(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 donkey, 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! Truly his kingdom has no end!
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 as 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 the 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 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 they are self-made,
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. May all your burden be lightened in the name of Jesus, Amen!
(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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