The Yoke of Jesus

Homily for Thursday of the Fifteenth Week in Ordinary Time

Today the prophet Isaiah speaks a dark warning: “Salvation we have not achieved for the earth, the inhabitants of the world cannot bring it forth.” Are we also deluded by the source of our salvation. Sometimes we are so intent on controlling our lives that we might be in the same boat as the children of Israel to whom Isaiah was preaching.

Then we hear the words of the Gospel text for today. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” This isn’t just a platitude he is offering to his listeners in today’s Gospel text. Those he is speaking to are the faithful children of God – his chosen people. They have been striving for countless generations to remain obedient and devoted to God, and Jesus is saying to them, “Look, what you are doing isn’t working. You need my help. Let me help you.” He offers his people, and us, an easier way, a more lighted path, to our greatest good and desire and our ultimate goal: eternal life with God.

It’s one thing to hear those words and be mindful of and thankful for them. It is wholly another thing to accept – really and fully embrace – the greatest gift Jesus offers. “Take my yoke upon you, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” A yoke can be an implement to coerce or dominate something or someone. However, Jesus is not offering us a barbarous tool, clamping us into a life of servitude, constraining us so we may be driven and controlled by a master. No, this yoke is a frame for a relationship – one that guarantees a sharing of the weight of burdens and the promise of never being alone to face them. When we take Jesus’ yoke, he takes what we bring to him and helps us carry it. He binds us to himself in love, giving us strength and guiding us forward when it is hard to see the way.