1 Corinthians 1:22-27
God Hides Things
22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Luke 10:21
God Hides Things
21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
God hides things from us...Sometimes He Himself seems hidden...St. Paul tells us that the Jews demand to see miracles and the Greeks search in the philosophies for wisdom, but he, Paul, preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ, who was crucified...St. Paul teaches us that miracles and wisdom can get in the way of truth...God is so much wiser than any of us, and even in God's foolishness, He is wiser than the smartest human...God is also stronger than any human...God even chooses the foolish things of this world to shame the wise and He chooses the weak things of this world to shame the strong...
Jesus even talks about God hiding things from the wise, yet revealing those hidden things to little children...It seems that children could recognize who Jesus was and where He came from...Jesus was and is the One, who was to come...He is the shoot of Jesse, the branch of David...Children could see something in our Messiah, others could not...
God had done many, if not all, of His ancient miracles for His people, the Jews...So, for them to expect another miracle from Him would be not so unnatural at all...They had heard about the miracles in their past...The Greeks started philosophy, so they searched from wisdom and truth and it would not be unnatural for them to find truth and wisdom in Jesus...After all, Jesus told His disciples, I AM the truth, the way, and the life...So we know that God can do miracles and He is truth...
It seems that St. Paul is telling us that Jesus' being crucified and then resurrecting is a stumbling block for the Jew and Greek...Both groups may have expected much more from their Messiah, that God was to send...A poor, humble carpenter, who preached the good news about God, may not have been enough for them...They could have been expecting, but maybe even more wanting a strong, charismatic, military leader, who would destroy the Roman Empire and lead them out of bondage of the Roman Emperor...The Jews and wise Greeks, probably thought a dead crucified carpenter, who had risen was not the Messiah they wanted...How could He be the entire world's Savior?...Where are all the miraculous signs and the wonderments from heaven?...Wouldn't the Messiah have came with a lot more pomp and circumstance?...
I think today, we still think like this...We want some pomp and circumstance...And maybe even a little arrogance, in our leaders and heroes...But this is not God...God wants us to be humble...As we read about Jesus, we see how humble He really is...We do not see a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounding Him...
So as we continue to pray for another miracle from God to strengthen our faith, it may not come...The Messiah could not be a carpenter, or so the Jews and Greeks thought...The proof, we may see in our time here, is when a poor humble boy or girl makes it successfully into this world and raises a successful family teaching them about God...A child or family member, who finds God, and leads a good life...A humble miracle...God is not proud and ambitious...Love is not proud and ambitious...God is gentle...Love is humble...God is humble...