A sermon preached by The Reverend Canon Dr. David Anderson at St. Jude’s Anglican Church, Oakville, on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 (feria).
I speak to you in the name God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
One of the themes of the Gospels that has long intrigued me is the theme of prayer. Several years ago, I made a comprehensive study of the prayers of Jesus. There are many occasions where the Gospel writers tell us, for example, that Jesus withdrew to a quiet place to pray (e.g., Mt 14:23; Mk 6:46; Lk 5:16; 6:12; 9:28). On those occasions we are not told how Jesus prayed. We know only that he did pray. On several occasions we do have, however, what the Gospel writers record as Jesus’ actual words of prayer. Many of these prayers are quite short, such as his prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Father, if it be your will, let this cup pass from me, but your will be done.” Likewise, his three prayers from the cross are also quite brief. “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24). “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). And “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Luke 23:46). There are also longer prayers, such as the one we call Jesus’ High-priestly Prayer, which is recorded in John 17.
This morning’s Gospel reading is another example of one of Jesus’ short prayers. We have it here in Matthew 11 and its parallel passage in Luke 10:21. Jesus prayed, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:25-26).
It is important that we know something of the context in which Jesus offered these words of prayer. As Chapter 11 of Matthew’s Gospel begins, Jesus has concluded a time of teaching his disciples and has moved on to continue his own mission of teaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom in the towns and villages of Galilee. What we learn is that Jesus’ message was not universally accepted. He, in fact, faces opposition. Although he had performed many miracles in the various places where he went, he found that people refused to accept his teaching and the promise of the kingdom of God. This grieved Jesus’ heart deeply so that in that passage immediately preceding today’s reading, we find Jesus lamenting over the unresponsive cities of Bethsaida and Chorazin.
It is apparently this lament that drives Jesus to prayer. Let’s hear it again. “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will” (Matthew 11:25-26).
What is happening in this prayer? Jesus is praying to the Father for two related things. First, he praises the Father for hiding the deep truths of the faith from the wise and intelligent of the world. Second, Jesus praises the Father for revealing these same deep truths of the faith to ‘infants’ or ‘little children.’ Now, before we take this as a personal insult, let’s try to explain what is being said.
The Bible in general has got quite a lot to say about ‘wisdom’ and the ways of wisdom. One of the great themes of the Bible is the difference between what passes for worldly wisdom, and true wisdom. Jesus is not making a claim that people of faith are not wise and intelligent, quite the opposite. He is making the point that faith requires a kind of wisdom that is more than worldly wisdom, and is actually a gift from God.
There is a kind of self-proclaimed and worldly wisdom that can lead to arrogance, self-deception, radical independence, and false confidence, all of which lead human beings way from true wisdom. This sort of so-called ‘wisdom’ can lead us to assume that we don’t need God. Worse, this sort of wisdom can lead people to believe that the things of God, and the way of Jesus, are foolishness. This type of wisdom leads people down a destructive path.
Then Jesus speaks in his prayer of “infants” or “little children.” One of my favourite duties as a parish priest is to officiate at a baptism. It is a great joy to witness the baptism of an adult convert to Christianity, however, for me the infant child who is presented for baptism is the perfect icon—or perfect example if you will—of our place before God. Infants are helpless on their own and are entirely dependant upon their mother and father, and to a certain extent a family and a community in which they will be formed as they grow and learn. Jesus speaks of the “little children” as those who first depend upon God for the gift of faith, and then who rely upon the community of the faithful to learn and grow into the way of Jesus. True wisdom is the gift to such as these.
Those of us listening to Jesus’ prayer might reflect upon our place among the wise. Do we consider ourselves to have it all figured out so that we are self-reliant and independent, or are we wise enough to recognize our need for God, for God’s gifts, and for the ministry of the church to which we belong?
Jesus concludes his prayer by declaring that all of this, the ways of wisdom and faith, are all part of God’s plan. It is God’s will that this should be the way of things. Jesus concludes his prayer, saying, “This was your good pleasure” (v. 26). God’s good pleasure! It is by God’s design that we all need others to come along side to help us in the Way. It is God’s good pleasure that we should know our need for God. One of the most ancient prayers of the church: “Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison, Kyrie eleison.” “Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.” These words are not only a prayer, but a statement of faith. When we understand our need for God, the kingdom of God is near at hand.
Next Jesus turns from his prayer and begins teaching his disciples once again. Jesus is still talking about the ways of ‘wisdom.’ Do we want to know God and his Son Jesus Christ? Jesus says that no one knows the Son except the Father. You see, the Father and the Son have a unique relationship as two persons of the Holy Trinity. They share a life within the Godhead and so they know each other as they know themselves and in a way that no one else, save the Holy Spirit, might know them. Except! And this is the astounding thing about Jesus’ promise here: that we might know God. Jesus says, “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal him” (v. 27b). Jesus reveals the Father to us. When we are bound in a relationship with Jesus we are bound in a relationship with the Father and the Holy Spirit. We come into intimate relationship with God who invites us to know him, not as some intellectual idea, but to know him in the sense that we share in that divine life of love that is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There is an upshot to all this that Jesus speaks to in the three verses that follow after the place our reading left off. Before I finish, therefore, we need to hear again these familiar words of invitation from Jesus himself, who said,
Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Jesus invites us to come and share this wisdom, this life. “Take my yoke and learn from me.” Basically, Jesus is promising that by joining our lives to his he will teach us the ways of God. He will teach us to participate in the divine life and in doing so we will find a burden lifted and a rest given. Remember that Jesus said that only he can show us the Father. That is precisely why he invites us, saying, “Come … learn from me” (v. 29a).
Jesus’ ways are not the ways that are most esteemed in the world. He is not brash. He is not violent. He does not fill the headlines in newspapers or get much attention in social media. He is, as he says, “gentle and humble of heart” (v. 29b). When he promises that we will “find rest for [our] souls” (v. 29c), he is not promising that our lives will be easy. To be sure, following Jesus will complicate your life. But when we understand the wisdom at the heart of the universe, the wisdom at the heart of love, we do receive all we truly need so that the troubles of this world will become light to us.
Let us always look to Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life and so know the wisdom of God’s way for our lives.
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