MATTHEW 11 - A REFLECTION

This reflection is taken from the Sunday Devotions that prepare for the Christ Episcopal Church, Yankton, SD.  

REFLECTION

by

Norm Wright

+  In the Name of our Brother, Jesus +

Today’s lesson is the entire chapter of Matthew 11in order to give us the full context in which the assigned Gospel reading for this Sunday is set.  This chapter serves as a followup to Matthew 10 which we have been looking at for the past two Sundays.  In this chapter, John the Baptizer’s disciples approach Jesus to ask, on behalf of John, if he is the Messiah.  Instead of answering them directly, Jesus tells them to look at what he is doing and discern for themselves if his deeds live up to the job description of who they are waiting for.  

After describing John the Baptizer as a reed shaken in the wind and questioning why people went into the wilderness to see him, Jesus compares John to Elijah, the prophetic figure whose return is believed to herald the coming of the Messiah.  That’s the biggest clue Jesus gives without coming right out and saying, “I am He.  I’m the one John and you are looking for.” 

One of the curious aspects of Jesus’ ministry, as recorded in the Synoptic Gospels, is his reluctance to say, “I am the Messiah.”  Why didn’t he just come out and say it?   Instead Jesus, as was his manner, follows their question with a rhetorical question of his own, “To what will I compare this generation?”   

In other words, Jesus basically turns their question back on them and those who are in the audience, “Who are you?  What are you up to? Are you really ready for the Messiah?  Will you be able to recognize him if he shows up and is standing in front of you?  What exactly are you looking for in the Messiah?”

Jesus’ description of his generation is easy to apply to every generation that followed, including our own.  He compares his generation to a group of children calling out to other children to dance to their tune, play their game, be good sports and mimic what they do, to be happy with what makes them happy, and to whine with them when things don’t go their way.  In essence, Jesus is saying they are not mature enough to see the Messiah; that they are looking for a messiah who fits their idea of a messiah, a messiah who will play their games and vindicate their attitudes, their beliefs, and their behavior. 

Jesus points out that when he approaches those considered lost causes by their religious standards and doesn’t play that game, he is told in any number of ways by any number of people; especially, by religious leaders,  “You don’t get to eat and drink with those considered to be unrighteous; especially, those known to profit from unfair taxing practices and adulterers. You don’t get to party hardy with the likes of them and expect respectable religious people to respect you.  You don’t get to go about on the Sabbath snacking your way through fields on the grain, and you definitely don’t go about healing the chronically ill on the Sabbath, no matter how much they need a cure.  It’s just not on.  Poor form Jesus!  Only a gluttonous, intoxicated wastrel does things like that.”

John the Baptizer didn’t fare much better as a dour, no frills, unkempt, wild-man on a locust and honey diet who delighted in dunking people as way of opening their eyes to God’s emerging realm. He not only looked like a demon, he acted like he was possessed by one.  Neither Jesus or John lived up to their idea of an Elijah or a messianic figure.  

They didn’t want a prophet who kept telling them to stop playing around and turn around or a messiah who actually addressed personal needs like poverty and illness; much less, take the time to satisfy the spiritual hunger of those who found themselves caught up into systems they didn’t have the strength to break away from, or a messiah who would forgive people they didn’t want forgiven; people they’d rather hate, rather stone, and rather go to war with.

At the end of Jesus’ comments on his generation and the type of treatment he was getting,  he says, “Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”  In Luke’s telling of this same story (Luke 7:35) Jesus says, Wisdom is vindicated by her children.”  In other words, Jesus is saying don’t succumb to group think that results in playing games that serve no purpose.  Get “woke” to what’s going on around you and do something about it!  

The metrics of the Gospel is based on a resurrection paradigm; on how well people are raised up in this life.  In particular, the teachings of Jesus instructs us to examine how well we are at raising people from poverty; how well we are at practicing restorative justice, how well we are at  releasing those imprisoned by injustice and stigmatization, how well we are at feeding the hungry, and how well we are at healing those suffering from mental, physical, and spiritual illnesses.  

Jesus was and is not concerned with right form but with right practice. What is perhaps the greatest sin of our current generation is that we have more knowledge than ever before, a greater sense of commonality and interconnectedness than ever before, and greater ability to address the metrics of the Gospels than at any other time in our history, but as yet, we have not demonstrated a collective will to enact redemption, to enact resurrection, and to realize what Jesus meant by the Kingdom or the Realm of God in the here and now. 

We are prone to give lip service to the idea of the Kingdom of God being at hand and ask for it to come quickly at times, but then demonstrate, through our lack of action, a preference to keep it at arms length.  At times, we pray for God’s will to be done as if we do not have the ability to do God’s will and forget that prayer is meant to activate us into participating with what we pray for.  

Jesus final statement, “Come to me all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest” is treated more often than not like a rest stop; as place to stay put, but Jesus doesn’t let us rest there.  He says to take his yoke, his job, and his burden upon us and realize the Gospel message; to be like him, gentle and humble of heart because in doing these things the soul finds its true rest.  

* * * * * * * * * * 

Jesus, loving brother, awaken us to the restlessness that stirs within our souls that we may find true rest. Ease your yoke upon us and grant us the lightness of your burden that the Realm of God is realized in our doing.  Amen.