July 7, 2002 -- SEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST -- Proper 9
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30
Color: Green
Title: “Being “Wise and Learned” vs. “Humility.”
Jesus teaches that he is the way to the Father and that the way to him is the humble way.
Chapters eleven to thirteen, are largely concerned with those who reject Jesus. Verses, 11: 25-30, provide three sayings, wisdom sayings, of Jesus, about those who accept Jesus as the bringer of God’s revelation or Wisdom. The first saying, verses twenty-five to twenty-six, is a confession of praise and thanks to God for giving revelation in the first place, opening it to all and not restricting it to a self-styled elite few.
Side bar: This is also found in Luke 10: 21-22 and, thus, comes from “Q.”.
The second saying, verse twenty-seven, is a confession of the special relationship of Father and Son and how only the Son can reveal the Father to others, thus sharing that relationship. This saying is also found in Luke, coming from “Q,” though it bears great similarity to the language and thought of John. The third saying, verses twenty-eight to thirty invites those outside the circle of Jesus to come to his “school,” and learn the unique brand of wisdom he alone offers. This saying is found only in Matthew, coming from his special source dubbed “M.”
The pattern is clear: 1) vv. 25-26 are a thanksgiving for revelation (wisdom);
2) v. 27 gives the content of that revelation in a nutshell; and
3) vv. 28-30 invite those humble enough to be open to it to receive that revelation.
The first saying, the prayer of thanks and praise, and is structured like a typically Jewish prayer of praise and thanks in the Psalms. First, God is addressed, then thanked or praised, and then the reason for doing so is given.
Side bar; Though, “typically Jewish,” there is hardly any other way to thank anyone than saying, “So-and-so, thanks for whatever.” Jesus is clearly behaving like a wisdom teacher here, even as he asserts that the content of that teaching is himself. Wisdom became “personified,” that is, perceived and taught as though it were a person, long before Jesus came on the scene Proverbs 8.
In verses sixteen to nineteen, Jesus places His concept of Wisdom in contexts, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
In verse twenty-five, at that time: The word for “time,” here is not the Greek chronos, tick-tock time, but kairos, opportunity time. Jesus chose to interpret all the opposition against him and his message as an opportunity to praise and thank God nonetheless, in spite of the opposition, and to contrast what he was offering with what the Pharisees and scribes were offering.
Father: Occurring sixty four times in Matthew exceeded only by John with one hundred thirty seven instances, this typical way of addressing God, the Lord of heaven and earth, as Father, reveals God not as some remote tyrant, but as a loving parent.
I thank you: In the context of a prayer the verb exomologeo can be translated as “give thanks,” “praise,” or “confess.” Thanks and praise are virtually indistinguishable. While Jesus recognizes the Father’s greatness because he is creator, he especially appreciates the way God has made his revelation known.
You have hidden these things from the wise and learned: The sense here is not that God actively hid himself, but that something in humans prevents his presence from getting through or being seen. Jesus describes that “something,” as being “wise and learned.” This is clearly a reference to the scribes and Pharisees who fancied themselves as experts in religion, professional religious. However, it would also include anyone like the inhabitants of the unrepentant cities in 11: 20-24, who has disabled him or herself by pride.
To infants: Like children, Greek nepioi, “infants,” who lack any social standing or expertise, in religious matters, and unlike the “wise and learned,” disciples who hear and perceive what Jesus is saying and see what he is doing are the really “wise.”
In verse twenty-six, such has been your gracious will: It is not that some dim witted people happened to stumble upon the truth and that smart folk missed the point, but that God planned things this way. He never intended intellectual acumen to be a prerequisite for “knowing,” him.
In verse twenty-seven, All things have been handed over to me by my Father: The relationship implied in verse twenty-five, is spelled out. There are no secrets between Father and Son. The Father has withheld nothing from the Son but shares with him all power and dominion.
No one knows the Son except the Father: “Know,” carries the Semitic meaning of personal knowledge as opposed to merely intellectual apprehension or understanding. This is spelled out much more in John than in the Synoptics, although Matthew hints at it again in chapter sixteen, verse seventeen, when Jesus notes that Peter’s confession of him as Messiah could have only been revealed to him by his Father.
And anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him: Jesus shares the mutual “knowledge,” between Father and Son with whomever he chooses to reveal himself . The verb “reveal,” links this saying with that of verse twenty-five This is a matter of revelation, not a natural right, but a matter of divine choice. Nor does it come by chance, but by divine design.
In verse twenty-eight, “Come to me”: This is “wisdom language” straight out of wisdom literature. It is the typical way a wisdom teacher would advertise the superiority of his ways above others and invite others to join up.
