OT XIV (A): Zec 9:9-10; Rom 8:9, 11-13; Mt 11:25-30

Most people that we know are carrying heavy burdens these days. Anxieties and fears burden us all, fears about our economy, the cost of food and fuel, home values and mortgages, what’s happening to our children, terrorism, our national debt, and so on. The list seems both overwhelming and endless. People are trying to stretch out paychecks, paychecks that never seem to go quite far enough. They are working on stressed marriage relationships they fear of breaking up. They’re unemployed, or they’re under-employed and are looking for a better job that will give them a reliable and adequate source of income.

Others are waiting for biopsy reports on certain abnormal cells that are growing in their bodies, filled with fear that they may have cancer. Or they’re trying to provide for and shape the characters of their children, children that are so influenced by all that is immoral and degrading in our culture.

All of us are laboring under burdens. In addition to the few things I’ve just mentioned, many folks have piled on to themselves burdens of self-doubt, self-blame, shame, and guilt. Then they say to themselves: “The predicaments I’m in are all my fault.” “If I were a better wife, my husband would notice me more, and be more sensitive, considerate and loving toward me.” “If I tried harder, I would have a better job or position where I work, and we wouldn’t be so strapped for money.” “If I were more loving, my teenagers wouldn’t be so hostile.” And on and on it goes, with those internal put-me-down tapes constantly playing in our minds.

Labouring under many burdens, we are here today to Mass, and we’ve just heard Jesus say to us: “Come to me, all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will give you rest.” How could anyone not be attracted to what Jesus offers us? Why is He so ignored by so many who are not here?

The Christian faith is not magic. Christ’s life was not painless and totally free of burdens. Quite the contrary! But what He does offer us is His invitation to be yoked with Him, to pull our burdens and tasks through life with Him, sharing His yoke, drawing on His strength, and letting Him help us while we help Him accomplish His tasks. Christ doesn’t do things for us; He does things with us.

For those of us who are weighed down with shame and guilt, well… few of us have heavier loads to carry. Jesus’ mission in life was a mission of forgiveness. Christ never met anyone whose sins were so great that they couldn’t be forgiven. The only thing Jesus could not forgive was an unforgiving spirit… or a spirit that simply doesn’t care.

It is often said that Jesus’ love for us was unconditional. Well, yes…. but not quite. He did attach one supreme condition on His love for us, namely that in order to receive His forgiveness and be relieved of our burden, we have to forgive others. We receive forgiveness, and we have burdens taken off of our backs as we forgive and remove burdens from others. Carrying unforgiving resentments burdens us, not the ones we resent.

The Lord’s idea of getting us to rest in Him involves putting on a yoke. A yoke was not created for rest; it was created for work. It literally has nothing to do with rest at all. When our Lord invited the weary and heavy laden to come to Him and find rest, we would expect Him to say something like; Take off that yoke you’re wearing — you don’t need it anymore! But Jesus’ solution for yoke-weariness was not to cast off the yoke entirely; it was to yoke ourselves to Him, to walk in step with Him, to work in sync with Him.

If we take Christ’s yoke upon ourselves we will find our own burdens to be much lighter. A yoke is also something used to join two creatures together so that they act as one entity…

 Today Jesus says… "join yourself to me… and join your hopes and cares…, your fears and struggles to me…. And let me work with you as one…… and see what wonders will result….."

 Our Christian joy and hope is not a joy borne out of denying the reality of the struggles and pains of life….. Rather, ours is a joy that says…: "We are at peace, we are at rest… and we continue to love… even with the tragedies and tensions of sin and pain……." This is a message the world needs to hear more than ever. This is the faith we unite in witnessing in our lives.

 May God richly bless us and give us the joy, the rest and the relief that comes with this faith…, hope and love.