REFLECTIONS TODAY
Gospel • Matthew 11:28-30
Earlier, Jesus praises the Father who has hidden the mystery of his Kingdom from the wise and the learned and has revealed them to the childlike (Greek mikroi) (Mt 11:25). The “childlike” are not merely children but people who have put their trust in God, people whom Jesus calls “blessed” in the Beatitudes: the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger for righteousness, the merciful… (Mt 5:3-10). They are the ones who accept Jesus’ revelation of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus then invites people to come to him. Meek and humble of heart, he is the image, the incarnation of the Father’s mercy. While the Israelites look at God as Lord of heaven and earth, the God of Abraham, the God who rewards the good and punishes the unrighteous, Jesus, “the Son who knows the Father” (Mt 11:27), presents him as Abba, Father!
Jesus then invites people to “rest” in this knowledge of a loving Father, and in him who reveals the Father’s love, even as they carry the “yoke” and burdens of life. This yoke is none other than following Jesus’ “new commandment” of love. St. Teresa of Kolkata once told her sisters who were washing the plates in the kitchen, “You do not wash the plates in order to make them clean. You wash them because you love the persons who are going to eat from those plates.”
How often do we see the laws of the Church as imposing judgment and sanctions, rather than offering acts of love that will lift people out from their burdens?
Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024.” E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.