This Sunday we are faced with a most peculiar Gospel text. It is referred to, by some scholars, as “a meteorite, fallen from the Johannine sky into the Synoptic soil,” because, the speaking of Jesus here differs from that found in the synoptic gospels (Mt, Mk, Lk), and rather echoes that in the gospel of Jn with the absolute use of “Father” and “Son” and with the emphasis on “knowing” God and a confidential revelation. Moreover, we find here the only text that acquaints us with the content of Jesus’ prayer during his public activity, and it is a prayer of praise and thanksgiving, as is suggested by the original Greek verb used (exomologoumai “I give praise/give thanks”) which corresponds to the Hebrew verb yadah, frequently used in the biblical-Jewish liturgy, expressing gratitude and praise toward YHWH God of the covenant (cf. Ps 9:2; 74:2; 110:1; 137:1,4; 2Sam 22:50; especially Sir 51:1 and Dan 2:23). Thus emerges the wholly distinctive character of the Gospel passage to be meditated on today.
Offering, below, only a few summary notes on the text , we invite all readers to mull over it often and above all to re-enter, once again, the mystical atmosphere of that moment when Jesus uttered these words full of meaning in order to understand the depth of the message He wished to leave to His disciples-missionaries of all times.
It should be noted that Jesus does not say that He withheld anything from anyone, as if there were some who were unworthy of His revelation, but speaks only of the rejection by the so-called wise in regard to His teaching, of “these things” divine of the Kingdom that Jesus now announces and realizes in word and deed. It is a statement of fact in the style of the Old Testament prophets. The interesting background in this regard could be the text of Is 29:9-14,17-19,24, in which the prophet strongly denounces the ungodliness and hardness of heart that make it impossible to hear the word of God (cf. also Jer 9:22-23; Is 44:25b). It is significant that St. Matthew the evangelist, unlike the brief mentions made in the parallel texts in Mk and Lk, instead quoted in full, in one of his usual so-called “fulfillment quotation” (Old Testament quotation that is fulfilled with and in Jesus), the passage from the prophet Isaiah to note the sad reality that many of the people did not understand Jesus’ teaching and consequently, did not follow Him:
Isaiah’s prophecy is fulfilled in them, which says:
‘You shall indeed hear but not understand, you shall indeed look but never see.
Gross is the heart of this people, they will hardly hear with their ears, they have closed their eyes,
lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears
and understand with their heart and be converted, and I heal them.’ (Mt 13:14-15; cf. Is 6:9-10).
We have here an important and very well-known thought in first-century Christian theology, since it is also echoed in Jn 12:37-43, which, like the evangelist Matthew, quotes the entire text of Is 6:10 to explain the failure of Jesus’ preaching and evangelizing action. Thus, it is the mystery of the “secrets” of divine revelation, reserved exclusively for those who are docile and ready to receive it, of which the texts of Dan 2:23 as well as Sir 4:11-19 speak about Wisdom’s action toward her disciples.
Thus, God in Christ Wisdom continues to reveal Himself to all, but unfortunately “the wise and the learned” of this world close themselves off in their wisdom and thus often respond, “We will listen to you another time!” Only those who recognize themselves as “little/lowly” and therefore always in need of God open themselves to Him to joyfully welcome His revelation and salvation. God in His infinite love constantly pours rain on all, but only those who come out of the “hiding place” of their “self” will receive the water of life in Christ. And the “little” disciples-missionaries of Christ, once they receive divine revelation and salvation, give praise and thanks to God with Christ for this and continue to share with all mankind “these things” divine without jealousy and without sparing themselves, just according to God’s will in Christ that “everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).
This declared exclusive knowledge between the Father and the Son echoes the relationship between Wisdom personified and God. In fact, according to the Old Testament texts, Wisdom is with God the Father from the beginning and only the Father knows her (Job 28:25-28; Sir 1:1-10; Bar 3:27-38) and only Wisdom knows the Father’s will (Wis 8:3-4; 9:4, 9-18). It should be remembered that the Hebrew verb “to know” includes knowledge and love and expresses an intimate interpersonal relationship. It should also be noted that in Wis 2:13,16 the righteous man, who is both the son of God, the servant and the wise man, rejected and persecuted, proclaims that he possesses “the knowledge of God” and “declares himself to be the servant (or son) of the Lord and boasts that he has God for a father.” We have here an expression of great theological density da’at Elohim “knowledge of God,” on which the biblical prophets and sages insist, as seen, e.g., in the very famous proclamation of God in Hosea, quoted twice by Jesus: “For it is loyalty that I desire, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God (da’at Elohim), rather than burnt offerings” (Hos 6:6; cf. Is 11,2.9). From these biblical references, the further fundamental aspect of the knowledge of God the Father by the Son who then reveals it to the “elect” becomes clear. It is primarily a knowing of God’s will, His love, His commands, His plans of salvation for humanity, His ways, His action in the world. In the foreground then is knowledge of a concrete sapiential-existential character. This is precisely the primary object of the Son’s revelation that subsequently leads to the high contemplation of the mysteries of God’s nature.
