WE have been told by Jesus not to be afraid however daunting our task seems to be, and also to be totally committed to Him so that we love no one more than Him. This is because in Him we the little ones have the Lord who is gentle and humble of heart (Matthew 11:25-30).
God’s special care for the little ones
Jesus was pained by the absence of understanding and faith among those who took offense at Him, disregarding His call to repentance and rejecting His preaching (Matthew 11:20-24). But compensating for the rejection by “the wise and the learned” were the “childlike” people who welcomed Him. They occasioned Jesus’ prayer of thanksgiving to God. To these merest children God has revealed His wisdom, hidden from the clever ones who prided themselves in their mastery of the law, which seemed to have closed their hearts to the words of Jesus.
In the absolute gratuity of the gift of faith, these simple people could divine in Jesus the one sent by the Father and entrusted with His words. In their childlike openness, they accepted Jesus as the one who knows the Father and they were attracted to Him and listened to Him with wonder and fascination. They heard and believed Jesus intimately calling God “Abba” (Father) in a unique relationship where “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son.” Jesus is echoing in His person the wisdom-image of God’s goodness and the reflection of eternal light (Wisdom 7:22-30). Since “all things have been handed over” to Him by His Father, Jesus is contradicting the traditional claim that God’s revelation is fully contained in the law and the prophets of the Jews. Indeed this full revelation of God in Jesus means release from the law on the part of all who believe in Him.
My burden is light
IT is a lighter load to follow Jesus than to adhere to the law. Jesus’ warm and pressing invitation to all the little ones who labor and are burdened is because “His yoke is easy and His burden light.” In claiming to be the real and definitive wisdom from God, Jesus is the “source of joy,” satisfying the thirsty soul more than gold (Ecclesiastes 6:25; 51:27). Unlike the Pharisees who “tie up heaven burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders” without lifting “a finger to move them” (Matthew 28:4), Jesus calls followers to Himself and offers His own yoke and example of accepting and submitting totally to the Father’s will. His yoke is what His gospel comes down to: love of God and love of others in imitation of the Father who loves the little ones. Love is demanding but not burdensome; in fact, it lightens the load one must carry.
The compassion of Jesus makes being His disciple a relationship of joyful fellowship and privileged service. He is “gentle and humble of heart.” He is the mighty one who is most considerate of the weak ones; He is the Son of the Most High always in loving consciousness of His heavenly Father. That is why the evangelist saw in Jesus what was spoken of through Isaiah (42:1-4): “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom I delight. I shall place my spirit upon Him…. A bruised reed he will not break, a smoldering wick he will not quench,” (Matthew 12:17-20).
Alálaong bagá, we are followers of a just and peaceful Lord, gentle and humble of heart, full of compassion and understanding. To all of suffering humanity, oppressed by violence, arrogance, selfishness, injustice and poverty, Jesus offers rest, the rest with God who on the seventh day sees the goodness of creation complete, the restful joy when our true nature is realized. As St. Augustine from personal experience pointed out, our hearts are restless until they rest in God. We have to yoke ourselves to Jesus, learning from Him through the process of discipleship how to live in harmony with neighbor, our nature, God, and ourselves. In loving communion with our compassionate Lord, His burden is light, His yoke easy.
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