Today’s readings: Zechariah 9, 9-10; Romans 8, 9.11-13; Matthew 11, 25-30.

We are indeed at a crossroad when it comes to how and when we believers are to speak fearlessly and pronounce judgement on what enhances and what instead distorts our true humanity. We’ve lived in times when talk about the lordship of God instilled fear and inspired fire and brimstone preaching.

Those were times when the Church, in the name of God, was patronising and even substituted God sitting on His judgement seat. Whenever we spoke of the Lord who comes, the imagery was Michelangelo’s Last Judgement scene, representing the day when God’s stock-taking will be terrible and harsh. Today’s Scriptures speak loudly of the Lord who comes but on a radically different tone.

In the first reading the prophet Zechariah is addressing the people in the aftermath of the Babylonian exile. His prophecy affirms that the ultimate triumph of Israel will be accomplished through the coming of a humble king, not through the conquest of the world. In contrast to our approaches, the Lord constantly reminds His people of how much He loves them and mainly seeks to warm their hearts.

In Matthew’s gospel we read about the approach Jesus took at a point when in his own Galilee his ministry was a complete failure. Jesus knew that the wisdom of the kingdom can never become the clear and logical argumentation that should make sense for all and that should eventually become the blueprint for society in general.

Very often we cannot understand how the wisdom of our moralisms and the apparent clarity of our way of arguing about what is becoming or unbecoming to our social cohesion is rejected. In this regard, we really are at a crossroad at this particular point in time when our country is debating a Marriage Equality Bill that sounds unacceptable to our Catholic quarters. The deafening silence adds to the confused minds of many, considering how vociferous and militant we used to be till yesterday.

Yet today’s gospel seems to strike a cord. There is so much that remains hidden to the learned and the clever. God’s wisdom cannot be reduced to our wisdom and it can only be grasped by the few. Very often this talk on the part of Jesus himself about those who cannnot understand and those to whom it is revealed becomes confusing even for us, so much accustomed as we are to have very clear black and white teachings evident and so rational to one and all.

History can repeat itself, and actually it does repeat itself. But we would be better off if we open our eyes not to repeat history’s mistakes. We have to realise at the end of the day that our mission is not to persuade the world about the truth of the gospel or about what is good and bad through argumentation. Who can persuade the world that Christ is risen? Who can convince the world that marriage is indissoluble or that it is strictly speaking a man and woman affair?

We are actually not sent to persuade the world. Our mission is of a different nature. Jesus, after speaking of realities hidden from “the learned” and revealed to “mere children”, changes tune to the extent of sounding even out of point. The gospel text seems to be divided into two separate statements. He switches to the daily hardships of people and to whatever overburdens people, and rather than presenting himself as teacher of ethics, he discloses that his main concern is our wellbeing and that we find rest for our souls. He does not come with rebuke but with gentleness.

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