The Case for Love and Wisdom

There are many quotable scenes from the 1987 film, The Princess Bride—anyone who knows it most likely knows it well enough to share some of them with you!

One of my favorites is the interaction between Vizzini and the Man in Black who are both trying to gain an advantage over each other to keep/save the kidnapped princess.

In previous scenes, The Man in Black has gotten past Vizzini’s two hired men, and now approaches their boss who holds a knife to the princess’ throat.

He asks to make an arrangement for the Princess’ life, but Vizzini refuses while threatening to use the knife, and the dialogue ensues.

VIZZINI: There will be no arrangement [pauses, deliberately] and you’re killing her!

MAN IN BLACK: But if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse.

VIZZINI: I’m afraid so — I can’t compete with you physically. And you’re no match for my brains.

MAN IN BLACK: You’re that smart?

VIZZINI: Let me put it this way: have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?

MAN IN BLACK: Yes.

VIZZINI: Morons.

MAN IN BLACK: Really? In that case, I challenge you to a battle of wits.

VIZZINI: For the Princess?

VIZZINI: To the death?

VIZZINI: I accept.

I’ll let you watch or rewatch the movie to find out how the Battle of Wits plays out, but I couldn’t help but think of this scene when reading Paul’s speech to the Athenians on Mars Hill.

Paul is not holding a knife to anyone’s throat, but he is walking a knife’s edge in his battle of wits in the ancient capital of Greek philosophy and wisdom.

He seeks to flatter the Athenians for their religiosity and convince them that their altar to an unknown God has actually been erected for the God he names and proclaims to them.

He uses the language and rhetoric of their cultural context while simultaneously telling them that they need to repent and reimagine their concept of wisdom if they want to truly know the God they now worship as “unknown.”

I can almost hear Paul saying: Let me put it this way: have you ever heard of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates?

Athenians: Yes.

Paul: Morons.

We who have the benefit of historical perspective know that the Greek Philosophers and their contributions to wisdom remain relevant in our own age.

We who look back on Paul’s speech to the Athenians from the safety of a world where Christianity persuaded enough people in its early years to become established as a major cultural force might see Paul’s argument as overly harsh and dualistic.

We who, in these days and times, are charged with proclaiming the same risen Lord whose life-changing wisdom and pattern of living transformed Saul into Paul—how can we share the life that we have come to know in Christ in a world that has grown weary and suspicious of our claims?

Well, rather than approaching this sharing as a Battle of Wits, which assumes a winner and a loser and makes argumentation the medium, I’d recommend that we make the case for Love and Wisdom by adopting some of Paul’s methods and jettisoning others.

Paul’s contention that the God we worship has made us and that we all share common ancestors in Adam and Eve is a good starting point for our sharing.

Even our mosaics in the apse pick up on this theme of common ancestry with Jesus as the new Adam through whom true and lasting life comes. 

When we view others as siblings instead of strangers, as companions instead of competitors, as distinct equals who remain gloriously diverse—then we can have honest conversations about the faith that animates us and the practices that lead to greater life.

The more we learn to “live and move and have our being” in the deep pool of wisdom that Christ has shown us, the more strength we gain to repent of our own ignorance and the greater patience we have for others who struggle, and others whose beliefs differ from ours.

As those who find life in a Savior who was crucified by a corrupt religious/political alliance, who rose from the dead and destroyed the power of death forever, who promised to never leave us orphaned as we carry forward his mission of reconciliation in the world—we cannot shy away from announcing hard truths in the face of injustice and working diligently to see reconciliation come about through sustained love, grace, and work.

But just as Jesus showed us, the way and wisdom of the cross—which is the way that ultimately breaks the chains of the enslaved and allows the lame to leap for joy—that way isn’t afraid of confrontation but chooses to encounter any opposition with love instead of the weapons of war, with self-sacrifice and servanthood instead of zero-sum tactics of domination.

The world we inhabit is still in need of the proclamation of the good news in Jesus Christ, and we, as members of his Body, are commissioned to be his messengers just as our patron saint was.

Our world is still suffering because of injustice, because religious/political alliances still crucify the innocent and the weak on the altar of commerce and hegemony, and because traditional wisdom claims it is easier in the short-term to say “I have no need of you” than it is to walk together into a place of mutual transformation and joy.

How might you—how might we—accept the responsibility to proclaim the wisdom we know in Christ without leaving behind our charge to “love our neighbor as ourselves?”

How might we exchange any knives-out, Battles of Wits between those who believe differently from us with Encounters of Empathy and Conversations among Companions?

Begin the journey of answering this challenge in your own life by drawing deep from the infinite well of wisdom and forgiveness that the Resurrected Christ offers us all.

Then go boldly into the world, empowered by the Advocate who will not abandon us, and make the case for Love and Wisdom by being your truest and most authentic self with all you meet.

As you do, the reconciling God that Paul named to the Athenians at Mars Hill will go before you, will be in you, and will guide you in right paths for his namesake.