yoked - 14th Sunday A 2014

Let’s face it life is burdensome.  To be honest and truthful, we are all laboring under burdens.  Today we come to mass and we hear Jesus say, "Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give you rest."  Take my yoke he said, for it is easy.  Indeed it may make life easier but it is still a yoke.

 It is not true that Christ will take away all our sorrows and pain in this life.  It is not true as some others claim that with Christ we will never feel lonely again.  It is not true that if you believe in Jesus your children will grow up to become good persons.  It is not true that you will get promotions and your sickness and ailments will be minor.  Our faith in Jesus is not magic.  Christ himself suffered rejection and false accusations, he was burdened by stupid disciples asking stupid questions and making stupid propositions.  He was weighed down heavily with the betrayal of a disciple and an abandonment by all the rest of his disciples and friends.  Christ himself cried and suffered pain, he was abused, used and eventually thrown away.  Jesus in today’s mass never said that he will take away all our burdens and pains and he never promised that from now on we will live an easy and burden-free life.  Rather he offers us an invitation to be yoked with him, to carry our burdens with him, to pull our tasks with him, to draw from his strength.  Christ is not offering himself to do things for us, but he promises to do things with us.

Why is this?  The yoke Jesus is referring to was a double yoke - a yoke made to fit two cows so that the plow can be pulled in tandem.  In training young cows the people in Jesus’ time most often would partner the young with an older and more experienced one.  That way the older animal can carry along the younger cow direct it and greatly lighten its load.  In time they would learn to pull together thus making the plowing more efficient and the going much faster.  This is what I mean when I said that Jesus is not going to do things for us but with us.  We are not going to carry our burden alone but with him.  The yoke of Jesus is easy and his burden light.  

In our second reading today St. Paul explains to us the things that further burden our already burdensome life.  He calls it the work of the flesh in contrast to the work of the Spirit.  What is this work of the flesh?  - In the writings of Paul he would often refer to the flesh as human weaknesses and the consequences of that inherent weakness - materialism, hatred, rivalry and competitiveness, jealousy, envy, elitism, arrogance, acts of violence, and the like.  The world of the flesh is a world that is separated from God, a world that wears us down and exhausts us with its heavy burdens. Sins of sensuality bring us addictions and disease.  Hatred, envy, and arrogance, tear families and even nations. Competitiveness, envy and self-centeredness cause us to be held captive in our business and careers at the cost sometimes of taking us away from our spouses, children, and families. Greed can make us insecure and even insincere.  We are heavily burdened too by our misdeeds and sins, and the guilt that usually follows.  These things make life all the more burdensome, and to think that life is already a burden.

Today let us accept the invitation of Jesus - to take upon ourselves the yoke that he offers that together we can pull the burden more efficiently and more easily.