Hidden from the Wise

At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes, Yes, Father, for so it seemed good in your sight" (Mt. 11:25-26; Lk 10:17-21).

These words of Jesus bring to mind the words Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "For the preaching of the cross is to those who perish foolishness. But to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written. "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.' Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1 Cor. 1:18-20). Jesus selected ordinary men from lowly occupations to be His apostles He knew that the "wise" of this world would largely reject His message.

Through the ages, most of Christ's followers have come from the poor and unlearned. This was particularly true in the early centuries. Athenagoras told the Romans: " Among us you will find uneducated persons, craftsmen, and old women. They may be unable in words to prove the benefit of our teaching. Yet, by their deeds they exhibit the benefit arising from their conviction of its truth. They do not rehearse speeches, but they exhibit good works. When struck, they do not strike back. When robbed, they do not go to law. (Or sue.) They give to those who ask of them and love their neighbours as themselves." When a pagan belittled the Christians for their general lack of education, Mark Minucius Felix replied, "We do not bear wisdom in our dress, but in our minds. We do not speak great things~we live them.”

For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. 1 Corinthians 4:20

The "babes of whom Jesus speaks may not possess worldly wisdom, but they understand the deep things of God. Jesus meant for us to be babes in malice, not babes in understanding. These things are hidden from the "wise" because of their presumption of their own wisdom. It is not be cause they have true (Godly) wisdom... The Lord confirms the justice of this. For He states it is the Father's will that those who are unwilling to become babes in God will become fools in their own 'wisdom.'

Clement of Alexandria explains further, ""The Master and Teacher applies the name babes to us believers because we are readier to embrace salvation than are the wise of this world. For thinking themselves wise, they are puffed up with pride. ...Truly, then, we who have set aside the old man, stripped off the garment of wickedness , and put on the immortality of Christ ---we are the children of God. In this manner, we can become a new, holy people through the regeneration, and we may keep the new man undefiled. As God's little one, a 'babe' is cleansed from fornication and wickedness."

In What Sense Are These Things "Hidden"?

Is Jesus saying that God has purposefully concealed the truth from the wise and sophisticated of this world? No. God would never do that. The scriptures tells us that God "desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4). Chrysostom explains, "The scribes and the wise men, thinking themselves to be intelligent, fell away through their own vanity....For when He says, 'You have hidden it, He by no means suggests that this is all God's doing. Rather, it is just as when Paul says, "He gave them over to a reprobate mind' [Rom. 1:28] and 'He has blinded their minds [Jn. 12:40]. Those statements are not meant to present God as being the cause that those things happened. Rather, those men themselves were the cause."

The "wise and prudent" had free access to the exact same truths as every one else. Their own pride caused the kingdom message to be hidden from them. It was as Jesus said, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no way enter into it" (Lk. 18:17).

Why Did Jesus Thank the Father?

Why, then, did Jesus thank God heavenly father that He had hidden the kingdom truths from the wise and the prudent and revealed them to babes? It is not that God rejoices in the fact that the worldly wise reject the kingdom message, "As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked would turn from his ways and live. Ezekiel 33:11. Rather Jesus was thanking God that the kingdom was open to the vast majority of mankind the poor, the disabled and the uneducated. Of course, before they can enter the kingdom, even the poor and uneducated have to become "babes" in Christ by repenting and believing.

Christ's being revealed to these "babes" was an appropriate matter of joy. However his being hidden from the "wise" was not a matter of joy, but of tears. This is why Jesus wept for the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, He does not rejoice in the fact that the wise men do not know. Rather, He rejoices that He was known to these others. It is just as when Paul say's, 'But God be thanked that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching which was delivered to you' [Rom. 6:17]. Surely. Paul does not rejoice because they were once slaves of sin,' but because having been such, they now have been so highly favoured.