Mt 11:25-27
[On one occasion,] 25Jesus said, “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. 26Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. 27All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”
GOD’S FAVORITES: “Patron” or “godfather” may sound irreverent when applied to God because of The Godfather movies, but in the patron-client systems of the Mediterranean world in Jesus’ time, God is considered as the ultimate patron.
Patrons are powerful individuals who control resources and are expected to use their positions to hand out favors to inferiors. They are benefactors who are expected to support a city, village, or client. Clients, on the other hand, are those dependent upon the largesse of patrons in order to survive well in their society. In return for the favor, they show loyalty to the patrons and publicly acknowledge the honor of their benefactors.
Relationships and the giving of resources are mediated by brokers. Under imperial Rome, major public officials often act as brokers of imperial resources.
In the religious sphere, God is the patron because, in the words of Jesus, he is “Lord of heaven and earth.” He is the source of human existence and of all creation. Human beings are his clients. In this relationship, holy men such as the prophets are God’s brokers. But the broker par excellence is Jesus, God’s Son, who intercedes in behalf of men and women.
In the world of Jesus’ time, a patron selects clients and treats them as members of his immediate and extended “family.” His favorites are loyal family members, military officers, and political officials. What about God? Who are his “favorites”? In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus reveals that the primary objects of the Father’s patronage are not “the wise and the learned.” These are people who are capable of looking after themselves, who may be patrons themselves of those in the lower strata of society. Rather, God favors the “little ones.” These are not innocent children but the “powerless,” those who are unable to do or obtain anything for themselves. God bypasses the wise and the intelligent in favor of the simple ones. And Jesus praises the Father for this “gracious will” to which he gives witness in his own ministry.