(Audio)
although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Jesus calls us to be like little children. The world (and therefore part of each of us) is suspicious of a call like this. The worldly paradigm is that, to the degree which we open ourselves to trusting another, we can and probably will be hurt, misled, and betrayed. Yet Jesus does not call us to ignorance, nor even naivety. He calls us to a real relationship with the Father through him.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.
We have to come to Jesus as little children so that we don't succumb to the pride. Pride would consume the wise and the learned if they were able to figure 'these things' out on their own, if they were simply equations to be solved. But it is more than that. The mystery of God, especially of the Trinity, goes well beyond what our intellects can grasp. It does not conflict with reason, but transcends it. Yet for all that it is even less abstract and more real than anything science can study. Jesus, therefore, does not want us to miss out. We were made for this.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
Jesus is able to teach us rest because he himself is meek and humble of heart. It is in this sense that he came to us in the incarnation, not deeming equality with God something to be grasped but emptying himself (see Philippians 2:1-11). It is in meekness, the full divine power of God, but under control, that he walked through life and endured the cross for our sakes.
We tend to assume that we can have peace because the power of Jesus can order our circumstances just so. Or, if not the external circumstances, he can at least order the internal worlds of our minds and hearts. So we think and wish. But in fact, the way Jesus shows us how to rest is asking us to share in his yoke. Like young oxen we try to rush ahead in the power of our strength. But Jesus does not rush, does not force things. He proceeds in meekness and humility. Sharing his yoke we learn move at his pace. We aren't required to plow the field of the whole world. If we pridefully rush ahead we will quickly exhaust ourselves. But if we stay at the side of Jesus we will find such limitless strength as to find rest even in the yoke, for the yoke is easy, even while still burdened, for the burden is light.
Jesus could have commanded legions of angels to come to his aid during his betrayal and crucifixion (see Matthew 26:53). It wasn't lack of power, for his very name caused the guards to fall to the ground in his presence (see John 18:6). But he chose meekness and kept that strength controlled, simply so he could show us the full measure of his love.
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass.
Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom not through violence, but through humility and meekness. He did not appear as a military ruler, but rather as the Prince of Peace. Even now, when we would prefer to simply overwhelm those things that keep us from rest, he shows us a different path. He does so because the peace and rest that can be bought with violence and force do not last. The peace that can be plastered over a bad situation will eventually crack. Meekness and humility are grounded in the love of the Father in such a way that peace emerges from them as a matter of course. It is a peace that can transform us and even the world. All of this comes from the fruits of the Holy Spirit, the one who makes us cry, 'Abba! Father!' (see Romans 8:15). So let us become again like children and turn the Spirit who himself is meant to be our yoke.
For if you live according to the flesh, you will die,
but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body,
you will live.
The faithfulness of God runs through the entire psalm today. It is the psalm of someone who has learned to live as a child of God, to step back from running their own life, and to live instead by faith and trust. May our own lives become hymns and thanksgiving to the faithfulness of God.
The LORD is faithful in all his words
and holy in all his works.
The LORD lifts up all who are falling
and raises up all who are bowed down.
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