DOCTRINE AND FAITH ....14th Sunday of Year A)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Zechariah; 9,9-10; Romans 8,9.11-13; Matt 11, 25-30: 14th  Sunday of Year A)

 

          I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.

To begin with, it is necessary to establish to whom Jesus in today’s gospel refers to as the learned (wise) and the clever (intelligent), on the one hand, and the mere children (the little ones)on the other hand. Jesus glorifies and praises God, the Father, for hiding certain realities from the wise and revealing them to simple people. In fact, divine revelation is destined to all. Christ brought the message of salivation to all, but the so called wise and intelligent people shut themselves off from the divine revelation and thereby, making the word of God impossible to penetrate them. The wise and intelligent, in the milieu in which Jesus spoke were the teachers of religion of his time: the Pharisees, scribes and doctors of the Law. Their incorrect interpretation of the Law, presumption, sense of security and false sense of independence rendered them indisposed to welcome the new revelation which was being actualised in Jesus. On the other hand, the simple and humble ones were the poor subsistent farmers, fishermen, illiterates, marginalised and despised people who, nevertheless, put all their hope in God and the expected Messiah; these were the people who willingly accepted the new revelation of God in Jesus. The disciples of Jesus belonged to this category of humble and oppressed, but yet hopeful people. 

          If we want to actualize today’s gospel reading, we need to pose some questions to ourselves: who are the wise and intelligent people of our time and who are the little and humbleones, according to today’s the gospel. We can hold that the so-called wise and intelligent are those people who seem to be sure of themselves, self-sufficient, well established in position of power or prestige; they include all those who presume to be able to judge all things and everybody according to their human thought and standard and those who root their happiness on self affirmation and use every-other person as instrument of their success. Thel ittle and the simple mentioned in the gospel are not necessarily the poor in material possessions, illiterates, or those who grew up from poor  background, even though, it can be shown that among them one can easily find some. The little and simple of the gospel are those who sense the needs in all aspects of their life, not to hope on any earthly help to assuage the needs but who put all their confidence in God who comes to their aid. We note that in this measure one belongs to one category or the other, in the same measure is one open or closed to the revelation which Jesus Christ came into the world to make. 

          One may want to know the things that are hidden from thewise and the intelligent and revealed to the humble? It is the knowledge of the Father, through the revelation of the Son. Jesus himself said: 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. This knowledge in the biblical meaning is not only the abstract intellectual knowledge but includes love, experience of life in general as well as  interpersonal relationship. This type of knowledge between God the Father and the Son, is what Jesus makes available in some measures to the innocent and simple according to the gospel. This knowledge enables them, through grace (participation in the divine life) to becomesons and daughters of God. Thus, through  Jesus, a new image of God is being imparted to the Christian: God the Father, is seen as one who loves his people, sacrifices for them his only begotten Son for them and communicates his very life to them. And it is from this new image of God that a new image of the human person is being proposed: He or she is a son or daughter of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, possessing a supernatural dignity and destined to a life and happiness without end. 

          In today’s gospel reading, Jesus further said: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.Those who labour and overburdened to which Jesus alludes, are the poor people of  his time upon whom the burden of the law was imposed,   and who were gravely frustrated by the infinite  and minute interpretations of law that emphasised  external observations and practices. Jesus calls unto himself those who were oppressed by the legalism of Judaism to give them some rest and peace of the spirit. The yoke of Jesus is light, he affirms. This does not mean that the morality of Jesus is less exigent, but rather that Jesus himself makes his demands of love very light and pleasant by his closeness and solidarity. He is poor and humble in heart. He submits himself to the will of God, the Father and through his life of obedience even unto death taught us how to bear the burden of doing God’s will in our circumstances of life. He is always near us in our difficulties inspiring us through the Holy Spirit with that close relationship with God the Father. He is close to us with his strength, constant help and comfort. Besides, he teaches that our rapport with God does not consist in the multiplication of external observances but essentially in loving God and our neighbour, in joy and trust in God. Let us in today’s Eucharistic celebration ask Jesus for the graces to be one of his simple and humble ones and the courage to take upon our shoulders his yoke of love towards the Blessed Trinity and to our neighbours.

 +John I. Okoye