Commentary on the Gospel of
Being humble before the Lord
The scribes, religious scholars, and temple authorities rejected Jesus, the Word of God. However, the simple and ordinary people in villages accepted him. While the self-proclaimed intellectuals sought to find faults with him, the poor, the sick, and those living on the margins of society flocked to him for his message of comfort, acceptance, and love. In today's Gospel passage, Jesus thanks the heavenly Father for revealing the mysteries of God to ordinary people. Jesus does not condemn wisdom and intellectual power, but what he condemns is the intellectual pride of the learned.
As the passage concludes, Jesus identifies himself as the Son of God who came to unveil the true nature of God to humanity. "No one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." In the Gospel of John, we hear Jesus saying, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
It is said that 'it is the heart, not the head, that is the home of the gospel.' It is our pride that separates us from God's grace and not our knowledge. Many smart people today worry that believing in God is silly. However, it's essential to recognize that embracing the Gospel requires humility and it is not foolishness
It is a challenge for pastors and leaders of Church communities of our time to put aside our pride and ego and be humble in front of God’s people. Those who engage with things with the curiosity and receptiveness of a child are the ones to whom God's mysteries are unveiled.Children are characterised by openness, wonder, and not being judgmental. This requires humility, which would lead us to stand in wonder before the mystery of God.
