Tuesday in the First Week of Advent, November 29, 2022

Luke 10, 21-24

Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”  Turning to the disciples in private he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

“Although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.”  The incarnate Son of God marvels before his disciples at the Providence of his Father, who revealed his Son not to Aristotle and Plato but to Peter and Andrew and Martha and Mary.  This revelation is the most stupendous we have ever received as a species, for by reason alone we can conclude that God exists and that he must be be infinite in extent and power, but without him telling us, we could never have guessed that he is a unity of three divine Persons, and that one of these Persons would join himself to a human nature in order to die for our redemption from sin.  When the Lord Jesus says, that his Father has “hidden” these things from “the wise”, he means simply that he chose not to reveal these truths to these people, but did choose to reveal them to others who lacked formal education, and had never studied philosophy or theology.  We are reminded that God’s gift of the knowledge of the truth truly is a gift and that we we did earn it or merit it.  God revealed this to some and withheld it from others.  

No one deserves this revelation but God makes it to the simple.  He does this to manifest his glory, and also to convince others of its reality.  When we see a well-groomed, expensively dressed person walk up to a piano, sit at it, and play a Chopin nocturne with great skill, we are impressed, but not really surprised.  The person’s appearance leads us to think that he or she has reached a high level of education and is certainly highly skilled in some particular field.  Now, if a child dressed in rags and smeared with dirt walked up to the piano and looked at it as though he had never seen one before, then sat on the bench and played the same nocturne with the same level of quality, we would be amazed.  So it is with the people to whom God reveals the wonders of himself and his love for us.  They may not seem impressive, but they can know that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  They can know how to obtain eternal happiness.  They know how to live happily now.  They know how to speak to the Creator of the universe.  There are very large numbers of very educated people who do not understand the meaning or purpose of life, but any believer in Jesus, even a child, does.

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.”  The Lord is speaking specifically to and about the people before him two thousand years ago, but this pertains to every generation of believers since then.  You and I today see the Lord and what he has revealed to us with the eyes of faith.  We have before us the Holy Scriptures, especially the Gospels, and sacred tradition to help us see him.  And, in fact, anyone can see him.  The Lord Jesus worked openly during his Public Life: “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue and in the temple, whither all the Jews resort: and in secret I have spoken nothing” (John 18, 20).  But there are many people, and always have been, who do not want to see.  For them, the truth remains “hidden”.