Jesus issues a personal invitation to each of us today. We hear this invitation in the words of today’s Gospel:
“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.”
Jesus’ invitation is twofold: 1) to come to him all who are burdened, and 2) to take his yoke. His yoke is his teaching or interpretation of the Scripture and the ways of God.
Later in Matthew’s Gospel Jesus severely criticizes some Jewish leaders and teachers for the yoke or burden they put on people through their interpretation of God’s will:
“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).
Jesus invites people to “come to me” to experience God’s love, mercy, and compassion. The one true God that Jesus proclaims is not a God of anger and wrath but a God of mercy who longs for justice. Jesus invites people to come to him to experience God’s acceptance, love, and mercy.
Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that his “yoke is easy, and my burden light.” His teaching is still very challenging as we hear in his Sermon on the Mount:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:43-44).
What makes this challenging teaching “easy”, or “light” is that it starts from our experience of God’s mercy, love, and compassion. This empowers us to love those who do not “deserve” our love:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.” (Matthew 5:44-45).
Jesus invites us today to come to him and to learn from him that we may become more like God in our words and actions.
Image: “IMG_5155 Jan de Bray. 1626-1697. Haarlem. ‘..let the little children come to me..’ (Gospel of Mark) Portrait of family Pieter Braems. 1663. Haarlem. Frans Hals Museum.” by jean louis mazieres is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.