Gospel 0709 Reflection

The Gospel

Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

Jesus said to the crowd, “To what will I compare this generation?  It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’  Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”  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.  “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.”

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I love that last line.  Perhaps I love it so because of that simple fact that I so often repeat when preaching in my parish: “I am scared by what I do in between Sundays.”  The fact that I am both a priest and a chaplain does not allow me the luxury of being blind to the reality that there are many who need to hear such comfortable words.  In between Sundays, I encounter people at moments in their life that cannot be described as anything other than the lowest of low moments in their lives, the points at which they are the most vulnerable and suffering.  They are, to use the words of the prophets, broken reeds and smoldering wicks in which the light is nearing the point of being extinguished.  The Gospel reminds us that Jesus came among these ones with tenderness and gentleness, in order that his presence might not injure further, and that the fading light might not go out.  Today let us remember these ones.  And let us be Christ to them, inviting them to come and find rest in Christ, who is far more than mere comfortable words.  He is comforting presence.  In that presence life is restored, and peace is given, such as this world cannot fathom.

Father Tim+