According to the Old Testament, human’s full knowledge of God YHWH happens only at the end of time and exclusively through divine benevolence. It is the fulfillment of a dream and invitation God makes for his people (cf. Hos 6:3; 8:2; Ps 36:11; Pro 3:6; also Is 11:9). In this wake, the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah announce the eschatological prospect of the time of the new covenant when God will write his law “directly” into the hearts of believers (cf. Jer 31:34) or, in other words, “all your children shall be taught by the LORD” (Is 54:13). That this was kept in mind at the time of the evangelists is attested by the quotation of the Isaiah statement, quoted from the mouth of Jesus in Jn 6:45, which he emphasizes again in the same discourse on the bread of life “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him” (Jn 6:44).
Jesus’ words in today’s gospel seem to be in this theological perspective. It is God the Father who is the original source of revelation, and it is up to Him, according to His beneplacence (eudokia), to reveal or conceal perfect knowledge of Him. However, here the figure of Jesus pops up as the exclusive and authorized agent of this revelation, always, however, according to the will of God the Father:: “All things have been handed over to me by my Father” and, consequently, “no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him” (Mt 11:27; Lk 10:22). The theological perspective of revelation acquires its full Christo-logical dimension in a language, as seen earlier, of Biblical Wisdom. This aspect is accentuated even more in Jn 12:49-50: “I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and speak. (…)So what I say, I say as the Father told me.” It will later be highlighted also and especially in Jn 17:25-26, at the conclusion of Jesus’ “priestly prayer”: “Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them.”
The biblical sages showed some distrust of self-proclaimed wise men, as we read in Pro 26:12: “You see those who are wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for fools than for them.” This is what the prophet Isaiah denounces: “Ah! Those who are wise in their own eyes, prudent in their own view!” (Is 5,21). Precisely in this sapiential line is Jesus’ invitation “Come to Me” that concludes the discourse in Mt 11:28-30 and is addressed to the “weary and fatigued” or lit. “overburdened.” These are precisely the categories of small and somewhat exploited, forgotten or marginalized men in society. Jesus’ saying finds its parallel in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas 90 (“Jesus said, ‘Come to me, for my yoke is light, sweet is my lordship, and you will find rest for yourselves’”) and also reflects Didache 6:1-3 (“Beware that no one causes you to deviate from this teaching [...], for if you can bear the whole yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you cannot, do what you can!”). Instead, the biblical background of Jesus’ words, as pointed out by exegetes, is Wisdom’s discourse in Sir 6:23-31 (cf. also Sir 51:23-28; Jer 6:16), which should be quoted here for comparison:
Listen, my child, and take my advice, […]
Put your feet into her fetters [of Wisdom] and your neck under her yoke.
Bend your shoulders and carry her and do not be irked at her bonds.
With all your soul draw close to her; and with all your strength keep her ways.
Inquire and search, seek and find; when you get hold of her, do not let her go.
Thus at last you will find rest in her, and she will become your joy.
Comparison with the Sir texts shows that, as some scholars also note, Jesus here wanted to make it clear to His listeners that He was speaking in the person of divine Wisdom, with a clear “transcendental self-awareness”! In this view, the yoke (“recommended” paradoxically for resting with Jesus!) is the biblical-Jewish metaphor for (God’s) teaching (cf. Jer. 2:20; 5:5). So much so that the yoke of the Pharisees and scribes is mentioned in Mt 23:4 // Lk 11:46. The yoke of wisdom, identified with the Mosaic law, is also accentuated (cf. Sir 51:26; also 6:24). Hence, the rabbinic tradition insistently recommends the yoke of Torah: whoever puts it on, is freed from the yoke of the kingdom (implied “earthly”) and the yoke of worldly concerns; whoever rejects it, on him will be put the yoke of the kingdom (implied “earthly”) and the world! Finally, the play on pronunciation in the phrase “my yoke is light (chrēstos)” should be noted, which in Greek sounds like christos “Christ.”
The notion of rest, emphasized by Jesus twice with the words of the same root of rare theological density anapausō (Mt 11:28,29), most likely refers to eschatological rest. The term recurs, among other things, in Ps 95 and then is treated at length in Heb 4 where it is explained that God’s promised true rest for his people occurs only in Christ at the end of time. It must be remembered in this regard that in the OT only Wisdom (and no wise man) promises rest (Sir 6:28) and life (Pro 8:35-36), on a par with God who made through the prophets the same promises that will take place in the Messianic age! (cf. Jer 6:16; 31:25).
The rest promised by Jesus now will be the divine rest that is reserved for those willing to put upon themselves the “yoke” of the sweet revelation of God’s love to humanity. And they, the “little ones,” the “elect,” “They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (cf. Is 40:31) on the way of the proclamation of the Gospel of Christ, sharing with all others the knowledge of God revealed to them by Christ.
Let us pray then (in the words of the alternative Collect prayer in the Italian Missal for Sunday XIV, Year A):
O God, who reveals you to the little ones and gives to the meek the inheritance of your kingdom, make us poor, free and exultant, in imitation of Christ your Son, that we may bear with him the gentle yoke of the cross and proclaim to men the joy that comes from you. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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