REFLECTIONS TODAY

The Greek word nepioi, here rendered as childlike, has two levels of meaning. In one level, nepioi refers to the little ones and the poor who are objects of Jesus’ Good News (Mt 11:5). Jesus calls them blessed because to them belongs the Kingdom of heaven (Mt 5:3). The nepioi, “the humble and the poor,” stand in contrast to “the wise and the learned” who are revered and praised by men but who are not favored by God. 

In another level, the nepioi are the disciples of Jesus, those who believe in him. They stand in opposition to the wise and learned scribes and Pharisees who reject Jesus’ teaching. Jesus praises the Father who in his wisdom makes the sinner and the poor recipients of the Good News. Because they are unschooled in the Mosaic Law, they are looked down upon by the official religion. God chooses to reveal himself to them through the preaching of Jesus. 

In their simple faith and receptivity to Jesus, they prove themselves even wiser than the teachers of the Law. Are you childlike in your faith, or “childish”?

First Reading • Isaiah 10:5-7, 13b-16

Thus says the Lord: Woe to Assyria! My rod in anger, my staff in wrath. Against an impious nation I send him, and against a people under my wrath I order him to seize plunder, carry off loot, and tread them down like the mud of the streets. But this is not what he intends, nor does he have this in mind; rather, it is in his heart to destroy, to make an end of nations not a few. 

For he says: “By my own power I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd. I have moved the boundaries of peoples, their treasures I have pillaged, and, like a giant, I have put down the enthroned. My hand has seized like a nest the riches of nations; as one takes eggs left alone, so I took in all the earth; No one fluttered a wing, or opened a mouth, or chirped!” 

Will the axe boast against him who hews with it? Will the saw exalt itself above him who wields it? As if a rod could sway him who lifts it, or a stuff who is not wood! Therefore the Lord, the Lord of hosts, will send among his fat ones leanness, and instead of his glory there will be kindling like the kindling of fire.

Gospel • Matthew 11:25-27 

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. 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.”

Source: “366 Days with the Lord 2024,” St. Paul’s, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.