First Reading – Zechariah 9: 9 – 10;
Second Reading – Romans 8: 9.11 – 13;
Gospel – Matthew 11: 25 – 30
The readings of today invite us to reflect on peace and consolation through the Word of God. This word reveals to us and shows us that God is all powerful and mighty and yet is always accessible. He is the God who is our creator and all surpassing, yet approaches us on intimate personal terms. He is our King, says Prophet Zechariah in the first reading, yet comes meekly riding on a placid donkey rather than on a prancing war horse. He is the new king whose arrival brings peace to the weary people. He has dominion from sea to sea, and yet he is concerned personally of each one of us. That dominion is expressed in today’s Gospel when Jesus says, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father.” He reveals the Father to us, and so we are swept up, in the Holy Spirit, into the intimacy between Father and Son, as we ourselves become his sons and daughters in Jesus Christ. Jesus thanks the Father for granting the disciples the grace to grasp his teaching while keeping its meaning hidden from the so-called wise and intelligent people of the day. At the same time he says that his yoke is easy and his burden is light and hence we must come to him in order to receive rest from him. Jesus certainly knew all about yokes. As a carpenter he would have been asked from time to time to make wooden yokes for farmers so that they could have their oxen to pull a plough or other farm implement together. The yoke is the wooden crossbeam that joined the two animals at the neck and that crossbeam dragged the farm implement. Since animals are different sizes it was common to have a yoke cut to measure for the animals pulling it. Otherwise it would not fit the animal correctly and cause considerable discomfort. As a carpenter Jesus must have cut many such yokes. The yoke that Jesus gives for us does not cause discomfort but brings us comfort because the yoke of Jesus is easy and light. The invitation of Jesus to us is to accept not a yoke that weighs us down but a yoke that is easy and light, for he says, take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you will find rest for your selves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. There is still another way of understanding the image of the yoke. He tells us: Live life my way and place your burdens on me and they will be light. Your yokes too will be gentle and in fact, pleasant if you are with me. Jesus does not promise a life without burdens or weariness. On the other hand he offers a way of overcoming them. His is not an easy way out of problems but rather a liberating way into solutions. This is the wisdom that is hidden from the intelligent and the wise, but which is obvious to infants. Trust as children trust, Jesus says. Let a loving parent take your hand. Shelter on a mother’s breast; be carried on your father’s shoulders. Have confidence in a parent’s promise. Live as though your needs are noticed, respected, provided. Underneath are the everlasting arms that constantly invite his disciples for rest. In this personal invitation he repeats that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. We are so good at bearing heavy burdens. Whatever demands Jesus may make on our following of him, he wants to be at all times truly a source of comfort, of consolation, of forgiveness and of reconciliation. Whatever demands life may be making on us, he is there too to be called on. When we are in difficulties and pain, we can ask him to take them away. He may not always do so but we can expect him to restore our peace. For we need to remember that Jesus is not to be seen as an escape from our problems but a support. Sometimes he will give us peace not from our pain but within our pain. There can be the danger that we expect Jesus or his Mother or some saint or the Church to be there to wave a magic wand that wipes away all our problems, all difficulties, all obstacles. Jesus’ own life is an excellent example. Today we have the message from Jesus to come to him and receive the rest he alone can give. It is a call to a personal relationship. He takes us away from the impersonal relationship of law to a personal relationship of love and makes us enter a joyful life giving relationship. In coming to the person of Jesus we discover that far from being burdened, we are fully liberated. He invites us to place the yoke of ours on our shoulders and follow him. Normally any carpenter knows that if the yoke does not fit it hurts and leaves a painful mark. It is a burden of love and it can never be painful. All of us surely remember the story of a small boy appearing out of the snow storm carrying a little boy on his back. When a compassionate person observed him and said: “that is a heavy load for you to be carrying.” To which the boy replied, “He is not really heavy sir, he is my brother.”