THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW
Thanksgiving: Mt 11,25-30
The first and third sayings are about the recipients of revelation expressed in different ways. The first is a thanksgiving, the third is an invitation.
In the middle, verse 27, there is Jesus' exclamation about revelation itself.
Verses 25-27 are dominated by "Father": 5 times in 3 verses. There have been already a number of references in this Gospel to God as Father, either Jesus' or ours. God as Father is characteristic of this Gospel with some 40 occurances.
This understanding will come to fruition in the Gospel of John where God is called Father over 100 times.
Verse 25 begins literally: "At that time, Jesus answered and said..." "Answered" here is often regarded as redundant. It does though make a the link to what preceeds.
The last chapter of Sirach, chapter 51, begins with a thanksgiving similar to 11,25. Ps 136 is a typical psalm of thanksgivng, refering at the end in verse 36 to the God of heaven.
We have here a message similar to St Paul at the beginning of the letter to the Corinthians, with echoes of Isaiah 29,14. The learned and clever refers to the Pharisees and scribes who are unable to accept Jesus. Whereas the infants are those open to the message, disciples, people of the Beatitudes.
"Handed over" in verse 27 anticipates the final handing over by the Father right at the end of the Gospel (28,18) where the glorified Jesus will then commission his disciples.
The high view of Jesus in verse 27 with regard to his relations with the Father reflect the generally exalted view of Jesus held by Matthew. Jesus speaks of the Father and the Son.
This understanding is developed in the Gospel of John, for example Jn 14,10: "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Thus far had Christianity developed in its understanding of Jesus in just a few decades.
Coming to verses 28-30, there is now an invitation to all who are open as in verse 25. There is the contrast between yoke and rest. The paradox we see in these verses is that the yoke which is wisdom or Torah is itself supposed to give rest.
The yoke in Sirach is wisdom, which becomes equated with the law, Sir 24,23. Thus the yoke of the Torah is being replaced by the yoke of Jesus, paradoxically easy and a burden which is light (verse 30).
Rest is a prominent theme during the Exodus from Egypt all the way to its fulfillment in the promised land, as the quotations from Exodus to Joshua indicate. It later gains a more spiritual understanding as in Jer 6,16 or Ps 95,11.
Now though the rest will be that of Jesus himself. In Jesus the yoke and the rest come together, no longer a paradox.
This is quite different to the relations between God and Moses found in the book of Exodus (Ex 33,12-14) where it is God not Moses who gives rest. Note too the comment that Moses was the meekest of all men (Num 12,3).
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Chapter 11
In 11,3, John the Baptist asks if Jesus is the one who is to come.
Jesus' immediate answer was the practical response, look at what he has done and "the poor have good news brought to them" (11,5).
This leads through Jesus' comments about John to the parable, 11,16-19, where the choice must be made. This is followed by the woes, the warnings, given to the towns at their rejection of Jesus, 11,20-24
At this point, Jesus proclaims his thanksgiving. There is far more going on than the rejection though that rejection will eventually lead to the cross.
In contrast to woes and rejection, Jesus thanks God for those who can accept his good news. He is indeed the one to come in verse 27, his invitation is open to all who can accept his yoke and his rest.
The Sunday Gospel
The setting of this Gospel and its thanksgiving is therefore important in the Sunday lectionary because it provides a contrast to the woes over the towns that preceed. It also points to the yoke of the Pharisees which will now be highlighted in chapter 12.
The reading from Zechariah is quoted by Matthew as part of the Palm Sunday entrance (21,5). The symbolism of a king mounted on a donkey which the evangelist uses there applies also to the whole Gospel. Here is the king who comes humbly, who is gentle and humble of heart as the italics for the readings put it.
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