Destin…Orange Beach…Panama City…Ft. Walton…these are just a few of the destinations I overheard this week as plenty of co-workers and clients spoke about their upcoming holiday weekend or vacation. It’s good to hear that people are actually getting away from work and routine and trying to relax. We need that time off, those days away from the grind and we need time spent with family and friends.
Most of us here have probably been told you work too hard, or slow down you are always on the run. We indeed are a busy people and we probably do need to take a breath and relax.
As people of faith, do we relax in the comfort of our Lord? Do we give Him our burdens and cares and concerns? That is what He is telling us today.
Returning to Matthew’s Gospel as we resume Sunday in ordinary time, Jesus tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden light. For those of us who do not follow along in the missalette Jesus is not referring to eggs and the yolk is not on us! The yoke that Jesus refers to is that device used to hold two oxen together as they labored for their master. The yoke would help the oxen to work more efficiently as they could exert their energy in tandem.
We certainly can understand Jesus telling us His burden is light; but why is his yoke easy? Jesus uses the symbol of the yoke to encourage us to become His disciple and to live in community. He promises us that discipleship, with Jesus at the head, will be like those oxen yoked together. It will be tough and will require effort, but His yoke will keep us together and work more efficiently. And relying on His yoke, we remain together, in tandem if you will, to give Him the worship and praise.
Jesus also tells us that His burden is light. When we first hear this we may recall His public ministry, His Passion and Death, and we may say how is that easy? But Jesus is telling us that His burden is easy because He offers Himself, all of Him, for us. That same public ministry and His Passion and Death, along with His glorious Resurrection and Ascension is for us. Jesus was able to do all of this by faithfully following the will of the Father. His burden is light because He could trust in the will of the Father. And we are called to trust in His promise. Jesus is not telling us that life won’t be hard, filled with struggles and pain; not at all. He is telling us that no matter what the burden, no matter what the pain, no matter what the difficulty; give it to Him. Trust in him.
We must acknowledge that it is indeed hard, given our independent nature and our own hard headedness, to give it over. It’s truly that old saying: Let go and let God, which Jesus calls us to do. When we do, completely, we will find rest.
Like those folks I mentioned headed off for vacation, we all can focus in the week ahead in rest; that perfect rest we have in Jesus. It may be a great week to take an activity inventory and gauge just how busy we are how much of our life is lived in a hurry. And while we do this, can we look to see all the times and ways we could increase quality time spent with God, spent in prayer, and spent with our loved ones.
May I suggest we look at time spent in front of the TV, the computer, chasing after this meeting or that activity? How busy are our children? Do we allow enough time for school work and even CCD activities? How crazy are our Sundays? Even God rested on the 7th day. Do we have a day of rest? And if we do, how much of that day is spent in thanksgiving to God?
Destin, Orange Beach, Panama City and Ft. Walton are all great relaxation destinations. In the end though, we will never find true rest until we rely on our greatest destination: rest in Jesus, our Lord. Because His yoke indeed is easy and His burden indeed is light!
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