Fourteenth Sunday of
Ordinary Time (A) [Mt 11:25-30]
09.07.2023
Jesus Thanks His Father and Promises Rest for our Souls
1. Theme in brief:
Father’s
revelation to the little ones and Jesus’ invitation to the burdened
2. Focus Statement:
God reveals his mysteries not to the wise and the
intelligent, but to the humble and the little ones; through his Son (Jesus) he promises
to give rest to those who are restless and are laden with heavy burdens.
3. Explanation of the text
In today’s gospel Jesus thanks the Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, for revealing his gracious will not to “the wise and the intelligent” but to the “infants” (11:25-26). The "wise and intelligent" may refer to those who reject him and his message. Perhaps it refers in particular to the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus often accuses of hypocrisy. They take pride in their knowledge of the Law of Moses but “neglect justice, mercy, and faith” (23:23).
The "infants," on the contrary are those whom the world does not consider wise and prominent. Figuratively, they refer to all the little ones or those who are powerless and helpless, humble and lowly. It is God's gracious will to act in ways that confound human wisdom (11:26), and so these "infants" see what the "wise" cannot – that Jesus is sent by the Father and reveals him (11:27). These little ones are the people to whom the Father chooses to make known his will. In other words, in his prayer to the Father, Jesus contrasts the wise and the intelligent – those who are too proud and arrogant in their knowledge, with the infants – those who are childlike and are open to God’s truth. Jesus has a ‘soft corner’ for this kind of ‘infants’ (11:25), and it is his Father’s gracious will that his Son should show more concern for this category of people (11:26).
We can understand this passage in another way: If we have to enter into the mystery of God’s love for us and be open to his grace, we should have the attitude of ‘infants’ or children (11:25). Only those who are conscious of their littleness and are totally dependent on God (like infants) can advance in their knowledge of the mysteries of God. In other words, if the wise and the intelligent have to grow in the knowledge of God, they too should become like children – humble enough to learn, open and frank, trusting and depending on God.
Jesus alone can reveal exactly what God is like and who are the people of his special favour and concern because he alone “knows” the Father. The word “knowledge” in biblicn sense implies Jesus’ intimacy or close communion with the Father (11:27). Due to this intimate and experiential knowledge, he has revealed to us the image of an infinitely and boundlessly loving God. Through him we come to know that God chooses the little ones to reveal his will and not those wise ones – the scribes and Pharisees – who think that they know everything. The wise and the powerful fail to recognize that God favours the humble and the lowly.
Therefore, in today’s gospel, Jesus invites not
the powerful or the wise to follow him, but the humble who are laden with heavy burdens
and are weary
(11:28) to come to him, learn from him and experience inner rest
(11:29). When he refers to heavy burdens, he has in mind the burden of
religious
obligations imposed by the scribes and Pharisees in his days
(11:28). In another place also in Matthew’s gospel, he speaks about the heavy
burdens (that is, multiplication of rules and regulations derived from the Law
of Moses) laid by the scribes and Pharisees on the shoulders of ordinary people
which are too hard to bear (23:4). The “yoke” mentioned here refers to the
heavy wooden harness that is fitted over the shoulders of an ox or oxen to
enable them to plough through. Thus Jesus’ invitation to his followers to take
up his yoke (11:29)
refers to the burden of the Law of Moses (including its detailed rules) imposed
by the religious leaders who demand a servile obedience to it (11:29).
Jesus promises to deliver people from the burdens of multiplicity of religious laws by reducing them to the one new law or commandment of love. That is why he says that his yoke is easy and his burden light (11:30), because following him does not mean observing a law, but following a person who is “meek (gentle) and humble of heart” (11:29) and ready to share our burdens. The rest for our souls promised by him (11:29) could also refer to the gift of salvation, which is far superior to the rest of Sabbath day prescribed in the Mosaic Law. He invites all those who feel that they are burdened with sins, and are in need of salvation, to come to him and find freedom from the burden of sin, internal joy and peace. His invitation to learn from him refers to his invitation to become his disciples, since it is they who learn from the master. All disciples have to learn or imitate his gentleness and humility to the point of death on a cross (Phil 2:8).
4. Application to life
From Jesus’ prayer to his Father in the first part of today’s gospel, we understand that the Father chooses to make known his will to those who are childlike, are open to his truth and are totally dependent on him. In human society we observe that children depend on people (especially their parents and elders) on things, such as land, property, money and social status. But in spite of the security provided by these things, we live in an atmosphere of anxiety, stress, fear, insecurity and despair. There are people who carry heavy burdens – burdens of serious sins, guilt generated by past wrongdoings, personal weaknesses or defects of character, bad habits, unforgiving attitudes, bitterness, emotional wounds, doubts of faith, tensions, struggles, anxieties, loneliness and responsibilities of life or work, etc. We have to carry the burdens of our families and work. Sometimes we find even our religious obligations and spiritual duties a burden. For some people life itself becomes a burden. These burdens do cause restlessness and stress in us. It is only by becoming childlike or imitating the children’s qualities of openness and dependence (on God) as well as the gentleness (meekness) and humility of Jesus can we experience inner peace and quietness.
