The basic explanation of this, is that the wise son or daughter knows that the purpose and effect of the Mitzvot is not only that G-d gives a command and we carry it out. The Mitzvot have a very sublime effect as well. The word Mitzvah in Hebrew means ‘Command’, but there is also a similar Aramaic word which means ‘connection’. Through carrying out the Mitzvot one is connected and bonded to the Infinite Divine.
Since this is the case, asks the wise young person, why are the Mitzvot, whether testimonies, statutes or simple laws, all focused on our physical behaviour? If they are a means to bond with G-d, wouldn’t it be more appropriate that they should be spiritual rather than practical? Mitzvot for the very spiritual Divine Soul rather than for the physical body?
This is why his question is about the ‘testimonies, statutes and laws which Hashem our G-d has commanded you’. By saying ‘you’ he does not mean to exclude himself (as is the case with the Wicked Son). Instead he is contrasting you, his parents, with the Patriarchs. The Patriarchs bonded with G-d in primarily a very spiritual way.
Chassidic teachings explain that each Patriarch served G-d through a specific Divine Attribute: Abraham served G-d through love, Isaac through awe, and Jacob expresses the third Attribute of Truth. As the Midrash puts it: all the Mitzvot of the Patriarchs were like fragrance, something which relates to the soul rather than to the body.
For the wise son, this makes sense. Mitzvot have an ultimate spiritual purpose, bonding with the Divine, so of course they should be spiritual in nature, as they were for the Patriarchs. In that case, he asks, why did G-d command you to carry out practical Mitzvot, whether testimonies, statutes or ordinary rational laws?