All you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens: The primary reference would be to those Jews who followed the Pharisaic interpretation of the law, those still outside the circle of Jesus’ disciples. The Pharisees “bind heavy burdens,” according to Matthew chapter twenty-three verse four, on their followers extending the original laws and making them stricter in application. The broader reference would be to anyone to whom life has primarily become a burden, whose responsibilities, obligations and work have robbed them of any joy, leisure or rest.
I will give you rest: Since Jesus goes on in the next verse to speak of “yoke,” the rest here is not of the eternal kind, but the kind that refreshes for the next task, a respite more than a retirement.
In verse twenty-nine, take my yoke upon you: The image is that of an animal harnessed to do work; the yoke provides direction and discipline. “Learn from me,” disciple and discipline- all three come from the same root. In Judaism the yoke-image was used in connection with wisdom and the Torah. In Sirach 51: 26-27, which reads, “Put your neck under her yoke, and let your souls receive instruction; it is to be found close by. See with your own eyes that I have labored but little and found for myself much serenity.”
Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart: Jesus’ instruction will primarily consist of example. His attitudes of meekness and humility, recommended in the Beatitudes of chapter five, are not learned or memorized intellectually but appropriated personally by imitation. As Paul would put it, the Son left his place in high heaven and took the place of a lowly slave.
In verse thirty, my yoke is easy and my burden light: The demands of the Pharisaic interpretation of the law are exacting and exhausting. The demands of Jesus’ law of love are inexhaustible and, in that sense, even more qualitatively demanding than the quantitatively heavy Pharisaism. “Easy” means “well-suited” or “easy fitting” in the Greek chrestos, a word very similar in sound to Christos, “Christ”. We would say “tailor-made.” Followers of Jesus are not excused from hard work. It’s just that they have the right tools and equipment for it. Even his rules and procedures are shorter and easier to understand than those of the Pharisees and other religious fanatics.
Sermon
There were two general reactions to Jesus and his teaching- rejection or acceptance. Surprisingly and ironically, the people who should have known better rejected Jesus and those who could be expected to reject him actually understood him and even accepted him. Those schooled in religion- the religious professionals, priests, scribes and religious teachers- those who had benefit of a religious education and should have been able to discern the Messiah, when, at last he came, rejected Jesus. Those too poor to be able to afford an education and too “underclass,” to have the opportunity or access to any form of social advancement, those were much more inclined to accept Jesus. Jesus called the one group “wise and learned” because that’s what they considered themselves. They were serious; he was being sarcastic.
Jesus was especially critical of the Pharisees and their brand of religion. It was all rules and no rest, all work and no play. They would look for a commandment in the Old Testament to apply to every situation and where they found none they took an existing one and stretched its meaning until it applied to a variety of situations never envisioned by the original commandment. They went beyond God’s intentions in order to back up their own conventional thinking and practices. The result was that religion appeared to the average person as so complicated that one needed an “expert,” to consult before every decision, small and large.
Anyone one who reads those columns in a catholic newspaper- “Ask Father” or “Father So-and-so Answers”- can get the flavor of the nitpicking and hairsplitting this approach to religion engages in.
The same for the, “Lutheran Magazine,” that has four different views and arguments on the same issue.
And the “experts” looked down upon the populace as “babes in the woods,” needing, but not heeding, their guidance. They considered themselves to be of superior mind to the hoi polloi, “the people of the land” as they would refer to them, even today clergy like to refer to the laity, their “inferiors,” as “the people.”
It should be noted that many professions consider themselves superior to the average person on the street, such as lawyers, Medical Doctors etc.
The “wise and learned,” also includes any and all human achievers, people who think they do what they do because of their own lights, powers, talents, merits. These folks truly believe that they “earn their way and their pay.” Because they are superior to the great, unwashed masses, they enjoy greater benefits and in their mind, deservedly so. Especially when an advanced degree is required to enter a specialized field of employment.
I can remember after being sworn in as a lawyer, back in December of 1972, one of the other lawyers who was sworn in with me saying, “I do not feel any different.” Knowledge gained from study does not change who you essentially are as an individual.
