Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.” “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart …” Matthew 11: 25-26, 28-29
I’ve long been fascinated by these verses from Matthew’s gospel, in which Jesus tells those who have gathered around him that, in contrast to those whose egos boast of how wise and intelligent they are, he is humble in heart and gentle in spirit. This humble and ego-free nature of Jesus’ life is revealed throughout Matthew’s gospel. It’s here that Jesus’ family is forced to become refugees following his birth. They later immigrate to Galilee instead of returning to their hometown out of fear of violence. We may imagine how this experience shaped his humble and gentle compassion toward those living under similar circumstances.
Jesus embarked on his ministry knowing that he would be harassed, berated and accused of being ungodly because of his association with those who were said to be unacceptable in God’s eyes. And it’s out of this attitude of humbleness that Jesus now invites us to love our enemies, only throw the first stone if we are without sin, and serve those of other faiths, ethnicities, orientations, and nationalities. It’s out of Jesus’ willingness to accept suffering that we are compelled to deny our very selves so that we might die and be resurrected with him.
Following Jesus is an invitation to leave behind everything we take pride in, and then filling that void with God’s will for us as humble servants to this broken and chaotic world. Doing this means checking our egos at the door and finding a space within our hearts for a discipleship centered in sacrifice. Living with humble and gentle hearts compels us to focus on serving others, rather than on our self-centered freedoms, rights and privileges.
I don’t know how you feel about these verses, but I find it unsettling that Jesus gives thanks that God’s truths are hidden from the wise and the intelligent. This is, quite literally, the opposite of what I want to hear Jesus say. I want to hear Jesus say that God’s wisdom is revealed to those who invest in a seminary education. But our relationship with the Risen Christ is based in a very simple theology, which is that God loves us relentlessly, sacrificially and without condition. In response to this love, we are called to love in return with our whole heart, and to then go out and love the entire world.
I think that it’s fair to say that this basic truth of our relationship with God remains hidden from ‘the wise and the intelligent’ because we reject the simplicity of it. We are conditioned to believe that there always has to be a catch, a clause hidden in the small print requiring us to do something before God can love us. It’s just difficult for us to believe that God’s love for us is really so absolute; that it really is centered in grace.
We think this way because it’s how everything else about this world works; the economic systems we create, the political structures we fashion, the business relationships we forge, the affluence we accumulate, and the privileges we defend. These are all transactional things. We condition ourselves to accept that in order to gain something of value, we have to give something of value away. And oftentimes the true value of what we give away isn’t evident on the surface. Instead, it’s buried in the small print.
But here’s the deal. Our mistaken belief that God’s love for us is like an I-Phone contract, with page after page of rules printed in four point type for us to agree to, is the height of human pride and ego. It’s the exact opposite of how God comes to us. God chose to be born into this world in order to make the small print of religious legalism irrelevant. Because of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, our relationship with God isn’t transactional, but rather relational.
God isn’t like the guy at the Verizon Store telling us that if we break the terms of the contract, that God can’t love us. Jesus proclaims that God loves us, not because we can fulfill the obligations of some grand cosmic transaction, but because we can’t. We can’t possibly fix this broken world on our own, and so Jesus invites us to come and learn, for he is gentle, humble in heart, and his yoke is easy.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Tom Murray of the Lutsen Lutheran Church and Baptism River Community Church of Finland.
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