Sunday, July 9, is the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: Zechariah 9:9-10; Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14; Romans 8:9, 11-13; Matthew 11:25-30.
Jesus presents us a teaching in today’s Gospel on being increasingly freed of our burdens. He doesn’t promise a trouble-free life, but that if we will let him go to work, we can grow in freedom and serenity. Jesus gives a threefold teaching on how to do this.
Filiation
“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 little ones.” Jesus contrasts the “wise and learned” from the “little ones.” In so doing, Jesus commends to us a childlike simplicity before our Heavenly Father, our Abba. This is the experience of divine filiation, of being a child of God, of being one of God’s “little ones.” The wise, learned and clever often miss what God is trying to do and say, and because of this, they feel anxious and stressed. Thus Jesus teaches us that the first step to lessening our burdens is to have a childlike simplicity with the Father, wherein we are humble before him, along with cultivating a wonder and awe at all that God has done and an instinct to run to God when we are hurt or in trouble.
Imitation
“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest … for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.” Jesus commends to us two characteristics of himself that (if we embrace them) will give us rest and relief from our burdens. He says that he is “meek and humble of heart.” This means, in the context of today’s Gospel, to be humble and dependent upon God. By extension, it means that our treasure is not here; our treasure is with God and the things waiting for us in heaven. This eternal outlook will help many of our anxieties go away.
Simplification
“Take my yoke upon you … for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” A yoke is a wooden truss that makes it easier to carry a heavy load by distributing the weight along a wider part of the body. Think of an animal pulling a wagon with a wooden frame across its chest. What is Jesus saying? First, he is saying that he has a yoke for us — that is, a cross for us. He is not saying that there is no burden in following him. Jesus also says that the cross he has for us is “easy.” The Greek word chrestos is better translated as “well-fitting,” “suitable” or even “useful.” The Lord is saying that the yoke he has for us is suited to us; it is well-fitting.
God knows that we need some crosses in order to grow.
He also knows what we can bear and what we are ready for. The problem comes when we start adding things of our own. We put things upon our shoulders that God never put there. We undertake projects, launch careers, accept promotions and even enter marriages without ever discerning if God wants this for us. Sure enough, before long, our life is complicated and burdensome; we feel pulled in many different directions.
But this is not the “my yoke” to which Jesus referred; this is largely the yoke of our own making. Of course it is not easy or well-fitting; Jesus didn’t make it. So stop “yoking around.” Simplify. Take only his yoke. If you do that, your burdens will be lighter.