Jesus himself knew these temptations to pride. He, of all people, had a right to be proud, to look down on others, to secretly, if not openly, scoff at human stupidity and ineptitude. We can only suppose that if Jesus thought it would do any good, he would have been proud or “wise and learned,” in the sarcastic way he uses such terms. Apparently, in his truly learned wisdom he knew how useless and silly such an attitude is. He was quite clear that the message he was bringing to humans is not grasped by human wisdom, intelligence or wit; it is only known by revelation. He was quite clear that such was the way he himself received it- by revelation from the Father. Humility behooves humanity, so Jesus took it on when God became one of us and one with us. That is what Jesus means by the “easy” yoke. In Matthew 5: 20 he said to be a Christian one must be even “holier,” than a Pharisee. The demands are greater. Here, he says these demands are “easy,” because they suit humans much better than do Pharisaic rules and regulations. It is also easy because Jesus is the other half of the “yoked” team. This truth does not negate the human intellect, but it complements it. Jesus was not against intellectual power, but intellectual pride. The human intellect can only do what God has designed it to do, no more. While we can know something of God by its power, such knowledge is limited and nowhere near what revelation can open us up to. What Jesus brings is God himself in human form, that is, in a form humans can relate to and through whom they can grasp whatever of God, God wants them to know of him. If humans want to know what God is like, what he likes and what he would like humans to become, they have only to look to Jesus. However, he requires that before we enter into any kind of symbiotic union with him that we be humble and meek as he taught in the Beatitudes. Jesus is not merely fodder for theologians. Of course, we are to “study,” Jesus. However, we study him as we would study, like an “understudy” in the theater, a person, not a book or a script.
When we see things from the eternal perspective our first response is praise.
Jesus is against intellectual pride, not intellectual power.
Because Jesus is open to all people, educated and not, brilliant and not, all people can come to know God through him.
The only truly dumb people in the world are those who think they know something because they feel something.
Even though Jesus knew God firsthand, he remained humble.
Humility, not intellectual knowledge, makes following Jesus “easy.”
Humility and Humor: When Jesus zoned in on the human situation, on how ridiculous the proud, especially the religiously proud, really are, he was able to see the divine sense of humor. It is not that God ridicules our pride, rather he gently and ironically smiles. He knows we are setting ourselves up for a fall and he permits it in order that we might learn. The truly learned and wise are the really humble, those who see from God’s perspective, know they cannot live the way God wants them to live without outside help. Humans need a Savior, one who can give them the wherewithal to be truly human, to be all that God wants and calls them to be. Those who think they can do this on their own power do not realize that have no power on their own. They cannot acquire it, earn it, achieve it, and certainly not manufacture it. Instead of taking upon themselves the yoke of God, that will make their human work easier, they “chafe at the bit,” want to be free of God’s direction and discipline, and end up making a mess of their lives. Humility is acceptance, loving, even laughing acceptance, of our creaturely status. Humility takes the pressure off of life’s “burdens,” and makes them bearable. That is why Christians like to use the phrase “bearing the cross.” It describes the situation as God sees it. Indeed, Christians do make doing the right thing look easy. That is’ because the direction and discipline of God gives them the spiritual muscles to lift the weight of life above their shoulders because they have Christ’s yoke upon their shoulders. While all this is very profound, it is also ironic, and therefore funny. Living our lives as Christ has shown us, attunes us to God’s sense of humor. We can laugh at ourselves and know that if we are not successful in a particular endeavor, we have probably made God laugh and that makes us laugh too. When we see the humor, God’s humor, in a situation, it does not make us ridicule, anyone, just smile and say to ourselves and openly admit to God, as Jesus does here, that God knows best.
Intellectual Pride: While the human condition is funny when we look at it from God’s perspective, a perspective, we can only get from divine revelation, we also know that it is dangerous and destructive. Seeing the humor in a situation does not mean that we ignore it or remain passive. It simply means we recognize our limits and know that the solution to every problem is not more effort. It is smart, wise, effort, effort that let’s God do most of the work, while we cooperate. It is co-effort, with God calling the shots. If we think we are smarter than God or even smarter than others, we are setting ourselves up for humiliation. Humiliation is really the opposite of pride. Humility is the midpoint between those two extremes. From the vantage point of humility we can see both sides of an issue, a question, a situation. We can see both the humor and the horror. That is what makes the response “easy” and “light.” If we think we have all the answers, we have not really looked at things fully and have closed ourselves to other possibilities. Religious pride is especially dangerous because it causes us to quote from the Good Book before we have really read it. It makes us bookish, not learned. We might sound rather learned, quoting chapter and verse, but a parrot can do that too. Knowledge without love is power without conscience. It has done a lot of evil in our world, invoking God’s name as its justification.
Wise and learned sums up the best of human achievers. It is not by the exercise of their gifts that the presence of the kingdom be detected. Self-sufficiency blinds one to dependence and humility
This does not mean that all the wise are lost and all the babies are saved, but it will be by simple trust in Jesus and not by intellectual skills and knowledge.
Jesus condemns intellectual pride not intellectual power.
Wisdom is the person of the Son and his teaching. Wisdom is to be found at the “school” of Jesus. But the Son is more than a wisdom teacher, he is the Son whoever knows him also knows the Father, the highest form of wisdom.
Babes: not professionals or experts but those who lacked the knowledge or the means to obey the 613 laws, together with the complicated casuistry of the scribes, the poor, tax-collectors, sinners.
God takes into account the arrogance and or openness of the ones in need of revelation.
Amen.
