ZECHARIAH 9:9-10 | ROMANS 8:9, 11-13 | MATTHEW 11:25-30
Today, we’re asked to reflect on the most famous invitation Jesus extended. “Come to me all who labor and are burdened, and I will give your 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.”
We’ve been reading chapter ten of Matthew’s Gospel for the past few Sundays. In that chapter Jesus was instructing his disciples in preparation for the preaching ministry they were about to begin. His invitation to “take my yoke upon you” was extended first to his apostles, and then to all disciples who would come after them. That’s all of us. Let’s think about this call.
Let’s look at the invitation Jesus extended to his apostles. They were his co-workers, his laborers. They accepted his call and carried the burdens his ministry demanded. Remember he told them not to take money with them or a change of clothes. He warned them that they wouldn’t even have a place to rest their heads at night. This was difficult stuff. Jesus was calling them in a radical way. But perhaps the most difficult part of the ministry would be the rejection that would come with it, a rejection Jesus himself experienced. Their teachings were condemned. They became social pariahs. They were arrested, some of them scourged and some executed.
The image of the yoke that Jesus used was well known to them. A yoke was a finely sculptured wooden beam that was secured over the shoulders of the ox. The plow was attached to the yoke so that the ox could painlessly lean into it to pull the plow. The yoke had to be precisely and uniquely shaved to fit perfectly so that the ox wouldn’t be bruised or chaffed. The yoke Jesus offers is his special care he gives to each one of us so that we might assist him in his ministry.
Most of us live securely within the structures of our society. We don’t fear the dangers that the apostles and early disciples did. Yet, we don’t seem to be as dedicated as the early disciples. We tend to hesitate taking on an active role in the ministry of Christ. I think that, deep down, we’re afraid of being rejected or threatened if we were to engage in his mission more publicly.
I think today’s gospel is asking each one of us, regardless of our age or social status to consider putting on the yoke of his ministry. To really be a Christian we have to discover when he meant when he said his yoke was easy and his burden light. That can only be achieved when we accept his yoke and begin plowing the field with him.
