Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr Paul Belemedi SVD – Saint Jude Catholic School, Manila
Wednesday 15th Week in Ordinary Time
A famous Zen story* tells about a professor who sought a Zen master to learn about the teachings and practice of Zen. At the outset, the Master offered tea. Pouring tea, the master continued even if the cup was overflowing and tea was spilling onto the table.
“Master, stop!” exclaimed the professor. “Can’t you see that the cup is already full? It can’t hold any more!” “Yes,” said the master. “Just like your mind, it is already so full that it can’t hold anymore. If you want to learn about Zen, the first thing you need to do is empty your cup, your mind.”
This story illustrates what is wrong with ‘the wise and the learned’ as compared to the ‘childlike’ in today’s Gospel. ‘The wise and the learned’ have grown so full of themselves, proud of their wisdom and learning, that their hearts have become hard as stones and closed to the action of divine grace (the promptings of the Spirit), thereby rendering them unable to receive new things. To such people, the ‘these things’ that Jesus wishes to reveal will remain hidden unless they undergo conversion and become ‘childlike.’
To become ‘childlike,’ they would need a heart ‘transplant’ – that is, replacing their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh (cf. Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26). A childlike heart is humble and obedient, one that seeks the heart of God itself (aligning one’s will with the Divine Will).
True pursuit of wisdom and learning should be a humbling experience, leading to the humble realization of the limits of finite humanity. To borrow from Aristotle, “The more you know, the more you know you don’t know” – an enlightened openness and dependence, inspired by the Spirit, on the infinite wisdom of God.
*This is a summary of the story from “The Zen Master and the College Professor: Letting Go of What You ‘Know’” [Blog post], by Ariel and Shya Kane (7 November 2014). Retrieved from http://inspiremetoday.com/blog/zen-master-college-professor-letting-go-know/.
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