Matthew 11,25-30.
Matthew Ch 11,2-15) recapitulates how Jesus in his teaching, (Chs. 5-7), and miracles (Chs. 8-9) is the fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. In (11,16-24) Jesus rebukes the Jewish religious leaders and their followers for refusing to believe in him, after which comes this magnificent prayer.
Prayer is Jesus’ reaction to his failure to convince the religious authorities and their followers about his divine identity and mission, and to his success in convincing the simple and unlearned folk of both. His prayer (v 25) is a blessing addressed to God, naming the reasons for which he thanks Him: hiding his saving revelation from the proud, learned religious, and making it known to the simple, childlike, unlearned nobodies – the poor, the tax collectors, and sinners, who accept it. Belief or unbelief is dependent upon the Father’s grace which takes into account the dispositions of those who are open or closed to his teaching.
The prayer is followed by a soliloquy (26-27). In the prayer, it is the Father who reveals the hidden mysteries to the little ones, but here in the soliloquy, it is the Son who alone knows the Father and makes Him known to whom he chooses – the humble, the believing, the trustful. In Jesus alone we see what the Father is like.
In the final part of today’s gospel, (Vs 28-30. Jesus invites all those who are weighed down with the heavy burdens, imposed by the Pharisees and scribes, to come to him and receive rest and respite from him. The Shavian dictum, that “the trouble with law is lawyers,” was brilliantly exemplified in the Jewish legal experts, who, by the time of Jesus, had expanded the Ten Commandments of the Mosaic Law into 613 rules and regulations, all of which were treated as of equal importance.
Jesus invites the little ones to take on the “yoke” of discipleship and learn from his teaching and example, from his meekness/gentleness towards people (5,3), and his humility and obedience to his heavenly Father. The “rest” they will find will come from accepting and practising what Jesus personifies, in contrast with the harshness and arrogance of the scribes and Pharisees. His attitude towards people and law is liberating and life-giving, while the legal experts’ attitude is enslaving and crippling.
Here we get a privileged glimpse into Jesus’ prayer- life, his attitude to his Father, his followers, and towards failure. His prayer is one of praise of the Father, who is Lord of heaven and earth, Lord of all that exists, who reveals his love and salvation to simple, humble people. He thanks God for hiding His revelation from the learned and clever because their attitude prevents them from seeing his truth and accepting it. He acknowledges his own failure to convince the religious people and their leaders of God’s plan, and thanks God for this.
The gentle, humble heart of Jesus which today’s gospel speaks of is mirrored in the Sacred Heart which we honour as a symbol of the Lord’s infinite, unconditional and eternal love, and compassion for sinners. We can never earn his love nor lose it, but we can refuse it through our own arrogance, selfishness, pride, foolishness, blindness, or complacency.
Jesus invites each of us to come to him in our need, weariness, searching, helplessness, brokenness, pain, and sin. We can come to him in our prayer, repentance, Confession, Holy Communion, and in the Church. He will give us the peace which only he can give.
Fr Geoff O’Grady