Fantastic – Matthew 11

A text – Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

11:16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’;
11:19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
11:25 At that time 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;
11:26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.
11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
11:28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A reflection:

Many times in Jesus’s ministry he is amazed and saddened by the leaders of his faith. Not by their devotion to the study of the word of God and to prayer and so on – that was all good and proper. But he was saddened by their apparent belief that they could “earn” their way into God’s favor by doing certain things, and (because they believed this) by judging people who didn’t or couldn’t do those thing as inferior and making rules to avoid such people.

Jesus always goes for the ”avoided” persons. If there’s a scribe or pharisee and also a leper, Jesus will go for the leper every time. Jesus knows this will bother the religious leaders. Sometimes he just opts for the avoided person without fanfare, but sometimes he does it so that he can teach by example and, in so doing, lift the lowly, as God always does.

So when faced with a decision about whom to give the message of the Kingdom of God to, Jesus thanks God that he can deliver it the infants first and the educated second. He wants the burdens of the poor and lowly to be easier, lighter, more bearable.

What a God. What a savior. It is fantastic that we should be treasured and cared for and made holy by the great God, Creator and Ruler of the Universe, by Jesus, the Savior of the world, by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter,  just because the Trinity is good, and not because we have earned it. Fantastic.

We are loved.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for caring about the burdens of each of us. Help us to remember you WANT our burdens to be light – help us let you help us, fantastic Savior.  Amen.