14th
Ordinary Sunday (Year A)
First
Reading:
Zechariah
9:9-10 Second
Reading:
Romans
8:9, 11-13 Gospel
Reading:
Matthew
11:25-30
“COME TO ME, ALL WHO LABOR AND ARE BURDENED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.”
There is a story told of a woman who had a terrible problem with gossip. She worked as a parish secretary, knew a lot about the comings and goings of parishioners, and related these facts almost compulsively to whomever would listen. She heard the Gospel all the time; she knew it was wrong; but she couldn’t stop. One day she admitted her problem to a priest. The priest simply asked her what she feared would happen if she stopped gossiping. After reflecting for a moment, she finally replied, “I’m afraid that I’ll be boring, that people will lose interest in me.” Deep down, she was afraid that she was not lovable in her own right.
The
priest then suggested that she bring this fear to Christ in prayer.
When this woman did so, she sensed Christ telling her, “Fear
not.” She felt Christ loving her, supporting her and giving her
strength. She kept the practice up; she kept going to Christ with the
root of her temptation; she kept receiving his assurance. Things
didn’t change overnight, of course. But little by little she was
transformed. Because she became convinced that she was loved quite
apart from her gossip, she gradually let go of the habit and she
experienced peace and consolation.
Often,
when we struggle with a burden of sin and are not at peace, it’s
because there’s a deeper cause, some fear or insecurity that we
have not yet brought to Christ for healing. Christ invites us today
saying, “Come to me, all you who labor and
are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
We have made an awesome spiritual journey through the Easter Season and the Solemnities of the Most Holy Trinity and the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ. Now we are back to Sundays of Ordinary Time and today is the 14th Sunday. The theme of today's Scripture Readings is very much one of peace and consolation. The First Reading from the prophet Zechariah speaks of a king entering Jerusalem riding on a young donkey. The scene is one of humility but also of peace. He rides on a placid donkey rather than on a prancing war horse. He is the new king whose arrival brings peace to the weary people. In Gospel Reading from St. Matthew, Jesus declares himself to be meek and humble of heart and asks his followers to learn from him. In following Jesus, the Christian experiences a strange paradox - although weighed down by difficulties and work, he experiences his burden as light and easy. In the Second Reading from his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds us that the spirit of God dwells in us. He uses a contrast, common in his writings, to show the distinctiveness of the Christian life. He contrasts the 'life of the flesh' - a purely mundane, disordered worry about earthly life, with the 'life of the spirit' - the desires, interests and concerns of those in whom God’s Spirit dwells.
“HE SHALL PROCLAIM PEACE TO THE NATIONS.”
Today’s
First reading from Zechariah is taken from the second part of the
book, which was written sometime around the 3rd century B.C. The
Prophet Zechariah envisions the triumphant arrival of a Messianic
king, deliberately portrayed as meek and humble rather than as an
aggressive warlord. He urges the Israelite people to rejoice on the
day of the Lord’s coming. He is the new king whose arrival brings
peace to the weary people. He has dominion is from sea to sea, and
yet he is concerned personally of each one of us.
The spiritual importance given to the 'little
ones' whom Jesus said would inherit the Kingdom, is
brought to the fore here. The “just savior” is one who will
banish the weapons of war and proclaim a universal peace within his
dominion. Matthew will quote this passage as a prelude to his account
of the Passion, and it is certainly in the background of the pericope
chosen as today’s Gospel Reading.
“COME TO ME, ALL WHO LABOR AND ARE BURDENED, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST.”
In
the Gospel Reading of today from St. Matthew, Jesus 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 is presented here as the
embodiment of that Wisdom which the Jewish Scriptures had referred to
as a 'reflection of eternal light.'
His words would have been revolutionary to his hearers. Not only does
he present himself as Wisdom incarnate, he also suggests that the
attainment of Wisdom is given as gift to the 'little
ones,' and that it is not the result of the labors
of the 'learned' from whom it is
hidden. He 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. This beautiful
prayer of Jesus points to the intimacy he has with his Father.
Moreover, whereas Jewish tradition held that God’s revelation is
contained fully in the law and the prophets, Jesus says that
'everything' has been given over
to him by his Father.
Next, in the section that
follows, we find a very compassionate image of Jesus, who echoes an
offer to us, saying: “Come
to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you shall find rest
for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” He
is not arrogant or overbearing, but 'meek
and humble.' He deeply cares for the poor, the suffering
and vulnerable. He relates to them with preferential concern - with
the gentleness and gracious stance of his heavenly Father. But we
should not sentimentalize this. When Jesus is talking about his
humility and his meekness, he is talking about his relationship to
his Father, for he lives in humble obedience to him. Behind this dark
saying is the Passion. Jesus is not saying that the Christian life
will be easy.
