Why Jesus was Glad the Wise and Learned Didn't Get It

It's one of Jesus' strange statements. He was glad the smart guys didn't get a hint of anything he said. And to think that the context was on repentance. He was glad that the scholarly failed to understand about repentance? Didn't he want everybody to repent of sins and be saved? Here's the passage:

“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. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. [Matthew 11]

It's something similar to what he told Judas (not Iscariot) about not revealing himself to the world. Judas was confused. Didn't God so loved the world that he gave Jesus to save it? Then why would he not reveal himself to the world? Jesus said he'd only reveal himself to those who really loved him, and these were people who really kept his words. 

Jesus reveals himself only to "little children" and he even warned once that unless we "change and become like little children" we can never enter God's Kingdom. If you connect the two, you'd see that people who really keep God's words change and become like little children. And they are those who really love God. They alone understand everything Jesus says in the bible. 

Smart, wise and learned folks---titled and degreed and always looking down on those who are not initiated as they are (like how the Pharisees and law teachers looked down on Christ and the apostles because they were unschooled and ordinary)---will never agree with changing to be like little kids and living like ordinary folks. They didn't earn titles and degrees just to think like lil kids. They want to sound like professors and gurus and wear fine clothes and live in palaces.

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You see, you cannot hang on to the wisdom you got from this world and expect to be sold-out with what Jesus is saying. God and the world can never mix. You have to change, and not just change superficially. The change should be radical that you become like a little child just accepting anything your Father tells you. 

Smart people need to see how everything agrees with their theology first before they can believe anything. Kids understand everything through faith---they know that everything their dad tells them is right, though they don't fully understand it yet.

Faith unconditionally believes first and analyzes later. The world scrutinizes everything first against the backdrop of its wisdom. Then, it would probably believe later if God's Word agrees with how they see things, especially if it serves the flesh well. Faith, to the world, often comes optional. It wants to understand everything but believing (taking it seriously) comes optional. And it's a definite no-no if it means changing and hurting the ego. If it means losing everything they worked hard for and which gives them money and popularity.

You see now why Jesus was glad that the wise and learned didn't get it? God's Kingdom has no use for them so that sometimes God even intentionally blocks their understanding. 

This is why I speak to them in parables: "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. [Matthew 13]

The "wise and learned" (those who rely on the world's wisdom) only rebel the more they hear God's words.

Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people. [Ezekiel 12.2]

Their only capacity is to eat more from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So God does not allow them to eat from the tree of life. The two cannot mix. To eat from the tree of life, you have to give up everything you got from the world. Look how Paul put it:

7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ, [Philippians 3]

"Unless you change and become like little children" means you consider whatever wisdom you got from the world as "garbage." That includes all the trophies and achievements and reputation. You unlearn worldly ways and systems and learn God's ways and Kingdom systems. Born again means you start all over again. You get rid of the fleshly and take everything of the Spirit because what is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. What's of the flesh cannot be of the spirit.

Well, the Pharisees and law teachers used God's words in Scriptures but they got the letter of the Word, which killed them. "For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life," [1 Corinthians 3.6]. Thus, the "wise and learned" never got it and Jesus praised the Father for it. It is revealed by the Spirit to little children.

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