The Yoke of God (Mt. 11:25-30)

06-28-2020Weekly Reflection

The theme for the three readings can be summarized in Jesus saying in the Gospel, “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” What is Jesus saying to us here, how do we gain a deeper understanding of how we can bring our burdens to Him?

The 1st reading from the book of the prophet Zechariah tells us that even before we can bring our labor and burdens to Him, He makes the first movement towards us. He comes to us: “See, your king shall come to you.” (Zec. 9:9) In His compassion, He makes the first initiative to reach out to us in love. He does not wait for us to come to Him, He always reaches out to His people first. The greatest proof of this is: “God so loved the world that He sent us His only begotten Son.” (Jn. 3:16) In truth, we can not approach God, unless He approaches us first, because between God and Man, there is an immense gap, Jesus filled this gap.

The perfect action of the Father’s revelation is the incarnation of the Son, where the Father Himself lived amongst His people. Because of His coming in the flesh, He instituted the sacrament of His presence through the Eucharist, the bread and wine turned into the Body and Blood in which we are able to partake as a memorial of His sacrifice and of His real presence. In the Eucharist, we can receive Him, only because He came first and made Himself available for us. Jesus incarnate is the first initiative, so that every encounter with Him is made possible first by His first coming. That is, we are able to come to Him, because He first comes to us and for us.

The peace of Jesus removes the burdens of our life, He comes not to take away our crosses but helps us carry it. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” He does not tell us to put down our burdens but to pick up His burden. Because He wants us to sacrifice for a greater cause. This burden is the yoke of love. Jesus wants us to love as He loves, and choose His life style as the standard of our own life. He pours out His love for us and intends to give His life as the ultimate sacrifice and ransom for our sins, and a healing for all of us. Carrying the yoke of love, He asks us to take up and share this yoke, because He is already carrying it, it is light. His yoke is light because He is already carrying it and we are simply carrying it with Him.

Taking on “Jesus’ yoke,” we realize that He is right there with us, for us, and along with us, carrying the load, and at times carrying even us, holding us at the palm of His hand. “The Lord lifts up all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” His yoke is our peace, of knowing the freeing and refreshing effect of His yoke of love. Why the little ones? Because often we adults are so proud, while the little ones are so open to what He reveals. The littles ones are those who have need of God, while the mighty and the proud have no need of God in their lives.

We ask ourselves, are we open to let God work His grace and mercy in and through us? Lord, may we choose to love in the way you love, and to follow your Will as the standard of our own life.