# Enter the Inner Life of God - Bishop Barron Sermon

An episode of [Daily Sermons With Bishop Robert Barron](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/6783446284), 21 Oct 2026, 14 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75853502/enter_the_inner_life_of_god_bishop_barron_s_sunday_sermon.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Peace be with you. Friends, the Gospel for this weekend
[0:03] Speaker 1: is marvelous, from the eleventh chapter of Matthew. And it
[0:06] Speaker 1: contains the passage that Père Lagrange, one of the great
[0:09] Speaker 1: Catholic biblical scholars of the last century, referred to as, quote,
[0:13] Speaker 1: Matthew's most precious pearl. It's also been described, this passage,
[0:19] Speaker 1: as a Johannine bolt from the Matthean blue. Now, what
[0:23] Speaker 1: am I talking about? Well, the language Jesus uses here
[0:27] Speaker 1: is much more redolent of John's Gospel than Matthew. It
[0:31] Speaker 1: sounds like the way Jesus talks in John. So it's
[0:35] Speaker 1: a Johannine bolt out of the Matthew, the Matthean blue. Now,
[0:39] Speaker 1: what are we talking about? What's so extraordinary here? Let
[0:41] Speaker 1: me read it to you. At that time, Jesus exclaimed,
[0:46] Speaker 1: I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth.
[0:50] Speaker 1: For although you've hidden these things from the wise and
[0:53] Speaker 1: the learned, you've revealed them to your little ones. Yes, Father,
[0:56] Speaker 1: such has been your gracious will. Now listen as he
[0:59] Speaker 1: goes on. No one knows the Son except the Father,
[1:03] Speaker 1: and no one knows the Father except the Son, and
[1:06] Speaker 1: anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. Can
[1:10] Speaker 1: you hear it there, the Johannine quality? It sounds like
[1:13] Speaker 1: the way Jesus talks in John's Gospel. Why is it
[1:17] Speaker 1: Matthew's most precious pearl? Because we're being invited here into
[1:23] Speaker 1: the inner life of God. So this is not simply
[1:27] Speaker 1: a great saint or a great sage or wise figure
[1:30] Speaker 1: talking about God. Because reference is being made to the
[1:34] Speaker 1: Father and the Son. It's the Son inviting us into—
[1:40] Speaker 1: listen now— the dynamics of his relationship to the Father.
[1:45] Speaker 1: We're not just talking about God the way any religious
[1:48] Speaker 1: person or religious philosopher might. We're being invited into the
[1:52] Speaker 1: very inner life of God. the relationship between the Father
[1:58] Speaker 1: and the Son. So we're on very holy ground. See,
[2:02] Speaker 1: that's what Père Lagrange meant. We're on very holy ground here.
[2:05] Speaker 1: So now let's look at it step by step. I
[2:10] Speaker 1: give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for
[2:12] Speaker 1: although you've hidden these things from the wise and the learned,
[2:17] Speaker 1: you revealed them to little ones. The Greek there is tauta,
[2:21] Speaker 1: these things. Well, what things— Is he talking about here
[2:28] Speaker 1: the things that have to do with the relationship between
[2:33] Speaker 1: the Father and the Son? So again, this is not
[2:37] Speaker 1: just a religious philosopher, Aristotle or Kant or a religious
[2:42] Speaker 1: guru or teacher. This is the Son speaking out of
[2:48] Speaker 1: the experience of the inner life of God and the
[2:51] Speaker 1: things that have been revealed to the little ones are
[2:58] Speaker 1: these dynamics that obtain between the Father and the Son. Okay.
[3:03] Speaker 1: That's kind of high abstract language. What am I talking about?
[3:07] Speaker 1: From all eternity, from before time, the Father gives himself,
[3:16] Speaker 1: the Father empties himself, giving rise to the Son. The Son,
[3:22] Speaker 1: in turn, having received this gift from the Father, gives
[3:27] Speaker 1: it back. The Father and the Son let go of
[3:31] Speaker 1: each other in an act of mutual love. That love,
[3:36] Speaker 1: that mutual giving, is precisely what we call the Holy Spirit.
[3:44] Speaker 1: These things, these dynamics that obtain within the inner life
[3:49] Speaker 1: of God have to do with a great act of
[3:53] Speaker 1: letting go, of giving, receiving, and then giving back. Why
[4:03] Speaker 1: have they been revealed to little ones? Mind you, please, everybody,
[4:07] Speaker 1: this is not some polemic against theology or against the
[4:11] Speaker 1: intellectual life. When Jesus says, you've hidden them from the
[4:14] Speaker 1: wise and learned, but reveal them to little ones, don't
[4:17] Speaker 1: read that as, well, who needs to read? You know?
