When God shared a secret- Wednesday, 15th week in ordinary time- Matthew 11: 25-27
The gospel of today is both a prayer and a cry of jubilation in the face of rejection. Jesus has bewailed the fate of Capernaum, Bethsaida and Chorazin, not merely for their lack of faith but their unwillingness to transform and repent. In this, they failed and the ground for tragedy is laid.
In the face of their incredulity, Jesus breaks into a public prayer of praise. Although the prayer begins with a typical Jewish blessing formula, He goes on to make it very intimate. Here, as in so many places we see Jesus breaking out into prayer publicly. He was not afraid or ashamed to pray. Five times in three verses He will call out to His Father, Abba, proclaiming His closeness to the Father.
What is at the heart of this prayer and why does Jesus make it? Verses 25 and 27 consist of the prayer itself and are a ‘thanksgiving for revelation’. Verse 27 reveals the contents of that revelation, and what we will read in tomorrow’s gospel is the invitation that stems from this revelation.
The prayer is a thanksgiving for the revelation that the Father has shared. This revelation however has been screened and hidden from those like the Pharisees, who continue to live in their arrogance of wisdom. Yet it is those who are uneducated who seem to grasp the mysteries of the kingdom!
Verse 26 tells us that God does this out of His “gracious will”. God does not have to be bought by our little trifles which we have to offer Him, however kindly He may look upon them. This is His predilection; it is He who loves us first and loves us freely that makes us worthy of His revelation to us.
What is now revealed is so wonderful, for scripture tells us that Jesus is the exclusive revelation of the Father and that He is the personal tradition of God (JBC). All knowledge of truth has been handed over by the Father to Jesus.
It’s as if God decided to speak directly to each one of us through Jesus, and is telling us great secrets hidden from the clever and learned. So if we want to understand the Father, then we have to be in communion with the Son, for it is Jesus who chooses to reveal the Father to us.
Tomorrow we will look at the invitation that stems from this revelation. If God has made known His mind to us through Jesus, then He will also communicate His will for us. What is it that God wants us to do?
Fr Warner D’Souza
Fr. Warner D'Souza is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Bombay. He has served in the parishes of St Michael's (Mahim), St Paul's (Dadar East), Our Lady of Mount Carmel, (Bandra), a ten year stint as priest-in-charge at St Jude Church (Malad East) and at present is the Parish Priest at St Stephen's Church (Cumballa Hill). He is also the Director of the Archdiocesan Heritage Museum and is the co-ordinator of the Committee for the Promotion and Preservation of the Artistic and Historic Patrimony of the Church.
Assume in one of the city gardens under the soil lives the cleverest earthworm; yet, it’s nothing in comparison to a human being. It’s the same with us and God. Our intellectual minds fall way too short and are incapable of comprehending his love for us
Thank you Fr. Warner for explaining each day’s Gospel reading so well that it makes me wanna read the Bible more to see what’s there in it for me. You are
Simply awesome ! Fr. Warner
A good reflection Fr Warner.
The following touched me :
God does this out of His “gracious will”. God does not have to be bought by our little trifles which we have to offer Him, however kindly He may look upon them. This is His predilection; it is He who loves us first and loves us freely that makes us worthy of His revelation to us.
Father, what does (JBC) after the words ‘he is the personal tradition of God’ denote?
Jerome’s Biblical Commentary