14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Again this weekend we have another reading that is typically used for funerals.  The Gospel from Matthew we just heard is often used because of this line in the middle, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28) Many people work so hard throughout their lives so the family members planning the funeral interpret this passage to mean, “come now, you hard worker, and finally take your rest in Heaven.”

However, this reading is truly about discipleship here on earth.  The point is that we can have that rest now, we don’t need to wait until heaven, Jesus is offering that to us here, but it is up to us to choose to be His disciples whole heartedly.  He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” (Mt 11:29-30)

A yoke was the wooden beam that farmers would put over their two animals, usually oxen, to keep them together as they pulled a plow. Oxen are very strong, but if they are not yoked together, they have a tendency to wander off in different directions, but yoked together gives them controlled strength, directed strength. I like this as an image, us being yoked to Jesus, we take up His yoke with Him & work with Him, controlled, directed, more powerful.  

Jesus says “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me” - learn from me.  I was doing some research on discipleship and learning from someone and what that really meant back at that time.  Very interestingly, when a rabbi was deciding if someone could be his disciple, he would ask himself the question, “Is this boy able to become a rabbi himself and to teach and spread my yoke?”

Because each rabbi wanted to teach his thinking, his philosophy, his interpretation of Scripture, and that was called his yoke.  At that time every little Jewish boy wanted to be a rabbi, it was a prestigious and powerful position.

From the time they were 6 they had been learning the scriptures, memorizing the Torah, and then at age 10 there were cuts, only the best went on to learn more.  At age 14, if they had made it that far, they would go to the most prestigious and powerful rabbi they could find and ask to be the rabbi’s disciple.  The rabbi would test them by asking them many questions.  Only the best of the best would pass that interview, that oral test, and be allowed to be a disciple of that rabbi. 

Most of the boys would be turned away, the rabbi would say, “Go, home to your village. Make babies. Pray that they become rabbis. Go home and learn the family business – fishing, farming, carpentry. Because you won’t be studying to be a rabbi.”

But Jesus was a different kind of rabbi.  With the exception of a couple of the Apostles, all these other guys had failed the “rabbi test” and they were now working in the family business. Jesus believed in them when the other rabbis didn’t, He knew their strengths, He believed they could become like Him, their powers could be directed, He wasn’t impressed with “the wise and the learned,” He saw great potential in these “little ones.”

We are His “little ones” too.  He knows our strengths and that we are powerful. He chooses us all to be His disciples, to be yoked with Him so He can help direct our strengths.  Unfortunately we often prefer to be self-directed, to work on our own. To be a Lone Ranger seems easier with our desire for control, but in reality, we are more powerful, much stronger when we work with Jesus.  In order to work together with God, we need two virtues.

Jesus demonstrates two virtues we need to be yoked with Him, He says, “I am meek and humble of heart” and He wants us to be like Him in those ways, it shows we are little ones, not relying on our own power, capable of giving up control and allowing our strength to be controlled and directed by the God who loves us. 

If we learn the virtues of meekness, or gentleness, and humility, or not thinking too highly of ourselves, it is then that we can be yoked to Jesus, not thinking we have to do this alone, we can get through every burden the world gives us, because He shoulders it with us, He directs our power, our strength is controlled. The first reading said “your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek…” Jesus is our king, yet He is humble and gentle about it.  

Jesus doesn’t impose His will, He invites us, gently, constantly it seems, if we will listen, to surrender to Him, to give Him the control to direct our lives as we are yoked to Him. We don’t have to wait for the end of our lives to find rest, we just have to grow in these virtues of meekness and humility, to surrender our burdens to Him, taking His yoke upon us, and it is then that we will find rest for ourselves yet becoming even more powerful in the process.

Jesus, give us the grace to wear the yoke that you have carefully crafted for each of us. Your yoke is easy so our burdens will be light. We pray that you will use our strength, under your control, to accomplish the purposeful work that will honor you in the Church and in the world. Amen.