Matthew 11:16-18, 25-end: (NRSV)

Matthew 11:16-18, 25-end: (NRSV)

¹⁶ ‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
¹⁷ “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”;

Jesus Thanks His Father ...

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; ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.²⁷All 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.

²⁸ ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

Some thoughts from Barclay …

Jesus seems disappointed in the people he was dealing with: some seemed like little children playing in the village square where one group did not want to play at weddings or funerals – they did not want to play at being happy or sad. They seemed contrary! No matter what was suggested to them, they did not want to do it – they found fault with everything. In the same way they rejected the way of John the Baptist because he isolated himself from society and lived such a different life; and they rejected Jesus who lived so in the midst of life. They could find grounds for criticism in everything and anything!

Barclay suggests that when people do not want to listen to the truth, they will easily enough find an excuse for not listening to it. There is also no need for reason in the process: they will criticise the same person or institution from conflicting points and ignore the fact that they are contradicting themselves. Adults can be like children in the village – contrary!

The only way to silence them and prove the truth is through deeds: John moved people’s hearts to repentance – and this had not happened for a very long time (about 400 years); in Jesus people were finding new life and goodness and power to live as they ought, and most important of all they felt a real sense of connection with God.

It is time for people to stop judging and finding fault and rather give thanks when we are enabled to draw close to God – even if the style and methods we are exposed to are not the ones we prefer.

Barclay comes up trumps yet again!

From verse 25 onwards, Jesus is speaking from experience: the rabbis and the wise men of society had rejected Jesus; intellectuals had found no use for Jesus – but the humble welcomed him. Barclay reminds us that we need to be careful here and to discern what Jesus is really saying here:

“He is NOT condemning intellectual power; he is condemning intellectual pride – The heart not the head is the home of the Gospel.”

There is nothing wrong with cleverness, there is something wrong with pride. You don’t need to abandon the intellect, you need to adopt humility. Faith is not connected with ignorance; it is connected with lowliness. Barclay adds:

“A man may be as wise as Solomon, but if he has not the simplicity, the trust, the innocence of the childlike heart, he has shut himself out.”

The rabbis recognised this truth and there are many parables within the rabbinic tradition revealing how it is the simple that are often the closest to God.

This passage ends with the greatest claim that Jesus ever made – and this claim is at the centre of the Christian faith, and it is that it is in Jesus alone that we see the revelation of God to man. Other people may be sons of God, but Jesus is the Son of God. St John put it this way where he has Jesus saying: “He who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:19) Here Matthew records Jesus as saying: “If you want to see what God is like, if you want to see the mind of God; the heart of God, the nature of God; if you want to see God’s whole attitude to people – look at me!”

In Jesus Christ alone, we see fully, what God is like. Jesus can give this knowledge to anyone who is humble enough to receive it.