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Gospel: Matthew 11: 28-30
Jesus said:
“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.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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What type of burdens did Jesus’ listeners carry when they first heard this sermon?
Many of them were tired, poor, and weighed down by the normal ebb and flow of family life, as many still are today. But there was also the added weight of the Law.
At that time, “faithful” Jews were expected to follow 613 man-made rules, in addition to the 10 Commandments. Religion itself had become impossibly heavy.
Christ promised to lift that weight, boiling religion down into two simple commandments: love God with all of your heart and your neighbor as yourself.
Love makes life lighter; easier; bearable.
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And yet…
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We human beings have a strange way of turning the yoke we carry back into something heavy.
We can tell ourselves that we need be popular; pretty; accepted; successful; better than the next. As a result, work demands pile up. Social and sports schedules push out any extra time for God, contemplation, or rest.
Life becomes heavy, not because God’s will for us is that demanding; rather, because we and society at large demand more from ourselves than what is genuinely human.
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If we want to feel the lightheartedness that Jesus promises, then we must learn to put him first.
Only then can we see our lives from the right perspective, where love is not something that matters, but all that matters.
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Image credits: (1) People Management (2) Heaviest Burden, EBay (3) Affirmation Station, LLC, Love Thy Neighbor