[4:21] Speaker 1: Augustine and St. Paul and Chrysostom and Jerome and Anselm
[4:24] Speaker 1: and Thomas Aquinas and John Henry Newman. No, no. The
[4:27] Speaker 1: Church has reverenced those people from the beginning. Anti-intellectualism, as
[4:32] Speaker 1: I've often said, has been a curse. And whenever it
[4:36] Speaker 1: raises ugly head up and down the centuries, the Church
[4:39] Speaker 1: is in decline. So please don't misunderstand this as, well,
[4:42] Speaker 1: who needs all this highfalutin theology? See, what is the
[4:46] Speaker 1: Lord driving at here? It's very similar to those passages
[4:50] Speaker 1: where he says, The kingdom of God belongs to the childlike.
[4:57] Speaker 1: Unless you change and become like a little child, you
[5:00] Speaker 1: cannot enter the kingdom of God. Well, does he mean
[5:02] Speaker 1: we should all become infantilized? No, no. See, what are
[5:05] Speaker 1: the dynamics of the kingdom of God? The dynamic of love,
[5:12] Speaker 1: of letting be, of accepting gifts, of non-self-consciousness. Well, that's
[5:21] Speaker 1: what a child is capable of before we and the
[5:25] Speaker 1: wider society kind of beat that out of them. Children
[5:28] Speaker 1: are capable of that kind of relationship, of gratuity and
[5:33] Speaker 1: of openness, non-self-consciousness. So in a similar way, who are
[5:38] Speaker 1: the learned and the clever here from whom these mysteries
[5:42] Speaker 1: are hidden? They're those who are clinging to their knowledge,
[5:51] Speaker 1: in a sort of self-important way, who are puffed up
[5:56] Speaker 1: by their knowledge. The little ones, the little ones who
[6:01] Speaker 1: get the Trinity, to whom the Trinity is revealed, are
[6:06] Speaker 1: those who can enter readily into this dynamic of giving, receiving,
[6:14] Speaker 1: and giving back. This beautiful dynamic of openness to love See,
[6:21] Speaker 1: and that's what's being revealed about the very being of God.
[6:27] Speaker 1: It's marvelous. Now again, listen. All things have been handed
[6:33] Speaker 1: over to me by my Father. Well, see, that's it.
[6:36] Speaker 1: That's the Trinitarian dynamic. The Father doesn't hang on to
[6:41] Speaker 1: his godliness, but lets it go, gives it away. Everything
[6:47] Speaker 1: I have is yours. Think of the father of the
[6:49] Speaker 1: prodigal son saying that. Well, that's an imitation, see, of
[6:53] Speaker 1: the Trinity. Everything I have is yours. The father gives
[6:56] Speaker 1: himself away. The son receives the gift and then gives
[7:00] Speaker 1: it back to the father. And that beautiful rhythm and
[7:03] Speaker 1: dynamic of grace, that's called the Holy Spirit. All things
[7:09] Speaker 1: have been handed over to me by my Father. This
[7:13] Speaker 1: is the truth, and everybody, It's the ground of our being.
[7:19] Speaker 1: This is the creator of all things. The deepest truth
[7:21] Speaker 1: about existence is being disclosed here. It's the dynamic of love.
[7:27] Speaker 1: Listen as he goes on. No one knows the Son
[7:30] Speaker 1: except the Father, and no one knows the Father except
[7:33] Speaker 1: the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wishes to
[7:36] Speaker 1: reveal him. Please don't read this as a kind of
[7:40] Speaker 1: Christian imperialism. Well, only we know about God because we
[7:44] Speaker 1: know Jesus. Well, no, I mean all kinds of people,
[7:48] Speaker 1: different religions and philosophies and so on, can know something
[7:52] Speaker 1: about God. I'm not denying that for a minute. Vatican
[7:55] Speaker 1: II says there are rays of light, elements of truth
[7:59] Speaker 1: in all the great philosophies and religions. So I'm not
[8:02] Speaker 1: saying this is unique to Christians who understand God. But
[8:07] Speaker 1: what is unique to us Christians? And there's no way
[8:10] Speaker 1: around it. Listen again. No one knows the Son except
[8:14] Speaker 1: the Father. and no one knows the Father except the Son. Well,
[8:17] Speaker 1: that's true, because we wouldn't know about these Trinitarian dynamics
[8:22] Speaker 1: in the inner life of God unless someone had come
[8:27] Speaker 1: from that inner life to reveal it to us. The
[8:31] Speaker 1: Father is known as Father only in relation to the Son, right?
[8:37] Speaker 1: The only way he's Father is in relation to the Son.
[8:40] Speaker 1: The Son is known as Son only in relation to
[8:43] Speaker 1: the Father, the one that sent him. So this is true.
[8:46] Speaker 1: The only ones who have the privilege of truly knowing
[8:50] Speaker 1: what's going on inside the life of God are those
[8:55] Speaker 1: to whom the Son has revealed it. Ah, you see
[9:01] Speaker 1: why this is a precious pearl? You see why we're
[9:04] Speaker 1: on especially holy ground with this passage? We're the ones
[9:08] Speaker 1: who know the meaning of it all. The deepest truth
[9:14] Speaker 1: of things, watch now, is not clinging and making it
[9:19] Speaker 1: my own and holding onto it. That's the wisdom of
[9:21] Speaker 1: the world. And if you see it, just open your eyes.
