Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Perhaps, there is some truth to the statement that much of what we know and are, is learned. A newborn child inherits many things from his or her parents, but at birth its mind is also like a sponge. Much of what the child learns depends on home and social environment. It hears, sees, tastes, realizes, and learns many things as it grows. It learns behaviors, attitudes, and perspectives form others. Ultimately, much of who we are and know, and most of how we think, act, and live, is learned.
I begin my homily with this thought because in today’s gospel reading, I hear Jesus say, “learn from me.” He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…” (Mt 11:29). What must I learn from Jesus? What is Jesus teaching me?
Three things:
Relationship with God.
We know that Jesus came into the world from God. Once upon the earth, he not only related to God as his father, but also taught his disciples call God “abba” and relate to God and God’s children. The most important thing I learn from Jesus is that he loved God will all his heart, mind, soul, and strength. But most of all, this love is seen in the consistency of his relationship with God as his father. No matter what changed around him, his relationship with God never wavered. There were no good days and bad days in his relationship with God. The events of his own life did not make him blow hot or cold. He was not thrilled with God one day and question God’s wisdom the next. We also see his love for God in his consistency in prayer, in faith, in his obedience, and in his dependence on God. His relationship with God was a simple yet firm, faithful, deep, loving, a consistent relationship.
As I evaluate my relationship with God, I learn that I must love God like Jesus loved God. I learn that my relationship with God must be simple, firm, faithful, deep, loving, obedient, and consistent.
Relationship with Others
When I think of Jesus’ relationships with people, I think of two categories of people - those to whom he ministered and those that opposed his ministry. Those who opposed his ministry did it because of the claims he made about his relationship with God as father. They also opposed him because of the kind of God he revealed - the God who came not for righteous but sinners.
Then there were those to whom he ministered – the ill, the tax collectors, the sinners, those on the peripheries. He even ministered to his enemies. He stood by them and defended them against those who used laws and tradition to keep them on the periphery.
The most important thing I learn from Jesus is this – that both in his relationship with those who opposed him and to those whom he ministered, he never compromised their dignity of the human person. No matter who the person, friend or foe, Jesus only did good. He never repaid evil with evil. He forgave even his most bitter enemies. Today’s gospel reading tells us, he was meek and humble of heart. This meekness and humility is the key to his ability to treat each person with dignity. It defined his relationship with his family, his friends, his disciples, his fellow people, and his enemies.
There is one more thing. He taught the world to love. If there is one thing the world remembers him, it is this - that he loved to the very end. This I must learn from Jesus - to love like he loved; to treat people like he did; to not compromise the dignity of even my enemies; to know laws and tradition but never let them come in the way of ministering to people or treating them with dignity.
Relationship with Self
The third thing I admire about Jesus is his integrity. I could not point to one instance where he did not himself practice what he taught. Whether it is the Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, or any other teaching, he was the first to practice it himself. Because he was a man of integrity, he also opposed hypocrisy. There is one thing of we cannot accuse Christ – duplicity or hypocrisy. We see it most of all on the cross and the events that lead him there. Everything that he believed and taught about his relationship with God and others was tested as he suffered and died. In spite it all, he never veered from his own teaching. To his last breath he was man of integrity.
I learn from Jesus that I must be a person of integrity. Especially as priest and preacher, if I do not live what I preach then my life is meaningless. This is true for those of you who are parents, teachers, ministers or for that matter for all of us.
What does it mean, “to learn?” To learn something means that it becomes instinctive. It becomes second nature. For example, think about driving. The moment something comes in front of us, we instinctively apply the brakes. We don’t have to think about it. It is instinctive. When Jesus says, “learn from me,” he is saying that his way of life must become instinctive in us. We have a lifetime to get there but we can begin today.
- Fr. Satish Joseph