of. The creatures can’t be wiser than the Creator. Human wisdom can only win over human beings, never over God. St. Paul used a verse in Job to affirm this fact as follows, “He catches the wise in their own ruses”
– Christ is God’s wisdom: This affirmation is very important. Both St. John and St. Paul affirmed this by different ways. According to John, “And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). He is the Father’s wisdom and everything he revealed and taught us are the divine wisdom which we must learn and live according to them. St. Paul expressed in a different way, “So let no one boast about human beings, for everything belongs to you, Paul or Apollos or Kephas, or the world or life or death, or the present or the future: all belong to you, and you to Christ, and Christ to God.” This means that if anyone lives according to Christ’s teaching, he has God’s wisdom and shall attain what God predestines for him.
2/ Gospel: Jesus’ wisdom versus Peter’s experimental prudence
Revelation and teaching had an important part in Jesus’ earthly mission because through them he reveals and teaches people about God’s wisdom and mysteries. In today passage, St. Luke reported a typical time of Jesus’ teaching and people’s reaction to it, “While the crowd was pressing in on Jesus and listening to the word of God, he was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret. He saw two boats there alongside the lake; the fishermen had disembarked and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, he asked him to put out a short distance from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.”
2.1/ Peter’s prudence was tested by Jesus’ wisdom: First of all, we need to make a difference between wisdom and prudence. According to St. Thomas, wisdom is the knowledge which one has while prudence is the application of one’s knowledge in a practical situation. Let us analyze Peter’s reaction to recognize the difference between the two.
Peter had experimental prudence because he is a fisherman. He also had some of divine wisdom because he had heard Jesus’ teaching. His prudence was tested by Jesus’ wisdom when Jesus commanded him, “Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Simon said in reply, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at your command I will lower the nets.”
Peter’s answer wanted Jesus to understand what he implied: I am the fisherman and frequently catch fishes in this sea. I have worked hard all night and have caught nothing. Now, the net has been washed and you have no experience about fishing, command me to lower the net one more time. I obey you out of my respect for you, but I can guarantee that it is a waste of time.
Peter was wrong in his thinking, this time he caught many fishes to the point that he couldn’t haul in and the net was almost torn. He got two boats full of fish!
2.2/ Peter recognized Jesus’ wisdom and his unworthiness: The first thing Peter recognized is his experimental wisdom of fishing is nothing before Jesus’ wisdom. The second thing he recognized is that Jesus knew all of his insulted thoughts toward him. Peter confessed his sin and his unworthiness by falling at the knees of Jesus and said, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
Jesus didn’t rebuke Peter but charged him for a more important task, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” Peter and his friends must recognize that there is no one who is wiser than Jesus and they decided to leave everything to follow Jesus.
III. APPLICATION IN LIFE:
– We must always remember that our wisdom is very limited, and we don’t know all. Therefore, we must open ourselves to learn the divine wisdom and from others.
– We should never be proud of our human wisdom before God and human beings. Wherever there is a conflict between the divine and the human wisdom, we must choose to follow the divine wisdom.
– When we must make important decisions, the ultimate goal of our life must be the foundation for our making a decision.