In spite of all our higher education, qualification,
immense knowledge and intellectual calibre, we are fragile human beings and are constantly in need of God’s
grace. The more we humble ourselves and accept our limitations, the more we become
attuned to so many signs of God’s love even in small things or events. We need
to learn this type of humility and gentleness from Jesus. We also need his humility to accept what God
reveals to us in good times and bad times. His love lies hidden in whatever
happens to us. Thus, as disciples, we are perpetual learners of God’s love from our Master. We learn that as
God’s love has no boundaries, so our service and concern should be; as God’s love has
no conditions,
so we should do good even to those who have done harm to us. The unconditional
love of Jesus for those who are burdened with sins and other problems of life as well as those who
are weary of
life leads him to extend a warm invitation to come to him and learn from him, that is, to imitate his meekness and humility of heart. He invites us to surrender all our burdens before him in humble obedience to God’s will, and experience the peace and inner joy.
In this context, it is worthwhile to mention Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s thoughts on humility or meekness. According to him, the world thinks that meekness is weakness. It wants that we should be aggressive enough to return tit for tat for offences caused to us. Far from being weakness, meekness is the inner strength (spiritual force) that enables us to control aggressiveness and violent nature in each one of us. Without this controlling force, the animal nature in us will come out with full vigour. A meek person is not the one who never fights or reacts. Such a person decides to fight only when a moral principal or a spiritual value is trampled upon, and not when his/her ego is attacked.
The anger of the meek person is directed against injustice and other forms of oppression/ exploitation/ corruption. This type of anger is called justified anger, like the one Jesus showed towards traders and money-changers in the temple of Jerusalem when they were exploiting the people’s religious sentiments by charging higher price for the sheep and doves to be offered for sacrifice (and by giving a lower rate of exchange for foreign coins) in order to make higher profit (Jn 2:13-16). Further, Archbishop Fulton Sheen instructs that humility is not an underestimation of our talents, gifts and qualification, nor is it their exaggeration. If a person who holds a Ph.D. says that he/she is a matriculate, it is not humility at all, but dishonesty. Humility is the recognition of gifts as gifts, faults as faults. Do we have the habit of saying: “I was mistaken” or “I was wrong?”
Pride takes several forms. One of them is called intellectual pride. Though intellectual pursuit and higher education in secular sciences as well as in theology is a great need, those who undergo such training should be on their guard to avoid arrogance. If intellectual pride sets in, we can become unteachable and begin to think we know everything or have heard it before. God does not reveal himself or his loving plans to those who think they know everything and have answers for all problems of life. When we put on this type attitude we forget that only God holds the key to all problems and there is so much to learn from even simple and ordinary people.
Sometimes I am put to shame by the patience of uneducated workers who work in our institutions. When I become restless and impatient at the lack of instant results, they say: “Don’t worry; soon it will be alright.” In order to be worthy to receive God’s revelation, Jesus invites the wise and the intelligent among us to resist pride and become childlike – humble and lowly, open to God and trust in him more our degrees; to trust in his power more than human power. We learn from our Master throughout our life how to take the form of a slave in spite of being equal to God (Phil 2:6-7); how to stoop down and wash the feet of one another like a servant (Jn 13:14); how to use anger for a justified cause and not for protecting our ego; and how to forgive those who challenge us to come down from our crosses.
In modern times we are increasingly becoming fearful, tense, angry, bitter, revengeful, anxious, disappointed, lonely, rejected and restless. All these negative factors have a strong negative effect on our physical, emotional and spiritual health. We need to acknowledge that the root cause of all our heart-problems is our failure to imitate the humble and meek qualities of Jesus. The rest that Jesus promises is not freedom from all troubles but a healing touch and peace with God. This takes place when we learn to place all our burdens before him in faith and make a deep act of surrender. Whenever we find it too difficult to carry our burdens, we must approach Jesus in prayer and say repeatedly: “I humbly accept before you my Lord and God that I am a helpless person. My life has become unmanageable with this entire burden. I am totally dependent on your power and grace for deliverance from this burden. I surrender myself to your power. I place myself into your loving and caring hands. Lead me where you want; do what you want with me.” This sort of surrender can change meaninglessness, restlessness and boredom of life into meaningfulness and inner quietness – the rest for our souls as promised by Christ.
As we saw in the explanation above, another meaning of “rest” is salvation. Since those who are weary of carrying heavy burdens are in need of salvation and freedom, they can experience it in him and through him. If we do anything out of love, even the heaviest burdens can become light. In other words, a genuine love can make even the heaviest burdens light. Lack of love can cause restlessness in our hearts. Christ’s invitation for us is to imitate his humility and compassionate love, that is, to become a humble servant and love as he loved us. It is up to each one of us to accept or reject this invitation. If we accept it, we find liberation and salvation from our selfishness and interior rest (that is, peace) in spite of occasional feelings of restlessness.
5. Response to God's Word
Do we allow anxiety, stress, fear, insecurity and despair take control of us instead of allowing God to take control of our lives with the humility of a child? What are the heavy burdens that we carry at the moment? If we experience restlessness and lack of inner peace what could be the reason? Do we react only when our ego is attacked, and not when any injustice is done? Do we now and then admit before others that we do not know everything and don’t have answers for all problems of life? Do we depend on God’s power more than our power, and trust him more than our qualifications/talents? Do we place all our burdens before him in faith and make a deep act of surrender to him in prayer? What are things we learned in this week from our Teacher (Jesus)?
6. A Prayer
Lord Jesus, give me the
strength to bear the cost of humility. When I think that everything depends on
me, it tells me that everything depends on you. When I want to be in total
control of my life and everything else, it tells me that you are in control.
When I think that I know everything and have solutions to all problems, it
tells me that my knowledge is limited in spite of my qualifications. Grant that
as a disciple, I may learn from you more and more of meekness and humility.
Amen.
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