🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - THE 14th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 🙏

First Reading - Zechariah 9:9-10 

Second Reading - Romans 8:9,11-13 

Gospel - Matthew 11:25-30

In 1863, the Civil War was raging, and the end was far from sight. Abraham Lincoln was out for a ride with his friend and aide Noah Brooks. Brooks, noticing the president’s obvious fatigue, suggested that he take a brief rest when they got back to the White House. “A rest,” Lincoln replied, “I don’t know about a rest. I suppose it’s good for the body, but the tired part of me is inside and out of reach.” Lincoln was acknowledging a very important truth. There are many sources of fatigue. Physical fatigue may be the most benign. There is fatigue that comes from stress, fatigue that comes from worry, fatigue that comes not only from worrying about the future but also worrying about the past, and fatigue that comes from trying to be something we are not. What we really need is not time off nor time away. Rather, what we need is time that is filled with meaning and purpose – time that is saturated with the grace of God and peace of mind and heart. Today’s readings, especially the Gospel, give the same message in a more powerful way: “Take my yoke . . . and you will find rest” (Matthew 11:29).

In the first reading, the prophet Zechariah consoles the Jews living in Palestine under Greek rule, promising them a “meek” Messianic King of peace riding on a donkey, who will give them rest and liberty. In those days, the king used a donkey for ceremonial rides in times of peace and a horse during wartime, indicating that the purpose of the King in Israel was not imperialism but justice and fidelity to a higher, invisible King — God. The donkey represented simplicity, stability and peaceful days of rest. Thus, the prophet was promising that the people enslaved by the Greeks and the Babylonians at that time would have their long-awaited rest, peace and prosperity. 

In the second reading, Paul tells the first-century Christian community in Rome about two yokes, namely, the “flesh” and the “Spirit,” and he challenges them to reject the heavy and fatal yoke of the flesh and accept the light yoke of the Spirit of Jesus. Christian spirituality, according to Paul, proceeds from the initiative of the Holy Spirit and means living in the realm of the “Spirit” as opposed to the “flesh.” Thus, Paul reminds the believers that they all are called to be yoked to the Spirit, to let the Spirit dwell in us, sanctifying us not by our works but by the undeserved grace of God, the only Power capable of bringing Life from death. We have God alone to thank for this undeserved grace, and we thank Him by willingly observing His commandments and serving others with love.

In the first part of the Gospel, Jesus is condemning intellectual pride. He knows that ordinary people with large, sensitive hearts can accept the “Good News” he preaches, while proud intellectuals cannot. Even the learned rabbis of Jesus’ time recognized that the simplest people were often nearer to God than the most learned. They composed stories to show that ordinary people often practiced great love and compassion, for instance, the story of the man who lent his tools to someone in need, or the woman who helped her neighbors. Jesus says that such people will inherit Heaven, rather than the learned and the “wise” who pride themselves on their intellectual achievements but do not love.

In the second section of today’s Gospel, Jesus promises a worldwide dominion of peace, not as the world gives peace but as the Spirit gives it. Here, Jesus addresses people who are desperately trying to find God, who are exhausted by the search for truth, who are desperately trying to be good, and who find the task impossible. God gave His People basic guidelines for a holy life, but the Pharisees ended up making God’s Law inaccessible and impossible to follow. For the orthodox Jew, religion was (and still is), a matter of burdens: 613 Mosaic laws and thousands of oral interpretations, which dictated every aspect of life. Jesus invites burdened Israel and us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. In Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood and were made to fit the ox comfortably. For a contemporary analogy, consider the advantages of new, high-tech, custom-made athletic equipment. The yoke of Christ can be seen as the sum of our Christian responsibilities and duties. To take the yoke of Christ is to enter into a relationship with Christ as his loving servants and subjects and to conduct ourselves accordingly. The yoke of Christ is not just a yoke from Christ but also a yoke with him. A yoke is fashioned for a pair — for a team working together. So we are not yoked alone to pull the plow by our own unaided power; we are yoked together with Christ to work with Him using His strength. By saying that his “yoke is easy” (11:30), Jesus means that whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities exactly.

Dear friends, one of the effects of Worship for many of us is that it gives us a time for rest and refreshment, when we let the overheated radiators of our hectic lives cool down before the Lord. This is especially true when we unload the burdens of our sins and worries on the altar and offer them to God during the Holy Mass. But whether we are in Church, alone in our quiet spot where we come before God each day, in our homes, or in the homes of our friends and neighbors, we find that prayer and Christian fellowship bring us the rest and refreshment that we all need so much. There is nothing quite like coming to the Lord and setting aside our burdens for a while – nothing quite like having our batteries recharged, our radiators cooled down, and our spirits lifted. Jesus promises us rest from the burdens that we carry — rest from the burdens of sins, legalism, and judgment, from the weight of anxiety and worry, from the yoke of unrewarding labor, and from the endless labor for that which cannot satisfy. The absolution and forgiveness, which, as repentant sinners, we receive in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, take away our spiritual burden and enable us to share the joy of the Holy Spirit.