Fr. Jose Poch

Thursday, July 7, 2011

TAKING ON THE YOKE OF JESUS

It is clear when we read the Gospels and in this case the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus spent a great deal of His time meeting the needs of many and setting free those who carried very heavy burdens. Someone very wisely taught me the profound truth that for Jesus ministry was the person in front of Him. I invite you to look briefly with me at how many people Jesus unburdened of some heavy load in chapter 9 of Matthew and also how many would not allow Him to unburden them (scribes and Pharisees). He healed a paralytic, He saved tax collectors and sinners, He resurrected a dead girl and returned her to her father, He healed a woman who had suffered from a blood disease of some sort, He healed two blind men and cast out a demon from an individual. These are only some of the examples of the cumbersome load that Jesus delivered people from. When you read Matthew 9:35-10:1 even Jesus recognized that He needed help and He asks His disciples to pray for more laborers for the harvest. He then commissions His disciples and gives them the power to meet the needs of a hurting world.

Matthew 9:36 and 11:28 are intimately connected and you should reference them to each other in your Bible. In the former verse Jesus is moved to compassion when He sees the multitudes weary, harassed, stressed and scattered and in the latter verse, although He has just sent His disciples out into the cities and villages as his emissaries of healing and restoration, He still invites all who are weary, stressed, labored and heavy laden to continue coming to Him to find rest. The promised rest is available to us today and becomes our portion through the taking on of His yoke and learning from Him who is gentle and lowly of heart. He says that His yoke is easy and His burden light.

What do these words of Jesus mean to us today? What is Jesus’ yoke and how do we take it upon ourselves with the expectation of rest for our souls? What does Jesus intend to communicate through the analogy of the yoke?

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