Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25: Difference between revisions
Blog:Salvation is for the "childlike"? Matthew 11:25 (view source)
Revision as of 21:58, 7 August 2024
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== The Son == | == The Son == | ||
Let's step back and review [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25-27] in full, verses the NABRE labels, | Let's step back and review [https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?25 Matthew 11:25-27] in full, verses the NABRE labels, "Praise of the Father": | ||
<blockquote>At that time Jesus said in reply, “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike. | |||
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. | |||
All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him."<ref>The quotation does not stop here, although modern Scripture separates it from the subsequent, '''The Gentle Mystery of Christ''', Jesus' beautiful plea to accept and find refuge in him ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/11?28 Mt 11:28-30]) and which most people will recognize from verse 30:</blockquote> | |||
<blockquote>For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. | |||
</ref></blockquote> | |||
What's all this "Father" and "Son" business? It's all over the Gospel, but here it is particularly intense. I won't stand by the claim, but it seems to be the most dense collection of both "Father" and "Son" in the Gospel verses.<ref>Here for a search of occurrences of both "Father" and "Son": [https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NABRE&quicksearch=Father+Son&begin=47&end=47 BibleGateway - Keyword Search: Father Son]</ref> | What's all this "Father" and "Son" business? It's all over the Gospel, but here it is particularly intense. I won't stand by the claim, but it seems to be the most dense collection of both "Father" and "Son" in the Gospel verses.<ref>Here for a search of occurrences of both "Father" and "Son": [https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?qs_version=NABRE&quicksearch=Father+Son&begin=47&end=47 BibleGateway - Keyword Search: Father Son]</ref> | ||
Hmm. God is telling us something here, something about our true nature, and inviting us to retrieve it. Here must be the adoption that Paul talks about, | Hmm. God is telling us something here, something about our true nature, and inviting us to retrieve it. Here must be the adoption that Paul talks about, | ||
<blockquote>For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!” ([https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/8?15 Rom 5:15])</blockquote> | |||
We all too easily utter this word, "Father." We use it all the time, but when so earnestly as St. Paul? | We all too easily utter this word, "Father." We use it all the time, but when so earnestly as St. Paul? | ||
No wonder the "Desert Mother,"<ref>I don't have a reference to this story, which I heard in an interview with Father Spitzer. Here for the [http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0400_apophth/greek_alph/00a_start.htm Sayings of the Desert Fathers]</ref> she, tuned to the Spirit of God, both wings aloft, could not, as the story goes, get past the first line of the Our Father prayer, instead sobbing in wonder at the notion that God is "Our Father." | No wonder the "Desert Mother,"<ref>I don't have a reference to this story, which I heard in an interview with Father Spitzer. Here for the [http://www.ldysinger.com/@texts/0400_apophth/greek_alph/00a_start.htm Sayings of the Desert Fathers]</ref> she, tuned to the Spirit of God, both wings aloft, could not, as the story goes, get past the first line of the Our Father prayer, instead sobbing for three days in wonder at the notion that God is "Our Father." | ||
Jesus is praying for us to think upon the Father as if we are his children, to live as if we have a God who is our Father. It's extraordinary to think about! | Jesus is praying for us to think upon the Father as if we are his children, to live as if we have a God who is our Father. It's extraordinary to think about! | ||
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With all the reason we can muster, Jesus wants us to approach the Father with pure hearts and minds, like children to the most beautiful and most perfect Father. It's a conversation we carry on whenever we recite the prayer that Jesus taught us simpletons to say in recognition that we have a -- the Father: | With all the reason we can muster, Jesus wants us to approach the Father with pure hearts and minds, like children to the most beautiful and most perfect Father. It's a conversation we carry on whenever we recite the prayer that Jesus taught us simpletons to say in recognition that we have a -- the Father: | ||
<blockquote>Our Father, who art in heaven, | |||
hallowed be thy name; | |||
thy kingdom come, | |||
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. | |||
Give us this day our daily bread, | |||
and forgive us our trespasses | |||
as we forgive those who trespass against us, | |||
and lead us not into temptation, | |||
but deliver us from evil. | |||
</blockquote> | |||
Amen. | Amen. | ||
Aug 1, 2024 by Michael<br> | Aug 1, 2024 by Michael<br> | ||