LUKE 10:21-24

Jesus rejoiced [in] the holy Spirit and said, “I give you praise, 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 who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him.”

Turning to the disciples in private He said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.”

Reflection

The childlike: In the past, the prophets of Israel spoke of God’s promise of salvation to His chosen people. They were also instrumental in many of God’s saving acts. But these saving interventions were at best partial and limited. God’s holy people longed to see the onset of His definitive salvific work in human history. Through the ages, this longing crystallized in the expectation of the Messiah.

Righteous people lived and died without seeing the Messiah. “They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar” (Heb 11:13). These great men who belonged to another age are not as privileged as the “childlike” of the present age who witness the works of Jesus and hear His revelations.

Everything depends on the gracious will of the Father who chooses to reveal His saving plan to the poor and the simple through His Son Jesus. The secrets of the kingdom are hidden from the wise and the learned who presume that they would be favored by God. They have eyes but cannot see, ears but cannot hear. Their attachment to their beliefs and their unwillingness to believe in Jesus make them unable to grasp the “good news” of God.

Source: “365 Days with the Lord,” ST. PAULS, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.,); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: publishing@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.