Jesus experienced the full range of human emotions. He expressed all the emotions we have, including those we might consider “bad emotions.” If you study any of the Gospels, especially the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), you will see that Jesus was sad, angry, fearful, and at times exasperated that His disciples just did not get what He was trying to say to them.
In the moment captured in today’s Gospel, Jesus moves beyond this frustration, and He is able to express a powerful insight into how God works with our human nature. Jesus praises His Father concerning the very reality that so often causes Him frustration and despair of ever being understood: “although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. “
Human beings pride themselves on being intelligent. Who is the smartest person? Who is the best student? We are in competition for being – or even simply being considered to be – “bright,” knowing more than those around us. Children have this quality sometimes; adults tend to thrive on this form of rivalry. Jesus praises His Father when He notices that “little ones” do understand. The message of our unique relationship with the Living God, which gives us access to far more than we could ever imagine, can only be received by becoming empty.
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It is God’s Will for us to be known by Him and then to share what we know of Him with others.
“Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
The acceptance of being known, loved and given an identity that is ours by God’s gift can then lead to a discovery of our mission in the world. We are to become vessels in spirit, who go on to influence the world around us with what we have received from God Himself. For Jesus, it is to reveal the Father, Who has sent His Son to be with us. Jesus passes on this general invitation: “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.”
Rest is not inactivity. It is allowing our God-given identity to be our center. We are “in the zone” when we rejoice in the God Who created us. Being yoked to Jesus and sharing the burden we carry with Him is not a failure in self-reliance. Rather it is an unleashing of our true potential. Meekness is quiet, unrelenting strength. Humility is the capacity to receive and live the Truth, to allow God to shape us according to His Will for us.
Zechariah highlights the call to be joyful in the Lord and to delight in what He accomplishes among us. He also prophesies that this relationship is destined to be shared by all: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he. . . and he shall proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.’”
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Paul calls for the Romans to rely on the Spirit. “If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.”
Joy is the infallible sign of the Presence of God among us. When we, like Jesus, give ourselves over to Joy, we respond to the Will of God by allowing Him to guide us. May we experience the joy of being known by God, and may we freely and humbly choose to reveal His Presence among us through our share in His Joy.
