Nov 29.pub

Isaiah 40:25:3

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 AND 10

Matthew 11:28-30

Summary

Jesus said to the crowds:

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

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.”

Reflection

Being essentially raised as a “city slicker”, I never fully understood the concept

of “yoke”mentioned in this very familiar gospel passage. That is, until I was trav-

eling in rural Mexico in my ear-

ly 20’s and saw farmers’ fields

still being tilled by beasts of

burdens wearing wooden yokes.

Once I saw this, I interpreted

this verse as Jesus essentially

saying that his idea for my life

was for me to be “enslaved”, my

head shackled, forced to do

work not of my choosing. For

years that part of this beautiful

gospel filled me with dread.

What kind of God is this? No

wonder life is so miserable for so many.

And then, not so many years ago, as I began to have an entirely new experience

of God and his beloved Son, my heart completely shifted in my understanding

of what Jesus was telling us, telling me in this passage. It wasn’t that I am being

oppressed, quite the opposite. He was sharing

with me that – whatever weight I am

“shouldering” in this life, whatever burden I am

carrying, whatever cross I am dragging – he is

carrying it with me. He is walking with me, side

by side, like those two beasts in the field. He is

seeing what I see, feeling what I feel, trudging