Fifth Sunday after Trinity
“Jesus said, “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”
Overview
What kind of God do we want? Whatever God we hope for, we are likely to have expectations disappointed at some point or other.
In the gospel, Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30, Jesus lambasts the crowd for never being satisfied: when God sends John, they complain that he is too serious; when God sends Jesus, they complain that he is too joyful.
God comes to us in many forms and most of them do not fit our expectations.
This is not something new, Zechariah, 9:9-12, promises a God who will come on a colt not on a warhorse; who will bring peace, not military might. The people want a God who will be defeat their enemies and increase their prestige. But this is not the God that they need.
We often want a God made in our image but such a God is unlikely to be of much use to us. Following the God we need (rather than the God we want) is not straightforward. Jesus expresses the paradox of a life of discipleship: it is yoke but it is easy; it is a burden yet it is light.
At the heart of Jesus’ ministry is the strange truth that we only find ourselves when we give ourselves away. When we let go of our ego, our desires, our deeply held beliefs about who we are and how the world should be, we discover that we have not lost, we have gained, and that the life God gives us is beyond all we could hope for.
FIRST READING
Zechariah 9:9-12
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
GOSPEL
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-40
But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,
‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.’
“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.
At that time Jesus said, “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; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 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.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light
