I’ve never used a yoke on my neck and shoulders to carry things, but in pictures and films I’ve seen people from developing countries carry their buckets of water or milk from their goat or cow this way.  It looks uncomfortable, although I suppose it’s less tiring and more efficient than simply carrying a full bucket in each hand.  I was thinking about these images while reflecting on today’s gospel reading (Matthew 11: 28-30).  “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest…. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

 

Scripture scholars tell us that when the author of Matthew wrote this he was likely referring to those feeling burdened by the Jewish laws as interpreted and explained by the Scribes and Pharisees.  This was probably a reaction to the people in the author’s community being persecuted by Jewish leaders.  The book of Matthew portrays Jesus’ criticism of the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy.  Unfortunately, we wouldn’t have to look far to find hypocrisy in religious leaders of our time, something to which Catholicism is not immune.  Religious institutions and communities are made up of human beings and that means there will be sin and hypocrisy. 

 

I think the important message of the gospel passage is that whereas at times we can be burdened/weighed down by religious institutions and hypocrisy found in them, Jesus is offering something else.  Jesus is offering us his example of being “meek and humble of heart” and a place where we can find rest. His yoke is easy – it frees, not binds; it liberates, not imprisons. 

 

So, here’s a question to consider:  What am I carrying with my yoke?  Can I imagine coming to Jesus and allowing Jesus to free me of my burdens?  Of replacing my heavy, restricting burdens, perhaps of the ways the institutional church has hurt me, failed me in some way, left me feeling condemned or unfairly judged?  Or of replacing the burden I carry of being the judgmental one, the hypocrite?

 

Can I take up Jesus’ yoke instead?  Jesus is inviting us to try it on, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.”  It is light; it is freeing; it is not heavy.

 

I find hope in this gospel reading, as is also found in the first reading from Isaiah (26: 7-9, 12, 16-19) that sings the praises of the Divine Vindicator, “…the way of the just is smooth; the path of the just you make level…awake and sing, you who lie in the dust.  For your dew is a dew of light, and the land of shades gives birth.”  

 

With Isaiah, may our souls yearn for God and find hope in the Lord.  And let us take up Jesus’ yoke and find rest for our weary souls.

 

-Eileen Miller