Wednesday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 391

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “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.




My sisters are gaga about their grandchildren. Nothing these little rogues do can displease their grandmas. He opens his eyes, she goes ahh. He closes his eyes, she goes ooh. He sits, he lies, he stands: it's all utterly amazing, astonishing and delightful. Did I mention adorable? And unbearably cute? 

I don't have pets and I'm not a zookeeper but I suspect that no other animal induces such ecstasy in its grandparents. Perhaps the cub's mother might find some relief in the infant's ability to hunt, chase, capture and devour but the grandparents can't be bothered. They don't even know which one is which. 

This sheer pleasure is of God; it's our godlike nature to find and take pleasure. 

Pleasure has a dimension of surprise in it. When Jesus praises "you Father, Lord of heaven and earth" he bursts forth in unexpected enthusiasm, a surprise to himself as well as his disciples. 

When the Father's booming voice is heard over the Jordan River and on Mount Tabor, "This is my son, my beloved, in who I am well pleased," you can bet there is an element of surprise in that pleasure. "That's my boy!" 

Creativity is surprising, and creativity is what God does. Like any human being, and unlike the animals or plants, God might say, "Wow! I did that!"

Creativity is also pleasing. The newness of it, its realization emerging out of potentiality has the fresh, clean smell of baby flesh. Ecstatic. 

What is Jesus cheering about? According to Saint Luke, it is his disciples' success on their first missionary endeavor. They had gone out and spoken of Jesus and healed some people in his name and come back happy beyond belief. 

The seventy[-two] returned rejoicing, and said, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us because of your name.”

This excited, surprised, pleasure in creativity binds the Father to the Son and the Son to his disciples and his disciples to his Father, all in the Holy Spirit, which is a privilege only human beings can appreciate.