Take My Yoke Upon You
14th Sunday In Ordinary Time (A)
2008-07-06
Matthew 11:25-30When Jesus says, “Come to Me all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest,” I immediately think to myself “Thank you Jesus! You read my mind!” But, immediately after that He says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.”
Did you get that? “Take My Yoke upon you.”
OK?…so I’m already burdened, and now this “meek and humble” Jesus wants to burden me even more than I already am? Think about it. Do you know what a yoke is? It’s what they strapped around the necks of the oxen to connect the heavy farm implements and carts for pulling through the fields and along the dusty, pitted desert roads.
I don’t know about you, but frankly, I don’t need any more yokes in my life, thank you very much.
But, still, Jesus said it.
What could He mean? How can we “take [His] yoke upon us,” and actually be relieved of our burden?
When I’m teaching RCIA classes for those prayerfully considering coming home to the Catholic Church, what would you guess is the most common objection – or question – I get regarding the move to the One True Church?
Is it Mary? Perhaps it’s the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? Or maybe, it’s confessing sins to a priest?
Well, these are all good topics for discussion, but none of them match the obstacle I most commonly face.
“Why do you Catholics have so many rules?”
That’s right. To many non-Catholics, it appears to be quite hard becoming a Catholic. After all, the process does take nearly 8 months, 40-50 classes, a half-dozen or so liturgical rites, and…let’s not forget the fear of being ostracized from your non-Catholic family…a heavy and burdensome yoke, indeed.
And once you do become Catholic, the responsibility is even greater: Mass EVERY Sunday and Holy Day; a one-hour fast from food or drink before receiving the Eucharist; going to confession at least once a year; the Friday abstention from meat; indissoluble marriage between 1 man and 1 woman; and the list goes on and on.
In fact, I know many people have chosen what appears to be the easier road. They’ve simply eliminated the “yokish” rules of the Church from their lives. They gravitate towards a fluffy, “feel-good” theology, full of peppy up-beat music. They no longer want to stand up for the constant teaching of the Church for fear of being accused of being intolerant or judgmental.
Or even worse, they’ve opted to abandon the ONE Church, and look for “hope” in communities of other faith traditions…you can translate that as “coffee and donuts during the rock ‘n’ roll worship service.”
Sounds like fun!
But…that’s NOT Catholic. Now, I certainly don’t mean that being Catholic is not fun…on the contrary, no other Church has been accused by the rest of the world as being as merry as the Catholics! But, to be a Catholic, by definition, means that we all must “universally” follow the teachings of a truly universal church. We are a people of rules…of God’s rules.
Yes, we Catholics do have a lot of rules. But, I wouldn’t agree that “the yoke” of being a Catholic is hard, though. In fact, it is exactly this yoke that Jesus asks us to put on which “frees” us from our burdens.
How? It’s simple…
In order to wear the yoke of Christ, we must first abandon the yoke of the modern, secular world.
That’s right. To be truly Christian is to totally empty yourself of your worldly concerns. Give it all to Jesus: your burdens; your troubles; your worries; your disagreements; your sadness; your responsibilities; your addictions; your challenges. Let Him have it all!
To take on Christ’s yoke, is to first take off your worldly yoke.
“Well,” you say, “That’s not so easy to do!”
You haven’t been reading your Bible. Jesus actually does say it is easy. All you have to do is take on His yoke. All you have to do is follow a few simple rules.
But, these are good rules. They are rules that make us better people, holier people. They give us the discipline to grow in the love of God. They help us to look for Jesus in all that we do. They help us become better Catholics. They perfect us.
Are you still having trouble? Are you still saying it’s too hard to follow all the rules? Then let’s look back again at the yoke image Jesus gives us in today’s Gospel. There’s something else we need to point out…
The yoke was always designed to connect together two oxen in side-by-side fashion, to spread the burden between the two.
So we have to decide…to whom are we yoked? Is the world our “yoke-partner?”
If so, we actually carry the bulk of the burden – the hurt, the hate, the stress and the strain, the pain and the suffering. Why? Because, contrary to common belief, the world does NOT care for you, the world does NOT love you, the world would NEVER die for you.
But, when we are yoked to Jesus – through His One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church…that’s right, “the rules” – we have taken all that concerns us, all that troubles us, all that holds us down, and placed it squarely upon His shoulders, so that now it is truly easier fix our focus on the worthy goal of living in eternity with the Father, so that, as Jesus tells us, we “will find rest for [ourselves.]”.
You see, the rules make it easier. The rules allow us to love God more completely. The rules free us from the burden because Jesus does all the work.
“Thank you Jesus. You read my mind.”