New Testament · Gospel

Matthew 11:25

Come to Me

At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Matthew 11:25 · Berean Standard Bible
What It Means

Matthew 11:25, in plain English

In a beautiful moment of prayer, Jesus thanks His Father for hiding deep spiritual truths from the intellectually proud and revealing them to those with humble, childlike hearts.

Why it's here

After the heavy words of judgment, Jesus turns to joyful prayer. God's kingdom is not for the clever but for the open-hearted.

Who's speaking

Jesus prays aloud to His Father.

Where it sits in the story

Jesus reveals one of the most beautiful paradoxes of faith: the experts miss it, but the humble receive it. God's truth is given to those with open, trusting hearts.

A Closer Look

The scholarly reading

Shifting from denunciation to praise, Jesus offers a prayer of thanksgiving (exomologoumai) to the Father for hiding (ekrypsas) spiritual truths from the 'wise and learned' (sophon kai syneton) and revealing (apekalypsas) them to 'little children' (nepiois).

Language and setting

This Johannine-sounding prayer reveals the divine logic of revelation: spiritual understanding comes not through intellectual sophistication but through the receptive humility of 'infants' (nepiois), a reversal of expected religious epistemology.

Voice

Jesus prays aloud to the Father in the hearing of the crowd.

Significance

In a dramatic tonal shift, Jesus moves from condemning the proud cities to praising the Father for the paradox of divine revelation: the intellectually elite miss what humble, childlike hearts receive.

In context

Matthew 11:23–27

23And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.

24But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”

25At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

26Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

27All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

Read all of Matthew 11 — John the Baptist doubts from prison. Cities refuse to repent. And in the middle of it all, Jesus offers rest to the weary.

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