Gen24:34-38,42-49,58-67;Ps45:11-18;Rom7:15-25a;Matt11:16-19,25-30
There’s an old expression that goes, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” That saying is about stubbornness; a thirsty horse who won’t drink the water that’s right in front of it’s nose.
In the reading from Matthew’s gospel Jesus is chastising the crowd for its stubbornness, for refusing to see what’s right in front of their eyes. John the Baptist has come to bring good news, to preach repentance and searching for God’s forgiveness. John lives a very austere life, dressing in the most basic of clothing and surviving on what he can find in the dessert. John doesn’t take part in elaborate feasts and in drinking wine, he has no patience for politics and the religious pomp of the elite. John is a no-nonsense guy, and he doesn’t mince words, even when talking to kings like Herod. Most Jews look at John and see only a man dressed in camel’s hair with a rope around his waist. He can’t possibly be a great prophet. He must be possessed by a demon!
Jesus has come to bring good news, to preach about repentance and newness of life in God. Jesus has a life like many other Jews of his day. He lives in poverty, he dresses like anyone else, and when the opportunity comes to celebrate with others at a wedding or other Jewish festival, he eats and drinks and dances like everyone around him. Jesus directly engages the politics and religious issues of the day, especially enjoying those moments of verbal jousting with the Jewish leaders of the day. Jesus talks about the love of God for everyone, and he dreams of the day when the Kingdom of God will truly reign on earth as in heaven. Most Jews look at Jesus and see a common Jew with delusions of grandeur. He can’t possibly be who he says he is. He’s simply just another glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!
God has come to bring news of salvation through both John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and both John and Jesus are rejected by the stubbornness of those they seek to save. John comes as the desert hermit, Jesus comes as the social bug, and both are rejected. Jesus points out this stubbornness to the crowd. “John and his disciples wailed about the coming doom to those who will not repent, and you did not mourn at your own destruction. My disciples and I danced and sang with joy about God’s coming salvation, and you did not dance with us in thanksgiving. You’re like children who can’t make up their minds about what God’s message of salvation should sound like, and so you stubbornly refuse to accept any message that’s not exactly what you want to hear.”
Ha ha! You tell ‘um, Jesus. I’m completely with you to this point. I’m feeling pretty good about myself because I know who I am in this story, not one of those stubborn horses that’s had water brought right up to their noses, sniffed it, and turned their heads away.
And then as Jesus prays the prayer that comes next I’m not too happy about myself any longer. “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.”
Wait a minute here. Now I’m not sure who I am in the story anymore. I’m no genius, but I don’t think it’s a stretch to call myself of at least average intelligence, somewhat wise – hey, I’m over 50! Being called an infant is usually not a flattering comment; I’m pretty sure about that. Why would intelligence and wisdom be a bad thing and acting like an infant a good thing?
Maybe Jesus misspoke. Maybe he accidentally reversed the two. Maybe in his culture things were different. In our culture the stubborn ones are the ones acting like infants. The wise and intelligent ones understand what Jesus and John the Baptist are trying to do. I’m confused. Maybe if I read a little further.
“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.”
Ok. Wait a minute. What was the purpose of John the Baptist and Jesus’ ministry? It was to reveal the Father to us. And how did John and Jesus reveal the Father? They revealed the Father through the life, mission, ministry, and person of the Son, Jesus Christ.
So what could be wrong with intelligence? Intelligence is having a certain capacity of mind, an ability to understand principals, truths, facts and meanings. The more intelligent you are the more complex and abstract your thoughts can be. Intelligence is more about thinking than about doing, more about pondering than about acting. Intelligence is more about questioning than about accepting. Intelligent people came up with things like the wheel, antibiotics, the iPhone, and featherweight scoopable cat litter.
Here’s the rub with intelligence, though. Intelligence will not allow you to see the Father because intelligence tells you that the Son was impulsive and blindly obedient. Intelligence will blind you to the Son because when you consider the Son and his ministry all you will be able to think about is His lack of planning and his blind faith that resulted in his death. God the Son came into the world and spent his time on charity cases and lost battles, impoverished himself to feed the poor, made himself naked to clothe the naked, made himself thirsty to quench the thirsty, spent his precious planning time visiting the prisoners, acted for the benefit of others without considering the ramifications to himself, and failed due to his lack of vision. God the Son came into the world and suffered, died, destroyed death? God the Son gave his human life for us? The brain says, “does not compute.” And so intelligence will never show you the Father because intelligence will never allow you to comprehend the Son.
What could be bad about wisdom? Wisdom is about using knowledge for the best good, applying lessons learned in life to make a better outcome in this world, what some would call “street smarts” or “common sense”. Street smarts are what you need to play the game, to survive at all costs, to live to play another day. Common sense is what you use to survive day to day, to make sure no one gets the better of you, to plan for the worst and save for that rainy day. Street smarts and common sense are tools to survive in our world. They are the kind of wisdom that teaches you to watch out for number one, to do whatever you need to do for your own family, to survive no matter what the cost to others, and that death is the ultimate defeat. Wise people came up with things like meditation, looking before you leap, professional baseball’s infield fly rule, and not peeing into the wind.
Here’s the rub with wisdom, though. This kind of worldly wisdom will never allow you to see the Father because this kind of wisdom tells you that the Son acted recklessly and foolishly and ultimately failed due to his death on the cross. The wisdom of this world will blind you to the Son because when you look at the Son all you will be able to see is his failure, his death. God the Son came into the world and suffered, died, destroyed death? God the Son gave his human life for us? The wisdom of this world says, “if you don’t survive, you lose.” And so worldly wisdom will never show you the Father because wisdom will never allow you to understand the Son.
Jesus is telling us in Matthew that putting your faith in worldly wisdom and intelligence is not the way to the Father because faith in wisdom and intelligence was not the way of the Son. And if you look at the Son you understand why being like an infant is the way to understand the Father also. The Son is obedient to the Father. The Son depends on the Father for every good thing. The Son is connected to the Father through relationship. The Son calls out to the Father, and the Father give the Son what he needs to live. The Son trusts the Father completely, and that faith in the Father gives life to the Son.
Infants are no different. Infants are emotionally and spiritually connected to their caregiver; they have a relationship with their caregiver. Infants cry out to their caregiver, and their caregiver gives them what they need to live. Infants trust their caregiver completely because the caregiver has taught the infant to have complete faith in the caregiver. Infants depend on their caregiver for everything they need to live on a daily basis.
And that’s Jesus message to us: don’t check your brain at the door, but don’t depend on your brain to bring you salvation either. In their actions John and Jesus have shown us the Son, and so they have also shown us the Father. Salvation is given, not earned or learned or even comprehended fully. Having faith in a loving God that takes care of our every need is what we are called to do, not jerking that wheel out of the Father’s hands when we feel the need to take control ourselves. And Jesus presses that point at the end of the passage from Matthew.
Jesus tells us that if we want to know the Father all we have to do is look at the Son. Jesus leads us to that spring of living water, raises the glass to our lips and says to us stubborn, thirsty horses, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy, and my burden is light.” And all we as faithful children of God have to do is to open our thirsty hearts and drink.
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