(Homily 14th Sunday in
Ordinary Time Yr-A)
The readings of today present
to us one of the overwhelming paradoxes of the Christian message: The first
reading speaks of the Messianic King who rides humbly towards Jerusalem on a horse,
an event that betokens his
self-identification with the lowly. And in the Gospel St. Mathew presents
Jesus thanking the Father for the things hidden from the wise and the
intelligent and revealed to little children. Jesus further, presented himself
as a model of humility, for He is simple and humble of heart. In the second
reading, St. Paul reasons in line with Christ, as he introduces the theme of
the Spirit. The Spirit is the ‘Revelator’
of those hidden things to the lowly, those who live not according to human
inclination (flesh) but according to the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead.
In the first reading (Zech. 9:9-10) prophet Zechariah
presents the paradox of the Messiah, a just and victorious King, but also
humble and he mounts the donkey. “Behold, your King comes to you; triumphant
and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey” (v.9). Prophet Zechariah
invites the people to rejoice and to shout for joy. Why? Because the end of
suffering is in sight. The Messiah is about to appear. He will be a just and a
victorious king. However, this is not the first time that the coming of the
Messiah is announced, but here it connotes a symbolic meaning by what the
prophet says after, that the Savior will
not come at the head of a powerful army, with chariots and horses, rather he
comes humbly. In the second part we are told that on his arrival he will
remove every sign of military power, will destroy all the instruments of war
and violence, proclaim peace to the nations. Despite that, he will be powerful
and his kingdom stretch from sea to sea. Jesus
will fulfill this prophecy when he will enter Jerusalem on a donkey (Cf. Jn. 12:14; Mk. 11:7). And
Christianity has seen this prophecy realized in the person of Jesus, the
Messiah awaited by Israel and by all the people. A victorious King, who reigns
on the cross!
In the first reading and in the
Gospel, we see a communance of sentiment, while the prophet announces the
advent of the Messiah who is poor and humble, Jesus speaks of himself ass gentle
and humble and on the side of the poor. Jesus praised the Father for He chose
to reveal the great mysteries to little children and not to the intelligent and
learned. We see here at work the logic of Jesus, for usually in the world the
weak and the unlearned are looked down upon. But in the parlance of Jesus they are the blessed ones, because the
Father chose to reveal his glory to them. And when we peruse into the
gospels we see similar attitude of praise and recognition for an act of
humility: ●Jesus praises the poor widow for putting in two copper coins while
the rich were putting a huge amount (Lk.
21:3). ●Jesus praises the tax collector for praying in the temple with a deep
repentant heart (Lk.18:14). ●He
praises the Canaanite woman for her answer that dogs eat the crumbs that fall
from the table (Lk. 15:28).
In the Gospel passage (Mt.
11:25-30) we find ourselves in an intense period of Jesus’s preaching in
Galilee, it was an unsuccessful period
in the ministry of Jesus, but suddenly Jesus witnesses a turn-around situation
and he gives thanks to the Father, even though the doctors, lawyers,
scribes and pharisees distanced themselves from Him, but already his fame has
gone everywhere and not only, but he was now surrounded by the poor, the sick, the
blind and children. Indeed, people equally came from far and wide to listen to
Him and to witness his prodigious works. In this brief passage of the Gospel of
Mathew, Jesus offers us the most
splendid revelation of himself: he reveals his true and profound identity by
addressing God as Father “Abba”. Jesus demonstrates with the title “Abba”,
his unique rapport with God the Father. As a matter of fact, no Jew has ever
addressed God with such familiarity, and this
reveals his self-knowledge of his filiation as a Son. We are indeed, invited to be part of this relationship. Jesus therefore
reveals three important things about himself: ●That He is the Son of God, the only Son of the Father ●That between him and the Father there is a
perfect and total communion of life: “all have been given to me by my
Father” ●That between Him and the Father
there is a perfect reciprocal knowledge: “no one knows the Son if not the
Father and no one knows the Father if not the Son”, and indeed, owing to his
perfect knowledge of the Father, only Jesus can reveal the true face of God. Thus, we
have to think of God as Father, and to speak to him as Father. In
fact, according St. John in his Gospel, the Jews will draw this conclusion,
when they will be looking for reasons to condemn him, “He spoke of God as his
own Father and so made himself God’s equal” (Jn. 5:18). On the other hand, it is pertinent to note that our
faith is rooted in this strong and unwavering consciousness that Jesus has, of
being the Son of God. Every other thing rests on this authentic certainty of
his Resurrection, for He “was designated Son of God in power by resurrection
from the dead” (Rm.1:4). Indeed, Jesus
is not only the Messiah, He is not only the Son of man, above all, He is the
Son of God, even before his advent on earth.
