True Humility

The Gospel lectionary reading for today is from Matthew 11:25-27.

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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 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."

Jesus began a movement, not with the seemingly wise and intelligent of the earth, but with simple people, a group of fishermen and people of the land. Perhaps he did it this way because he knew that God's power works best through human weakness. As the Lord said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians12:9)

The second half of our reading for today reveals something of the intimate relationship between Jesus and God the Father. Jesus tells us that all things have been handed over to him by his Father. Wow! All things. As Jesus says in Matthew 28:18, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." That is an astonishing claim. But it is no less a claim than Jesus makes here: that "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." Jesus is saying that no one knows God the Father as well as he does. Yet, we can enter into the intimacy that exists in the relationship between the Father and the Son as Jesus reveals God to us.

I really liked the commentary on these verses on Sacred Space today....

Do I see myself as ‘wise and intelligent’ or as an ‘infant’? Pride keeps us from the love and knowledge of God. It closes the mind to God's truth and wisdom.
True humility and an open mind can lead us to the love and knowledge of God. Child-like simplicity and humility is the soil in which the grace of God can take root.
I pray the words of the serenity prayer:- ‘Lord, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.’

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