See God Through Jesus

𝐉𝐔𝐋𝐘 𝟏𝟔, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐋

𝟏𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐄𝐱𝐨 𝟑:𝟏-𝟔, 𝟗-𝟏𝟐

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟑:𝟏-𝟒, 𝟔-𝟕 “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝  𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐮𝐥.” 𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐓 𝟏𝟏:𝟐𝟓-𝟐𝟕

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏.” (𝒗.27) 

          Today is a crucial moment in the ministry of Jesus. The rebellious spirit of the people have grown and has set in and will end up in an open rejection of Christ the King. Jesus thus turns to His Father and give thanks and this I believe is an example for us to follow when we are faced with difficulties.

          The Father’s will should always govern our lives. And you will read in today’s Gospel passage how God bypasses the wise in the person of the scribes and Pharisees and chose the simple yet believing people for salvation (𝟏 𝐂𝐨𝐫 𝟏). As with the Trinity, we cannot explain the mystery of the Father’s will, and all we need to do is adore and obey Him.

         Jesus in prayer pours out his heart to God and here He mentions two kinds of people – the wise and the clever, the arrogant who take pride in their knowledge of their religion and the childlike, the self-righteous and the humble.

         Even if this Gospel was written by Matthew more than 2,000 years ago, the words of Jesus still echo up to this time because we are still confronted with the same set of people even now.

         How we relate to Jesus’ today was how the people related to Him in his time. In the same manner that the Pharisees and their followers have rejected Jesus then, so too do some of us reject Him now and we may not even know it.

         In presenting a contrast between these two situations He faced in those days, Jesus was rejected by the elite of society at that time, but He was welcomed and accepted by the ordinary people and this growing popularity and acceptance of Jesus by the masses was what unnerved the religious leaders.

         It was in fact out of fear of a growing rebellion against the established order that became the reason for his rejection by the Pharisees and the ruling elite.

         But Jesus was not actually against those who are learned but it was more of the intellectual arrogance that He was against. This is true even today when we at times are confronted with people who have kept the Scriptures in their heads rather than store it in their hearts.

         But the most important point in this Gospel passage is when Jesus said “𝑵𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒑𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒏 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝑯𝒊𝒎.” (𝒗.27)        

          This represents the centrality of our Christian faith that the only way we will know God is to know Jesus. In the Old Testament times, to know is more than just head knowledge. To know a person in the time of Jesus is to have an intimate relationship with the person.

         This intimate communion between the Father and the Son is at the heart of their relationship and allow me to paraphrase what Jesus is saying here in 𝘷.27: “𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘦.”        

          But the conditionality that is present here is that it is God Himself through Jesus who chooses to whom He will reveal Himself. In other words, Jesus will reveal who God is to those whom He shall so choose. As in this Gospel passage, God will keep His presence from those who have rejected and or will reject Jesus.

         We are not only fortunate but blessed that in our own time, Jesus has revealed to us who God is. The question that awaits our response is do we have the humility to receive this revelation. Do we have the heart of the ordinary people who accepted Jesus to now accept God, or will we be like the Pharisees who rejected Him.

         This is no longer a message limited to the Jews as it was in 𝐌𝐚𝐭𝐭 𝟏𝟎:𝟓-𝟔, as Christ now opens the door to all who will come and believe and take His yoke. The Pharisees laid many burdens on the people and their religion did not give rest and peace. No human religion can give peace to the heart except that which Christ offers that is easy in contrast to the grinding, binding yoke of the law (𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝟏𝟓:𝟏𝟎).

         Pope Francis in his first encyclical – 𝑳𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏 𝑭𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒊 – or the Light of Faith. What is highlighted in this book is thet underlying truth that faith has three stages in order for it to be complete. The first is that while faith is a virtue that has been mysteriously infused in us at the time of our baptism, faith nevertheless is something we need to learn but it does not end there because faith has to be lived.

         And in order for our faith to become complete it has to be shared with others. It is not enough that we believe Jesus. What makes the faith that we have complete is to believe “in” Jesus. To believe in Jesus is to be one with him by getting into his heart such that our nature is transposed into the image and likeness of God.

         In other words, we lose our own identities because to believe in Jesus is to forget who we are, our stature, titles, possessions, accomplishments and instead put on the character of Christ which is rooted on two basic premises – love God with all our heart, mind and soul and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

         When we can do this, we are assured of his patronage that we can truly become his disciples who are ready for the mission ahead of us and that is to proclaim the Gospel of Christ to others. (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘑𝘶𝘭𝘺 16, 2025)