St. Mathew in today’s Gospel presents this
wonderful episode of the Son’s praise and gratitude to the Father. Jesus
glorified and praised the Father because He has hidden certain realities from
the wise, and revealed them instead to the simple. However, even though the revelation
of God is for all men, but the wise and the intelligent are those who have
closed themselves from it. And one may ask: who
are the wise and the intelligent? They are the religious masters of that
time (pharisees, Scribes, lawyers), their knowledge of the law made them to be
full of themselves and closed to the message of Christ. Rather God revealed the
secrets to the poor, the little ones. Here, we have the little children as
opposed to the wise. Who are these
little children? The little children are those that are simple and and
humble hearted, not little children by age, but those with the heart and
disposition of the little children and those who recognize their dependency on
God. If we want to render this passage actual, we have to ask: Today in our present world, who are the
wise and the intelligent that did not receive those hidden things? The wise
are those who feel sure of themselves, the self-sufficient people, those who
are attached to positions of power and prestige, those who presume they can
judge everyone and everything according to their human categories, those who
derive happiness in amassing wealth at the expense of the poor and those who
think that they can do without God. On the other hand, the little children, the
simple are not just the poor in the sense of material wealth, or those that are
unlearned. The little ones are those who recognize and accept the fact of their
createdness, those who do not trust or lean on earthly security of power and
prestige, rather they entrust themselves and all that concerns them to God. So,
where do we belong, the wise or little
children? Are we open or closed to understanding those things that Jesus
came to reveal?
In Jesus’ parlance
the little children are in reality, those the Father appreciates for their
humility and purity of heart. These are
the two conditions that make one great in the sight of God: humility and purity
of heart. God does not look at our possessions, political and intellectual
acruements, our religious status, our certificates and grades; rather he looks
at the heart. Prophet Jeremiah understood the divine logic when he said, “I the
Lord search the heart and examine the mind…” (Jer. 17:10; cf. 2Chro 16:10; 1 Sam. 16:7). The psalmist says that
God “knows the secrets of the heart” (Ps.
44:21). For this St. Peter encouraged that “humility must be the garment
you all must wear constantly, because God opposes the proud and accords his favour
to the humble” (1Pt. 5:5).
Another pertinent question is this: what
are those things that their comprehension is hidden from the wise and
intelligent? Jesus proffers an answer, it is the knowledge of the Father,
through the revelation of the Son. “No one knows the Son except the Father,
just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him” (v.27). The
biblical value of the word knowledge, is not a mere abstract intellectual
cognition, but it entails love, an interpersonal rapport. This type of
reciprocal knowledge of the Father and the Son is participated in certain
measure by the little children. In Jesus, a new image of God is revealed to the
simple hearted: The hallmark of
the things revealed is the knowledge of God as Father and of Jesus as Son.
