Homily for the Week of July 6, 2014

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: 2014

Readings: Zechariah 9:9-10; Romans 8:9,11-13, Matthew 11:25-30

         I think today we are given perhaps the most consoling words of Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” Each one of us at one time or other are burdened or loaded down with anxiety, stress, hardships, nuisances, sickness. The burden Jesus speaks of was the burden that came as a consequence of trying to live up to what some of the rulers expected of you.

         Friday and this weekend, we here in the United States, are celebrating the shaking off of the burdens placed on us by England by declaring  our independence from the domination and control of the British. These burdens were the taxes, the laws, and the various means by which England kept the thirteen original colonies under control.  Leaders like George Washington encouraged a Revolution which he hoped would lead to independence.

         It is nearly 300 years ago that we gained our independence.  But as you read the short first reading today you may not have realized that it is the story of the Jewish people who had been living in slavery for 300 years after the Jewish people had lost their country. The Jews had once been a great nation. But they had been conquered by the Syrians and the Babylonians.  After 300 years King Cyrus of Persia conquered the Babylonians and went to Jerusalem,  At this time they named the country after Judah. They would come to be called “Jews.” God had promised that they would one day live in peace.

         Our Gospel reading for today comes from Matthew from which we get the the symbolism of yoke. Up to about 100 years ago the yoke was very common. It would join two animals together to combine strength and pull a plow or wagon. Now we have trucks and tractors which do that job. The word yoke also today has the meaning of slavery.

         At the time of Jesus the Jewish law was referred to as a yoke or as a burden. When Jesus says take my yoke and learn from me he was  making a comparison between his teaching and what the Jewish people were told by their teachers. They like to make the law a burden on the people, thinking that the greater the burden the greater is the love. Each week when the Jews went to the synagogues they heard about the law and how they should live it. Jesus wanted to lift the burden and make the law more acceptable.

         Jesus, of course did not want to abolish all the laws. Even the laws that Jesus talked about were burdens because every law can be a burden because they involve obligations and responsibilities, things we have to do and to obey.  But when we follow the laws of Jesus we begin to realize that they lead us to do good things and finally to get to heaven. Whenever we do not follow the laws Jesus can sin and because of sin can be controlled by it.

         Another thing about a yoke is that it joins two animals together. With a yoke one animal does not pull the wagon or the plow alone.  When Jesus tells us to come to him and place his yoke around you, Jesus is telling you that he too will carry any of your burdens or problems, He is telling us that we will not go through life alone. He will not leave us orphans.

         We all have our yokes and burdens. We all have days that we would just as soon forget. None of us is without stress or pain.  We all get weary at times because that is part of being human. Jesus does not say that he will remove the burden or the yoke. He just says that he can make it feel lighter and easier to bear.  For many Catholics the burden or the yoke that they feel they carry is the burden of practicing their Catholic faith. Our world and culture make it hard to be a loyal Catholic. Those who follow Christ rather than follow the crowd will suffer. Even many within our Church can make being faithful difficult, if not by their example, then by their criticism of teachings of the Church. 

         It was to people under these burdens that Jesus said his burden would be light. But these burdens would be light only if we were connected to him, if we are YOKED to him.  This does not mean that we are tied to him like two oxen are tied together by a yoke.  It means, however, Jesus will walk with us side by side, helping us as needed to carry our burdens and sharing our work and our problems. But only if we invite him to walk with us.  

         The truth is that we were yoked with Jesus at our Baptism.  But at Baptism we were also yoked to one another. That is why we so often start a bible reading with the words: Brothers and sisters.   Too often we may not notice this because so many of us may see religion and faith from a personal and individualistic point of view.  If we focus too much on 'ME AND JESUS we lose track of what happens when at Baptism we were truly YOKED to one another. And the food that keeps us strong in faith is the wonderful Holy Eucharist that we eat at the holy table of the Lord. When we are dismissed at the end of this Mass, we leave this church, not to be scattered without help, but to love and serve one another as does Jesus.