Today’s
Gospel is much beloved, and rightly so, for it is a message of great
consolation and comfort. But we need to
understand under what conditions Jesus uttered this invitation of comfort.
In
the opening of today’s Gospel we read: “At that time Jesus exclaimed:” What time was that? I think it is important to know when, and
under what circumstances Jesus speaks these very consoling words: “Come to me, all you who labor and are
burdened, and I will give you rest.” ¿Was
this at some idyllic retreat, out in a gorgeous meadow of wildflowers, under
the shade of an elegant willow, birds chirping sweetly in the branches?
Well,
NO. We need to go back five verses before
our Gospel reading for today begins to get the setting and properly understand
what is really going on here. The five
verses immediately before our reading today are: “ Then Jesus began to reproach the towns where most of his
mighty deeds had been done, since they had not repented. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they
would long ago have repented in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for Tyre and Sidon (two notoriously wicked pagan cities) on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be
exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’ For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you, it will be more
tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. At that time Jesus said in reply,* “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.”
The soothing and comforting words of
today’s Gospel follow immediately on Jesus chastising and condemning the
Galilean towns of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum. What is going on? Well, obviously Jesus is really, really
angry. Jesus went to Chorazin,
Bethsaida, and Capernaum (where St Peter was from), all fishing villages just a
couple of miles from each other, on the Northern shore of the Sea of
Galilee. And Jesus preached there, He
worked “mighty deeds”, that is miracles, there, Jesus gave it His best shot,
and ….. nothing. Jesus flopped. Big time.
The
people did not respond, they did not repent, they did not follow him. The people were too busy with their jobs,
their friends, their hobbies, their favorite TV programs, following the local
sports teams, political debates, and just trying to get ahead. They insult Jesus in the worst possible way: they ignore him.
And Jesus gets pretty riled up. . “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst
had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago
have repented in sackcloth and ashes.” Jesus
is telling His audience they are worse than those awful pagan places.
“And
as for you, Capernaum: ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will
go down to the netherworld.’ In
other words, Jesus is saying, “go to hell”. “For – He says - if the mighty deeds done in
your midst had been done in Sodom, (and we all know that Sodom was like Las
Vegas, sin city) it would have remained
until this day. But I
tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of
judgment than for you.”
Jesus gives it to them with both
barrels because He is frustrated and upset and angry. And so what does Jesus do? He praises God.
He praises God. “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 learned you have revealed them to little ones.”
Now I don’t know about you, but when I
am really angry and hot and bothered and all worked up, praising God is NOT the
first thing that comes to my mind. But
that is what Jesus does. Jesus is so in
tune with His Father that rather than focusing on His own disappointment,
failure and defeat, Jesus rather focuses on what the Father is doing in this disappointing
result.
Because Jesus sees the Father leading
him away from these rather busy and successful towns people to instead reach
out to the little people, the people who don’t count for anything, the people
on the margins, the poor, the vulnerable, the socio-economically oppressed. The
Biblical term in anawim. That is what Jesus means when He says the
“little ones”, meaning the ones of no account socially.
Letting go His frustration and anger
and disappointment Jesus turns His attention to where the Father is guiding
Him, to the anawim. “Yes, Father, such has been your gracious
will. … Come to me, all you who labor
and are burdened and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”
What are we to make of this remarkable turn, where Jesus
goes from denouncing and condemning to in the next paragraph speaking words of
such comfort and invitation?
I believe that in this instance we see
the essence of sacrifice. Jesus lets go of His desire to be successful,
to be acclaimed, to be approved especially by those who count, who are movers
and shakers, to be a success. Jesus lets
that go to instead follow the Father’s Will, which leads him to the outcasts,
the downtrodden, the broken, the sick, the poor, the stranger and the
immigrant, the anawim. It is an example
in action of what Jesus would pray in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before
His death, “not my will, but thine be
done.”
For us it is clear. As we enter into the sacrifice of the Mass,
it is much more demanding than simply repeating certain ritual actions. We must praise God the Father in the way our
brother Jesus did: By letting go of our
own willfulness, to be open and empty to see and follow God’s Will for us, and
to praise God for that.
In that way we will enter into Jesus’
peace, Jesus’ rest. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you
rest.”
Today our nation is involved in a
complicated, heated and sometimes rancorous debate about how to respond to
thousands of undocumented women and children coming across the border, mostly
here in Texas, as they flee violence and murder perpetrated by gangs and drug
cartels in their home countries of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These children and women, victims and poor,
are anawim, little ones. How are we to respond?
As individuals, as Christians, as
Americans, we are called to follow the Will of our Father in Heaven. That is the only way to the fullness of life.
Our brother Jesus says: “Come
to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
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