In the gospel for this week, we read about Jesus giving thanks to God for hiding things from the wise and revealing them to infants—which certainly resonates with another phrase he uses, “little ones”.
There’s something about that idea that can be quite unsettling. That God hides and reveals; picking and choosing who gets to know things.
I think a lot of wise people get squirmy about this idea for obvious reasons. One being it means God is hiding things from them specifically, and that doesn’t feel good. And because, as it goes, giving the truth to those we still consider babies is not the most effective strategy in our world.
Another way we can say this is that it triggers our sense of fairness. And it does so in both of those ways. It certainly seems unfair to withhold from the wise, especially as they are the ones who are most likely to do the right thing! And it is unfair to put the revelation on infants, who can’t process it all!
What all of this highlights, however, is both our commitment to keeping things as we know them and God’s commitment to waking us up from this slumber. Because none of this relies on the certainty of our comprehension.
It relies, instead, on our trying to figure things out, I think. And as much of the mystery is reading into what makes infants more suitable than adults for connecting with God. Or, to put it more directly, what about us is hostile to the truth and what must we let go of?
Perhaps this is why Jesus teaches his disciples to be like children. And I think our intuition around that teaching is pretty well on target. That adults can be far too wise for our own good.
I also think it is proactively positive. That it isn’t a defect or a mistake in us. Nor should we seek to be more naive. It is more like, what is it like to be an infant? Curious, open, attached to mama. So eager to learn and befriend and play.
Yeah, everything is possible.