[9:25] Speaker 1: Every day you'll see it. Listen to anyone talk. Watch
[9:30] Speaker 1: any movie. Listen to any song. Open yourself to the culture.
[9:33] Speaker 1: What you're going to find is, hey, the deepest truth
[9:36] Speaker 1: of things is you better hang on to what you
[9:38] Speaker 1: can get out of this life. We know that's not
[9:43] Speaker 1: the case. The deepest truth of things is this dynamic
[9:48] Speaker 1: of love, of letting go, of receiving and giving back,
[9:54] Speaker 1: that's characteristic of the inner life of God. That's the
[9:58] Speaker 1: high privilege everybody, the high privilege of the Christian life,
[10:03] Speaker 1: that we've been given access to this truth. Okay. Now,
[10:08] Speaker 1: I'm going to close with this, but listen now to
[10:10] Speaker 1: the behavioral implications, because the Lord spells it out next.
[10:15] Speaker 1: Come to me, all. You who labor and are burdened,
[10:19] Speaker 1: and I will give you rest. See, what burdens us?
[10:24] Speaker 1: What's the burden of life? It's this old lie that
[10:28] Speaker 1: we will become happy if we just get enough of
[10:30] Speaker 1: the goods of the world. If we can just draw
[10:32] Speaker 1: enough into ourselves and hang on to it, then I'll
[10:36] Speaker 1: be happy. I will not be happy. On the contrary,
[10:42] Speaker 1: what do we all want? Well, this lovely word here, rest,
[10:45] Speaker 1: it doesn't mean like lying in a hammock. It means fulfillment.
[10:50] Speaker 1: It means peace. It means the joy that we all want.
[10:55] Speaker 1: How do you get it? You get it by imitating
[10:59] Speaker 1: the rhythms and dynamics of the divine life, by entering
[11:04] Speaker 1: into this love between the Father and the Son that's
[11:07] Speaker 1: been revealed to us in Christ. So, come to me,
[11:10] Speaker 1: the Lord says. All you who are burdened by this
[11:14] Speaker 1: lie you've been told, and in me you'll find rest.
[11:18] Speaker 1: And then this famous line, we need to reflect upon it.
[11:22] Speaker 1: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for
[11:25] Speaker 1: I am meek and humble of heart. See, what's a yoke? Well,
[11:29] Speaker 1: you don't put a yoke on a single animal. A
[11:32] Speaker 1: yoke is put on a pair of animals, and then
[11:36] Speaker 1: they're going to pull the wagon or the cart or
[11:38] Speaker 1: the plow or something. So to be yoked is to
[11:41] Speaker 1: be joined with another. So how beautiful here are Christians
[11:46] Speaker 1: The Lord who's just revealed to us this dynamic of
[11:50] Speaker 1: the inner life of God now says, come on, get
[11:56] Speaker 1: yoked together with me. Let's the two of us walk together. Now,
[12:04] Speaker 1: under this sweet and light yoke, because what's being revealed
[12:08] Speaker 1: here is liberation, it's life. So fine, now get tied,
[12:14] Speaker 1: get yoked to Jesus. and you'll make your way joyfully
[12:19] Speaker 1: through life. See, again, everybody, don't think of the Lord
[12:24] Speaker 1: as this, you know, just demanding figure up there, out
[12:27] Speaker 1: there someplace, you know, wagging his finger at us. No, no.
[12:30] Speaker 1: He's the one that invites us. Come on. Come on.
[12:32] Speaker 1: Put my yoke on you so that together we can
[12:37] Speaker 1: walk in this new life. You will find rest for yourselves,
[12:43] Speaker 1: for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Yes. Yes.
[12:49] Speaker 1: This is not something onerous. What's onerous is the lie
[12:53] Speaker 1: the world tells us. That's what's onerous. That's the terrible burden.
[12:58] Speaker 1: The Lord says, no, join yourself to me, and together
[13:02] Speaker 1: we're going to walk according to the dynamics of the
[13:06] Speaker 1: divine life. Just a last thought here. As we are
[13:10] Speaker 1: yoked to Jesus, he's yoked to the Father. You see?
[13:17] Speaker 1: The Son is revealed to us about the Father. The
[13:19] Speaker 1: Father has spoken to us through his Son. The Father
[13:22] Speaker 1: and Son are yoked together. The yoke, by the way,
[13:25] Speaker 1: is called the Holy Spirit. As the Father and Son
[13:29] Speaker 1: are yoked together, so now we and the Lord Jesus
[13:32] Speaker 1: are joined together to live a life not of hanging
[13:37] Speaker 1: onto and clinging, but of letting go and love. Can
[13:42] Speaker 1: you see why this little passage, Matthew chapter 11, is
[13:44] Speaker 1: indeed Matthew's most precious pearl. We're on holy ground, everybody,
[13:50] Speaker 1: with this passage. And God bless you.

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