There are times when you can be too smart. too clever by half. Where the politics or the ability to get things through means that you do what is expedient, but not what is wise.
Being wise or clever can lead to disaster, for you can over trust your intelligence. You can see yourself as smarter than you are, or assume that because you are expert in one area you are expert everywhere.
Because, in being clever, you can miss the mantle being taken from your nation and given to another. You can win the tactical battles, and lose the goal you want. In today’s passage, there is a parable against the Rabbi, the council, the entire apparatus of the Judaic theocracy. For they rejected Christ, and the means of salvation, which came from the Jews, followed Christ to his Church.
11:27Again they came to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him 28and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do them?” 29Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question; answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 30Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin? Answer me.” 31They argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 32But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” — they were afraid of the crowd, for all regarded John as truly a prophet. 33So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
1Then he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower; then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. 2When the season came, he sent a slave to the tenants to collect from them his share of the produce of the vineyard. 3But they seized him, and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. 4And again he sent another slave to them; this one they beat over the head and insulted. 5Then he sent another, and that one they killed. And so it was with many others; some they beat, and others they killed. 6He had still one other, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8So they seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10Have you not read this scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
11 this was the Lord’s doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”12When they realized that he had told this parable against them, they wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowd. So they left him and went away.
I like the Jews. They are irritating, but smart. They are never boring. Israel is a place which tolerates people, and has a functioning democracy. It’s not perfect, and is continually in a low grade war with two if its neighbours. I believe we should support and rescue Jews, particularly from fascist oppression, which in our day is Islamic (as it was Nazism in our grandfathers or great grandfather’s time).
I generally feel the same way about that other large diaspora — the Chinese. Hell, I married in: my kids are half Chinese. Besides, it is always good to do that which is righteous.
We can give advice, we can use tactics. But we need to remember what our aim is. Are we improving ourselves to be able to lead, guide, protect, and seek righteousness, or to improve our strike rate in the Thursday night meat market?
What is our chief aim? Can we honestly agree with the Reformed Divines.
What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
If not, let us examine ourselves, and reform.