Furthermore, the second part of the Gospel introduces us to the next
theme of the Gospel: the beautiful invitation of Jesus: “Come to me, all you
who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest” (v.28). Therein
Jesus is presented as the mouthpiece of the wisdom of God. Jesus is inviting us to come to Him,
those who labour and are overburdened. These are actually the little children,
those who recognize there need of God, and run to him. Those who labour and are overburdened as
Jesus alludes are the poor Jews, on whom the yoke of the law has been imposed;
they are oppressed and frustrated by many prescriptions and exterior practices,
rejected by the wise. Thus, Jesus calls those oppressed from Jewish legalism to
give them hope and rest. So in order to welcome the invitation of Jesus: “come
to me”, it is necessary that we have to
put ourselves in the school of Jesus, the school of humility and meekness.
“Come to me”, only Jesus can make this promise without disappointment, only
him, who is the Only Son of the Father. He
does not fail and cannot fail. If we go to him, if we trust in him, if we
abandon ourselves to him, we will find consolation and sustenance in every
situation of our life, no matter how difficult. He does not promise to remove
obstacles and difficulties on our way, instead He promises to lighten them and
to give us rest.
Again, Jesus presents himself as a model of humility and gentleness, “Shoulder
my yoke and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will
find rest for your souls” (v.29). He
went further, “Yes, my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (v.30). He is the one that makes our
own difficult yoke easy, the one that makes our heavy burden light. This truly
is a Good News inside the Good News.
Biblically, the yoke indicates the law. And as we know, the law of Jesus is
Love. It is as if Jesus says, take upon you my love, and as we know the love of
Jesus is like the oxygen that gives us the breath of life. The yoke of Christ
makes life easy. He says that his
yoke is easy; it is not because the morality that Jesus demands is less
exigent, but because Jesus himself renders the yoke easy and makes the burden
light with his love and solidarity. He too is poor and humble of heart,
submissive to the will of the Father. Jesus invites us to come to him to experience peace and
liberation from our burdens. And it is only the lowly and humbly of heart that
hearken to the voice of Jesus and his invitation, because they recognize their
need of Him. Do you recognize your need of Him?
In the second reading (Rm. 8:9.11-13)
St. Paul introduces the theme of the indwelling and presence of the Spirit. He
makes a clarion call thus: “live not by your natural inclinations, but by the
Spirit, since the Spirit of God has made a home in you. Indeed, anyone who does
not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him” (v.9). And in connection with the message in the Gospel about the
things hidden from the wise and revealed to little children, we can say that if
one does not have the Spirit of God he cannot understand the secrets of God. It
is against this backdrop that the apostle asserted thus: “to us, though, God
has given revelation through the Spirit, for the Spirit explores everything ,
even the depths of God” (1 Cor. 2:10).
And indeed, the Gospel presents before us the secret and profundity of God, the
secret that exists between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is part of
that secret that is why He can explore its depths. Yes it is through the Spirit that the secret of who the Father and the
Son are, are laid bare to us. It is on the basis of this conviction that
St. Paul tells us that “the Spirit we have received is not the spirit of the
world but God’s own Spirit, so that we may understand the lavish gifts God has
given us” (1 Cor. 2:12). More than
that, also through the Spirit our own
identity are revealed to us: Sons in the Son of the Father. Little wonder,
St. Paul invites us in this passage to shun the temptation and tendency of
living according to our natural inclination, but to live by the Spirit. In all,
we may say that those categorized as little children in the Gospel are those
that the Spirit of God has made a home in them, while the wise and the
intelligent are those living according to the inclinations of the flesh. The
apostle convincingly opined that “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from
the dead has made his home in you, then he who raised Christ Jesus from the
dead will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you”
(v.11).
Above all else,
beloved in Christ, today's message certainly calls for a response. There is
need for a strong stance. So, where do we belong, the wise or
little children? Do we live
according to the flesh or the Spirit? Indeed,
it behooves us to affirm that Christ in his message of salvation does not
condemn science and wisdom, but the pride and presumption of man. May Jesus
give us the enabling grace to become simple and humble-hearted. May He make your yoke easy and
lighten your burdens! Today more than ever, we need to hear this reassuring and
reinvigorating invitation of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who are over-burdened”.
He alone can lighten our heavy burden, even the present burden of the Covid 19
pandemic. Amen!
(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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