Daily Retreat 07/06/08
2008 Jul 6 SUN: FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Zec 9: 9-10/ Ps 144(145): 1-2. 8-9. 10-11. 13-14/ Rom 8: 9. 11-13/ Mt 11: 25-30
From today’s readings: “See, your King shall come to you; a just Savior is He, meek, and riding on an ass.... I will praise Your Name for ever, my King and my God..... If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.... Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves....”
Christ’s Yoke
Last Sunday, readings for the feast of Sst. Peter & Paul pre-empted the lectionary plan for the thirteenth Sunday of the year, scripture readings which insisted that following Christ was not easy, as He Himself repeated, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” So, as we know, discipleship entails taking up one’s cross, and dying with Christ in order to be raised to newness of life. But there’s more to Christian discipleship than that, for here we have, just one week later (and just one chapter later in the same Gospel of Matthew), reading some of the tenderest and most consoling words of Jesus, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you 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.”
Now, some mistakenly believe that it is God who fashions and imposes the crosses of our lives, that the cross which each one of us must take up to be worthy of the Lord is that same “easy yoke” and “light burden” of which Jesus speaks. Yet I can attest from personal experience that the crosses laid on my shoulders have not always been light burdens, or easy yokes! And I say that with keen awareness that my own cross is by no means the heaviest - I know many of you have a much heavier cross to bear than I do!
No, Jesus does not make or distribute crosses either for Himself, or for others to carry. To be sure, He did willingly take up His Cross when the time came, and He assures us of His comforting aid and real presence by our side when each of us take up the cross, as we must. But again, that inevitable cross is not the same as His easy yoke and light burden.
Perhaps an essential, but often forgotten point, is that a yoke is not the same as a harness, for a yoke is specifically a device for coupling two animals together for the same task. Now, we know the task for which Jesus was sent into the world - as He Himself declared, He came to save sinners! So when Jesus says, “Take MY yoke upon you,” isn’t He inviting us to be coupled with Him in the task of saving sinners?
To be sure, it’s an unbalanced yoking and unequal partnership - He does the greatest part of the work, and that’s what makes it easy for us. But still, it is a partnership no less, for no sinner is saved without both the infinite merits of the Savior but also the whole-hearted cooperation of the sinner. Simply put, God does not force anyone into Heaven. As St. Augustine once said, “God, who created you without you, will not save you without you!” So we have to do our part! In this, we begin by being yoked to Christ, and we then share in His task of saving sinners first and foremost by cooperating with the way He’s working to save each one of us!
Zec 9: 9-10/ Ps 144(145): 1-2. 8-9. 10-11. 13-14/ Rom 8: 9. 11-13/ Mt 11: 25-30
From today’s readings: “See, your King shall come to you; a just Savior is He, meek, and riding on an ass.... I will praise Your Name for ever, my King and my God..... If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.... Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves....”
Christ’s Yoke
Last Sunday, readings for the feast of Sst. Peter & Paul pre-empted the lectionary plan for the thirteenth Sunday of the year, scripture readings which insisted that following Christ was not easy, as He Himself repeated, “Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” So, as we know, discipleship entails taking up one’s cross, and dying with Christ in order to be raised to newness of life. But there’s more to Christian discipleship than that, for here we have, just one week later (and just one chapter later in the same Gospel of Matthew), reading some of the tenderest and most consoling words of Jesus, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you 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.”
Now, some mistakenly believe that it is God who fashions and imposes the crosses of our lives, that the cross which each one of us must take up to be worthy of the Lord is that same “easy yoke” and “light burden” of which Jesus speaks. Yet I can attest from personal experience that the crosses laid on my shoulders have not always been light burdens, or easy yokes! And I say that with keen awareness that my own cross is by no means the heaviest - I know many of you have a much heavier cross to bear than I do!
No, Jesus does not make or distribute crosses either for Himself, or for others to carry. To be sure, He did willingly take up His Cross when the time came, and He assures us of His comforting aid and real presence by our side when each of us take up the cross, as we must. But again, that inevitable cross is not the same as His easy yoke and light burden.
Perhaps an essential, but often forgotten point, is that a yoke is not the same as a harness, for a yoke is specifically a device for coupling two animals together for the same task. Now, we know the task for which Jesus was sent into the world - as He Himself declared, He came to save sinners! So when Jesus says, “Take MY yoke upon you,” isn’t He inviting us to be coupled with Him in the task of saving sinners?
To be sure, it’s an unbalanced yoking and unequal partnership - He does the greatest part of the work, and that’s what makes it easy for us. But still, it is a partnership no less, for no sinner is saved without both the infinite merits of the Savior but also the whole-hearted cooperation of the sinner. Simply put, God does not force anyone into Heaven. As St. Augustine once said, “God, who created you without you, will not save you without you!” So we have to do our part! In this, we begin by being yoked to Christ, and we then share in His task of saving sinners first and foremost by cooperating with the way He’s working to save each one of us!
posted by FrPitstick | 6/30/2008
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