Who among you is wise and understanding?
Let him show his works by a good life
in the humility that comes from wisdom.
Wisdom is about more than clever words. Proof of wisdom does not come from the books we have read or our academic history. Persuasive articles or well written blog posts are not certain indicators of wisdom. Much more than these, we ought to observe "a good life in the humility that comes from wisdom." Does good teaching seem to stop at the doors of a teacher's daily life? Or is it rather part of a larger and consistent example of purity, one that is "peaceable, gentle, compliant, fully of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity"?
But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts,
do not boast and be false to the truth.
James taught that not many should be teachers because they would be more strictly judged and because the tongue was difficult to control. Teachers would be tempted to present a better version of themselves than the ones that actually existed. They would feel compelled to boast and be false to the truth in order to make themselves persuasive. This would be especially the case if their motivation was self ambition, that is, the desire to be seen as impressive in others eyes, or if their motivation was bitter jealousy, that is, the desire to be seen as better than those around them. Teachers, desiring a short term reward for their work, are often content with the praise and adoration of their students and neglect the humble path of wisdom.
We are all called to seek wisdom. To do so we must remember that the essential thing is the humility to always put Jesus and his priorities first. It was perhaps this lesson that the disciples had forgotten in today's Gospel reading. They had previously succeeded in casting out demons but now they found themselves impotent.
I asked your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable to do so.
What was missing?
He said to them, “This kind can only come out through prayer.”
The disciples had perhaps begun to take for granted the gift of authority they had received from Jesus and thought that they could now wield it even while forgetting him. They displayed the signs of the absence of wisdom that James described, jealousy and selfish ambition, by the way that they themselves had been divided by the experience.
He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?”
We can imagine one disciple after another failing in their attempts to exorcise the demon and then resorting to accusations and recriminations about what the other disciples did wrong to justify themselves. What we did not see- and what we would have seen if they were living in accord with wisdom- was the disciples as a unified front bringing the boy to Jesus himself when they found themselves unable to help.
Wisdom requires faith. It is not a faith in the abstract, not the sheer willing of a miracle to happen by believing it will. It rather requires a faith in which Jesus himself is central. It is one who has a faith like that for whom all things are possible.
“‘If you can!’ Everything is possible to one who has faith.”
Then the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe, help my unbelief!”
In this request the boy's father displayed the true wisdom of humility. Let us learn to imitate him when our faith comes up short and not resort instead to the self-reliance of subsequent discord that defined the disciples in this incident. Let us learn that wisdom is not only saying good words about Jesus but is about the art of making he himself the center of what we do.
But Jesus took him by the hand, raised him, and he stood up.
There is much malign influence in the world today that Jesus does want to heal and restore. He desires to use his modern day disciples to do so. May we be open to the faith and the wisdom we will need if he is to work through us as he desires.
Let the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart
find favor before you,
O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
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