Eucharistic Gospel Reading for Sunday of Proper 9: Year A
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11: 28 – 30)
When our Lord Jesus invites us to come and take his yoke upon us, this is not an exchange of yokes, as I once thought. No, this is an invitation to join him in his yoke. And it’s more than that; it’s an invitation to connect with Jesus through someone we know in Christ Jesus.
This is an invitation to come and be a Trinitarian partner. I am still learning to play guitar and piano. I am blessed to be led in my musical instruction by fellow Christians – fellow Christians who may not follow Christ in the exact same way that I do, but then, we are all evolving theologically.
With my guitar I mostly play music for Cursillo songs but I am comfortable knowing that our Lord Jesus binds us together in a common brotherhood, a blessed yoke of learning. The same is true for piano. The weight of trying to learn to play these instruments on my own is more than I can do. But Jesus assists me through my albeit younger teachers, to share this load in His Holy name.
The Bible is replete with examples of pairs of people through whom God (or Jesus) works through for our communal good. Some examples are; Moses and Aaron; Ruth and Naomi; Elijah and Elisha; Simon Peter and Andrew; John and James; and Paul and several others. My point is, that in our biblical tradition, we are called to seek out our Lord Jesus through another believer and share the yoked burden of doing the work put before us. When we yoke ourselves together, Jesus himself is the yoke, and we who attach ourselves to another believer become a small trinity as we learn from our gentle Jesus who is humble in heart as we find rest for our souls. When we do this Jesus has an arm around each of us and becomes the yoke we are invited to take upon ourselves.
Most of the tasks before us are far more serious than playing music, but I needed to show an example of what we are able to do when yoked with Christ. Today we have racism, sexism, and just plain egoism. We need to partner with one another in fighting the “isms” of today. I begin to think all isms are bad and cannot be overcome without teaming up with a fellow believer wherein we are yoked with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The work before us is plentiful but we laborers are few. Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Who do you know in Christ that you could work with for learning something new; or our communal good? Let’s be fitted in the yoke of Christ, and get to work.
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: Proper 9: The Sunday closest to July 6 (BCP p. 230)
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to you with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
onewhoponders 