It was many years ago, at L’École Biblique in Jerusalem, when a master of exegesis was initiating us into the difficult art of unraveling the Gospel of Matthew. Everything seemed insufficient to grasp the ultimate meaning of the text: textual criticism, literary analysis, structure of the passage. One day we came to those verses in which Jesus exclaims: “I give you thanks, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and have revealed them to simple people.” The professor fell silent for a long time. Then he told us very slowly: “Never forget these words. You can forget everything else.” It was probably the best lesson in exegesis I have ever received. Later, over the years, I have been able to see that it is so.
Whenever I have had the impression of being near a person close to God, it has been someone with a simple heart. Sometimes a person without great learning, other times someone of notable culture, but always a man or woman with a humble and pure soul.
On more than one occasion I have been able to verify that it is not enough to speak of God for faith to awaken. For many people, certain religious concepts are very worn out, and even if one tries to draw out all the vigor and flavor they had in their origin, God remains as “fossilized” in their consciences. However, I have met simple people who do not seem to need great ideas or arguments. They immediately sense that God is “a hidden God,” and from their heart a spontaneous invocation is born: “Lord, show me your face.”
I have also met people who always move in the realm of utility. Some abandon God because he seems perfectly useless to them; others hold him and worship him because he serves them. However, I have been able to know simple people who live giving thanks to God. They enjoy the good things of life, bear the evils with patience; they know how to live and make others live. I do not know how they manage it, but from their heart it always seems to be springing forth praise of the Creator. Their life is a success.
I have expounded religious themes many times and spoken of God before very diverse peoples. At times I have met people who raised question after question about all kinds of theological matters, without showing the slightest interest in encountering God. But I have also seen simple people whose eyes shone in a special way when I read texts like this from the prophet Isaiah: “I am the Lord, your God… You are of great price in my eyes, you are valuable and I love you… Do not fear, for I am with you” (Isaiah 43:4); or when I recited Psalm 103: “As a father is tender toward his children, so the Lord is tender toward those who fear him. For he knows what we are made of, he remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:13-14). Yes, God reveals himself to simple people.
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