In today’s Gospel, Matthew 11:25-30, Jesus marvels that the people, to whom He
preached and for whom He worked miracles in Bethsaida and Capharnaum, rejected
Him. We recall the words: “To whom much is given, much will be expected” (Lk 12:48).
Responding to Jesus then and now is a gift of God, as St. Thomas Aquinas
acknowledges: “The Lord distributes His gifts in different ways, because to certain men
He gives a docile heart and an inclination to acting well; but this does not suffice unless
there is an instructor. Likewise, sometimes there is an instructor but the heart is hard:
and just as for the former men a readiness to believe does not suffice, so a hard heart
harms these men” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel According to St.
Matthew).
Jesus was disappointed because He Himself, the embodiment of grace and truth (Jn
1:17), offered grace to them. St. Thomas explains: “In truth, no one can come unless
drawn by the Father. For just as a heavy object by its nature cannot rise up, but has to
be lifted by someone else, so the human heart, which tends of itself to lower things,
cannot rise to what is above unless it is drawn or lifted. And if it does not rise up, this is
not due to the failure of the one lifting it, who, as far as lies in Him, fails no one; rather, it
is due to an obstacle in the one who is not drawn or lifted up” (Thomas Aquinas,
Commentary on the Gospel According to St. John, 937).
According to Thomas, we can impede God’s actions: “All are equally held back from this
drawing [by the Father] by the obstacle of sin; and so, all need to be drawn. God, in so
far as it depends on Him, extends His hand to every one, to draw every one; and what
is more, He not only draws those who receive Him by the hand, but even converts those
who are turned away from Him, according to: ‘Turn us, O Lord, to Yourself, and we shall
be turned’ (Lamentations 5:21) … Therefore, since God is ready to give grace to all, and
draw them to Himself, it is not due to Him if someone does not accept; rather, it is due
to the person who does not accept” (Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel
According to St. John, 937).
The specific obstacle to the grace offered us is our pride. Jesus praises the Father for
“hiding these things from the wise and the learned and revealing them to the little ones.”
Thomas recalls two explanations of “little ones” by the Fathers of the Church. Augustine
sees “the little ones,” to be “the humble … those not presuming on themselves; for
where humility is, there is wisdom.” For Hilary, they are the ones who simply seek God:
“Seek Him in simplicity” (Wis 1:1).
In a similar way, Paul asserts: The foolish things of the world has God chosen, that He
might confound the wise” (1 Cor1:27).
The Father hides the identity of His Son from the “wise and the learned.” Paul describes
their “wisdom”: “Ignorant of God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own,

they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Rom 10:3). They are those who “claiming
to be wise, they became foolish” (Rom 1:22).
Thomas adds: “… by the wise He understands proud men boasting about themselves
and He does not reveal to such men … He calls wise those living according to the flesh,
seeking the things of the flesh, but not the things which are of God (Phil 2:21)”
(Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew).
Jesus invites His hearers, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and find life
burdensome and I will refresh you.” Thomas recognizes an echo in the words of the
wisdom book, Sirach: “Come to Me, all who desire Me, and be filled with My fruits”
(Sirach 24:19).
Thomas comments on “Draw near to Me, you unlearned”: “He wishes to give Himself.
What is the necessity of drawing near to Him? It is because, ‘Without Me you labor
too much … This is said as referring to all who labor on account of human frailty …
and are burdened, by the burden of their sins … ‘If any one thirsts, let him come to
Me and drink’ (Jn 7:37)” (Commentary on the Gospel According to St. Matthew).
Jesus declares “No one knows the Son except the Father” (Mt 11:27). Thomas
comments: “… not only is He equal to the Father but also consubstantial. From the
substance of the Father exceeds all understanding, since the very essence of the
Father is said to be unknowable, as is the essence of the Son. Hence there the equality
is noted” (Commentary on Matthew, 11:27).
Although the Gospels do not use metaphysical expressions such as “substance” or
“essence,” the fundamental meaning of these words as applied to God can be found in
the mutual relationship of “the Father” and “the Son.” The great German Jesuit
theologian, Karl Rahner, spoke of God as the “Incomprehensible One” but Jesus affirms
that He knows the Father,
Jesus invites His listeners, “take My yoke upon you” (Mt 11:29). Thomas expresses a
possible reaction: “But what is this? You say that You want to refresh us and lift our
labor from us, and in the same breath You tell us to carry a yoke? We believed that it
would not involve a yoke.”
Thomas affirms that we will be without “the yoke of sin,” which weighs us down, as
Psalm 2 declares: “Let us cast off from us their yoke” (Ps 2:3).
What is Jesus’ “yoke”? Thomas answers: “the gospel lessons.” Why does Jesus call it a
“yoke”? Thomas explains: “… just as a yoke fastens and joins the necks of oxen, so the
doctrine of the gospel fastens the people to its yoke” (11:29). Paul states: “Freed from
sin, you have become slaves of righteousness” (Rom 6:18).

Jesus instructs us: “Learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” Thomas
professes: “The whole Law consists in two things: meekness and humility”
(Commentary on Matthew, 11:29).
Thomas shows the importance of these two virtues: “By meekness a man is rightly
ordered to his neighbor… By humility he is rightly ordered to himself and to God.”
Thomas recalls the words of Isaiah: “This is the one upon whom I will look, to the
humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at My word” (Is 66:2). Thomas reflects,
“Hence humility makes a man capable of God.”
Jesus announces: “your souls will find rest.” When does the soul find rest? Thomas
replies:
“For the body is not refreshed, as long as it is afflicted, and when it is not afflicted
any more, it is said to be refreshed. And just as hunger is to the body, so desire
is to the mind; hence the achievement of desires is refreshing: ‘Who satisfies
your desire with good’ (Ps 103:5). And this rest is a rest of the soul”
(Commentary on Matthew, 11:29).
Jesus declares that His yoke is easy. Thomas is reminded of the words of Psalm 119:
“How sweet are your words to my taste!” (Ps 119:103).
Jesus says that His burden is light. Thomas questions how the burden can be light
when Jesus teaches a more interior observance of the commandments, e.g. not only
not to kill but not even to be angry: “It seems that it is a heavier burden.”
Thomas explains that His yoke is light in its effects:
“The doctrine of Christ is light in its effect, because it changes the heart, in as
much as it makes us love not temporal but spiritual things. For the person who
loves temporal things finds it more a burden to lose a little than a person who
loves spiritual things to lose much… But now, even though it is burdensome in
the beginning, after a while it is light” (Commentary on Matthew, 11:30).
His yoke is also light in its actions because they are internal and not only external
actions: “The Law imposed a burden of external acts. But our law is solely in the will;
hence ‘the kingdom of God is not food and drink’” (Rom14:11).
Thomas acknowledges that the kingdom of God entails difficulties: “All who desire to
lead a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Tim 3:12). Yet Thomas
asserts that these difficulties are not burdens:
“But they are not burdensome, because they are seasoned with the condiment of
love; for when a person loves someone, it is not a burden to suffer anything for
him. Hence love makes easy all difficult and impossible things. Therefore, if one

loves Christ properly, nothing is difficult for him; consequently, the New Law does
not impose a burden” (Commentary on Matthew, 11:30).
Denis Vincent Wiseman, O.P.
References to St. Thomas Aquinas’ Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew are
taken from the translation of Fr. Paul M. Kimball, Dolorosa Press, 2012, pp. 414-420