When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions. (Mark 12:34)
Hearing the scribe’s answer, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Does Jesus mean the wise answer given by the scribe become the precondition for reaching to the kingdom of God? Can a person enter the kingdom of God without possessing such wisdom?
Wisdom is important in the tradition of Jews and the Greek. A large portion of the Old Testaments belongs to the literature of wisdom such as Ecclesiastes, Psalms, Job and Proverbs. Here the meaning of wisdom is the thinking power to understand God’s will. Truly speaking, wisdom belongs to God. When God the source of wisdom allows men to possess wisdom as a gift, human being can be a wise creature on earth.
Greek regarded Philosophy as an important subject. Philosophy is a compound word of ‘Sopia’ meaning wisdom and ‘Philos’, love. Thus Philosophy literally means love of wisdom. According to Ancient Greek, philosophy meant the ability to discern whether myths were true or false. Ancestors of Christianity also positively accepted such Greeks’ philosophical tradition. The thought of Plato, Aristotle and Zenon deeply influenced Christian doctrine of God, anthropology and doctrine of Logos.
In general point of view, such wisdom is the power of thinking to which a person can attain through some professional disciplines. However, it is not always right. Rather the discipline pulls us apart from wisdom. We can see such phenomenon from the lives of the Pharisees and the scribes. True wisdom may be attained through a right attitude toward the truth rather than learning from discipline. Though there is less availability of professional discipline, those who open their ears to the sound of truth can judge wisely. Jesus’ aphorism, “He who has ears, let him hear” is not an empty word.
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