In today’s Gospel Jesus gives an invitation to each one of us: “Come to me…” This invitation is to all who “labor and are burdened.” What is the source of these burdens? It can be many things in our daily lives such as addiction, depression, suicidal thoughts. Our religious traditions can even be a burden which fills us with guilt. Jesus criticizes some of the religious teachers of his own day for placing heavy burdens on people:
“The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example. For they preach but they do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they will not lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:2-4)
Not all Pharisees or religious teachers in Jesus’ day placed heavy burdens on people but some did as some Christian priests and teachers have done through the ages. If our faith life is joyless and wracked with guilt then our religious life has become a heavy burden for us. Jesus explicitly contrasts his own teachings with those that place heavy burdens on people:
“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.”
Jesus does not teach that “anything goes” but he begins by teaching not the demands of God but the love and mercy of God. The one true God that Jesus reveals in his words and actions is not a harsh despot just waiting to get us but a loving Father who seeks us out when we stray from him and is ready to forgive us even before we ask. Jesus proclaims to us a God of love:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17).
Let us accept Jesus’ invitation today to come to him. He invites us to bring our burdens, our guilt, whatever is troubling us:
“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.”
Image: “<div class=’fn’> Christ preaching amongst a crowd of people. Pen and ink draw</div>” is licensed under CC BY 4.0.