14th Sunday, Year A: Reflection by Fr Julian Ekeh
Theme: Come to me...Learn from me
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(Matthew11:25-30)
Jesus in today's Gospel reading sends out
invitation and a scholarship. He starts by thanking God for those to whom these
benefits are directed; the little ones.
In a world where a lot of enticing things
are inviting us, Jesus sends His own special invitation. In a world where a lot
of forces are trying to lure people out of their vocations, professions,
marriages and destinies Jesus calls us to come to Him.
To be able to go to Jesus, there are things
we must drop, there are things we must take up and there are virtues we must
acquire. Let us know some of them
Openness and Childlikeness
Jesus thanks God for revealing to mere
children. Jesus wants us to come with our empty jars to feel them with divine
illumination. He invites us to come with readiness to receive, to learn. He
wants us to come with the proper disposition. The child asks a lot of
questions. He wants us to ask Him all
the questions of our life, to really inquire from Him before embarking on any
thing, to seek His face, to do it as He does. May everything that has closed
the doors and windows of divine knowledge from us give way, that we may be
docile.
Drop all your wisdom
If you need it from God, then you must drop
yours. Forget about your wisdom, glory not in your understanding. Surrender all
at the foot of Jesus. Jesus was so happy that these revelations were hidden
from the wise. Go through the things you call wisdom, check out all those who
take themselves to be knowledgeable. Every knowledge without Christ doesn't go
down well.
Can you call to mind your days of
innocence? I mean before so-called eye openers called you naive and exposed you
to the 'evil wisdom', 'the Eve knowledge' that is making you lose your
friendship and peace with God? Jesus calls upon you to drop such wisdom of the
world and come to Him for wisdom from on high, to get the wisdom that is gift
of the Holy Spirit. If you didn't learn it from Christ, drop it!
Learn and take Home
Jesus' calling assures a giving. He says:
Come to me...and I will give you. He bequeaths. He allows you enter into Him.
He gives and opens himself to expose all the virtues He wants us to learn.
Learn to rest
Jesus wants us to learn and understand what
rest truly means. Our hearts, says St Augustine are restless till they rest in
God. Learn to find rest only in doing the will of God. Learn to rest only after
giving in your best and not resting when you have works undone. Learn to
understand rest as fulfilment. Learn to feel at rest only when you have saved
the life entrusted to you as a medical doctor, to teach the students in your
care, to lead the people to a true place of rest.
Rest from burdens
Jesus draws us to Himself to learn how to
rest from burdens.
There are different types of burden:
Self-imposed burdens- They are the burdens we gave ourselves through our
careless behaviors, sins of commission and omission. A good example is when a
man decides not to take care of his home and raise his children in the fear of
God and they turn out to be a headache to him.
There are burdens imposed by others. Jesus
invites those who are in this situation to come to Him equally. They are
suffering because of what they do not know. Here we see those who are under
oppressions of all kinds; bad government, bad husbands, bad wives, bad children
etc. Nothing is impossible with God. Going to Jesus, you will learn the best
ways out of all these. Jesus will give you rest. Wipe your tears, ebezina,
bebiri, hara. Feel the consoling hand of Jesus, learn to lean on His
shoulders. Hear Him say to you: It is well, ihe i na amaghi agaghi ama gi,
Am with you.
The world and the society has got some
burdens. The economy, the injustices, the bad government, the wars, the
killings, the indifferent attitude to things that matter. Jesus says: I have
conquered the world.
Learn gentility and lowlines
Part of the course Jesus offers is
gentleness and lowliness. Let us learn to be like Jesus our master, treat
people we meet with kindness and love. Let us learn not to inflict harm on
others, let us work with Jesus in taking away burdens from the shoulders of
people, wipe tears from faces and mend hearts rather than break them. Let's
humble ourselves that after our labours here on earth, after our daily goings
to Jesus Christ we may forever find rest when we hear the final calling: Come
you blessed of my father and inherit the kingdom. May God bless his word in our
hearts through Christ our Lord. Amen
Happy Sunday (14th Week, Ordinary Time,
Yr A)
Rev Fr Julian O Ekeh
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