So, how could we properly
understand these words of Jesus? There
are two ways of understanding Jesus' command to take his yoke: The
first. A 'yoke,'
we think of as a heavy and very burdensome, even painful piece of
wood laid on the shoulders of an ox. But, because of the yoke, the ox
can pull the weight of the cart behind it more easily. It is a burden
which is also a help. In
this sense we can imagine Jesus strapping the heavy cargo of moral
and spiritual perfection to our necks and walking away. And it’s
true that it requires effort to be a Christian and Jesus doesn’t
hide this fact. The words of Jesus often seem, at first
sight, to be very burdensome. Yet, in fact, once understood, we know
that there can be no other way of living in true freedom and peace.
The second. There is still another way of understanding the
image of the yoke. Let us think of it as a double yoke, where two
oxen can work together better. In this sense, we become Jesus'
yoke-fellow, stepping into the yoke that he already shoulders. Here
we imagine Jesus in the yoke alongside us, distributing the weight
onto his own shoulders. We now have a lovely image of 'Jesus
and me' yoked together, pulling together. 'Take
my yoke' then becomes 'Share my
yoke.' Where we go, he goes along with us, pulling
together with us and making it all the easier. This
is what it means to take on Christ’s yoke - to strive to live the
fullness of the law’s demands; yes, but never to do so alone. It
means to allow Christ to stand in the yoke alongside us, to allow him
to shoulder the greater part of the burden. Christ’s yoke is easy
because, at heart of Christian discipleship, we find not a law, but a
person, a person who is 'meek
and humble of heart,'
a person who loves us and shoulders our load.
There is really no
conflict between the two meanings. Both images capture a part of what
it means to cooperate with grace in the Christian life. We are called
to be with Jesus all the way, accepting his life vision, his
standards, his values – unconditionally. This calls for the
simplicity and openness of children rather than intellectual
sophistication. Accepting Jesus all the way is not intended as a
burden but as a source of comfort, peace, liberation and joy.
“THE SPIRIT OF GOD DWELLS IN US.”
In
the Second Reading from his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul reminds
us that the Spirit of God dwells in us. Christ’s
dominion is his victory over death; our intimacy with him is the fact
that the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us
and him who raised Jesus from the dead will also give life to our
mortal bodies by His indwelling in us. Thus when we think
spiritually, we are no longer burdened by the worldly ways because we
are walking our living faith and hope with a spiritual heart. The
Spirit enables us to overcome selfishness and live for God. Those who
have responded to Jesus’ invitation “Come
to me …” are obliged to make a fundamental choice for
him and to live by his Spirit. This is the message for us today. The
contrast 'spirit-flesh'
introduced by Saint Paul represents competing fields of force or
spheres of power. The self-centered person who lives by the desires
of 'sinful
flesh' is doomed to death, that is, to suffer definitive
alienation from God. On the other hand, the person animated by the
life-giving Spirit experiences God’s gift of life and peace.
CONCLUSION:
Today
Jesus echoes his invitation, saying, “Come
to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
By saying this 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. One
of the burdens people bore around Jesus' time was that of a heavy,
law-centered religion. Some of the religious people of Jesus' time
had very strict interpretations of the law and he challenged this
overburdening religion. The same happens often in any religious
people – some can be over-demanding and their piety is overbearing.
Again,
many people are overwhelmed with all the duties and responsibilities
of theirs they have to carry everyday. Many people are carrying so
many burdens they are at a lost on what to do. Many people are
weighed down by some of the issues they have to confront daily in
life they become depressed. But there is a divine invitation from the
Lord to come to him for our courage & strength, consolation &
peace.
Therefore,
we need to talk to the Lord about our concerns, cares, anxieties,
worries, plans, and prospects. He has not promised to take away our
responsibilities from us but to lighten them so that they are easy to
bear and so that we may have peace of mind. In this therefore, one
should not expect to be freed from all our obligation. On the
contrary, the means and resources to
better meet them will be provided for us.
Finally, we
have a clear 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. But the yoke
of love
which Jesus gives does not leave any wound or deep 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, “No,
he is not really heavy sir.”
And smilingly he said, “He
is my wee brother.”
In a similar way Jesus has carried the burden of ours personally and
hence the very presence of his makes our burden light and gives us
joy and peace. And this is the Good News of today.
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