TEXT TO REFLECT
I have also seen this example of wisdom under the sun, and it seemed great to me. 14 There was a little city with few men in it, and a great king came against it and besieged it, building great siegeworks against it. 15 But there was found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. 16 But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heard.
ECCLESIASTES 9:13-16
REFLECT
The great Teacher in this passage sought to highlight the following observations: the 'victim' was a small city with few men; the invading force was ruled by a great king (implying that it came with a great number of troops) equipped with a large number of sophisticated tools and weapons ('great siegeworks'). This is akin to the story of David and Goliath - a small and ill-equipped victim prevailing against a very strong adversary. Despite the disparity of power, the small city held out against the great king. This goes against conventional thinking that greater forces generally will win against weaker forces. The small city prevailed because of the wisdom of a poor man who had been and continued to be overlooked by everyone. The lesson in this observation is that wisdom is often missed because it resides among the poor who are overlooked. This wisdom can save a community from powerful forces coming against it.
RELATE
This is a very serious matter that Christians must reflect and act upon: we lose much wisdom when we overlook the significant contributions of the poor. Our engagement with the poor is mostly to assist them financially. Yet what the Bible teaches us is that we should be consulting them more. James 2:3 tells us that the poor are rich in faith and are heirs to the Kingdom of God . In other words, in matters of faith and God's Kingdom, they are the ones whom the church should look to and draw wisdom from. Dr Tan Lai Yong, a former missionary to China and who had received many accolades from the Chinese government for his work among the rural poor, at one time worked as Resident Fellow at the College of Alice and Peter Tan (part of the National University of Singapore ). One of his duties was to arrange inspirational talks for resident students. Instead of inviting celebrities and 'successful' personalities to speak, his panel of speakers included cleaners, taxi drivers and gardeners. He ensured that all the residents of the college knew the cleaners by name. This was not just to make the college an inclusive one, but that the wisdom of the least noticed staff would not be lost.
We assume erroneously that we can learn much from the rich and famous (Donald Trump's Art of the Deal was a best seller), and little from the poor. We think that if the poor were unable to make themselves rich, then there cannot be much we can learn from them. We forget that the God we worship came as the son of a refugee carpenter with neither wealth nor connections. That alone should alert us to where wisdom and faith is to be found.
The change that is needed is more that of attitude than structural. We do not need to rush into bringing the poor into leadership just because they are poor. The criteria for leaders remains the same: are our candidates godly and wise? But what we need is to take a different perspective of the poor. When we visit a family that is poor or when the poor come to our church, instead of looking just at their poverty and financial needs, can we be curious about their resilience as well? How did they survive with so little? What are their stories of courage? How did they overcome rejection and despair? In what ways did faith in God help them? These are questions that we need answers to if we hope to build a church that is strong in faith.
REST
As we approach advent, let us allow the words of the children's Christmas carol to remind us of the lowly status of the mighty God whom we worship.
Away in a manger, no crib for a bed
The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head;
The stars in the sky looked down where he lay
The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay
Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay
Close by me forever, and love me, I pray
Bless all the dear children in thy tender care
And fit us for heaven to live with Thee there
Chiu Ming Li
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