Today's gospel reading needs a bit of context. Unlike the last three weeks that were focused on travel instructions to the apostles before they went out to proclaim, cure, cleanse, and raise, today's passage jumps into the middle of a story we don't understand. So some background.
The beginning of Chapter 11 opens with John the Baptist in prison. He's heard about Jesus so he sends some of his disciples to find out if Jesus is the Messiah or if they are to wait for another. Jesus says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see . . .” basically saying that, yes, he's the one. After John's disciples leave he begins talking to the crowd about John. He asks them what drew them to John, he gets in a dig at Herod, and he says how John embodies the return of Elijah. And it's in this context that today's gospel passage is based.
If Jesus seems a little cranky here, he might be. He's thinking about John and himself and their two roles. “We played the flute and you did not dance, we wailed and you did not mourn” represent two ways of looking at John and Jesus. On the one hand, the joyful flute players represent Jesus and his joyful announcement of the coming kingdom, while the wailers represent John and his dour foretelling of coming judgment. On the other hand, the flute players in the story can represent those who wanted John to be more joyful while those who wailed want to see Jesus stop preaching good news and mourn. Either way, both are attacked – John because he didn't eat or drink and therefore had a demon, and Jesus because he ate, drank, and mixed with the wrong people and was therefore a glutton and drunkard. With this hypocrisy and double standard, it's no wonder Jesus was a tad cranky.
The lectionary starts there with Jesus calling out the people for their double standards, and then it skips over several verses. In the omitted portion, cranky Jesus berates the people of a few towns. He says, “Woe to you Bethsaida and Capernaum. If the deeds of power done there had been done in Tyre, Sidon, or even Sodom, they would have repented. As it is, it will be worse for you on the day of judgment than for those cities.”
The lectionary reading then picks up with Jesus giving thanks for those who choose to follow him and for those whom Jesus chooses to reveal himself to. And it's here where we get to the heart of today's passage: “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you . . . for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” This, along with the 23rd Psalm, has to be one of the most comforting passages in all of scripture – my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
But is it?
Because for the last three weeks we've heard Jesus tell the apostles things like: I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; you will be handed over to councils and flogged in their synagogues; you will be dragged before governors and kings; brother will betray brother to death; children will rise against parents and have them put to death; you will be hated by all; and a variety of other dire and deadly predictions. This doesn't sound like his yoke is easy and his burden light. On the contrary, this very much sounds hard and heavy.
But context is everything.
Whereas those dire and deadly predictions of Chapter 10 were addressed to the apostles about what they would face as they headed out into the world, today's comforting words are addressed to listeners after Jesus goes off about John, how the two of them are treated, and a lack of repentance by the people of Israel. They could also foreshadow his upcoming conflicts with the Pharisees over issues about the Law in Chapter 12.
As cranky as Jesus seems to be in Chapter 11, he's putting forth the idea that by following him in word and deed, by taking his yoke upon you, he has a way of making your burdens lighter – not non-existent, but lighter.
Take, for instance, the yoke of worship. A yoke, as you all know, is a harness connecting animals together and to a load. In a broad context, it represents servitude or duty. The Catechism states that the duty of all Christians is to come together week by week for corporate worship. The Baptismal Covenant asks, “Will you continue in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?” In other words, “Will you be faithful in worship?” Worship is a duty, a yoke, that we take upon us.
The burden of that worship is relatively light: one day a week for 90 minutes. Yet some people see it as so burdensome they choose not to attend. But isn't it in worship where we feel relief, uplifted, and recharged? Isn't it in worship where the world falls away and we can reconnect with God in a way we don't get to during the week? It's in worship where we share the burdens of our life with Christ and each other.
Or take what Jesus addressed earlier, the role of repentance. We all have sins that we carry through the days, weeks, months, or years. Those sins can have a way of eating away at us and weighing us down. The yoke of repentance allows us to honestly admit our errors, to make a right beginning, and (if necessary) make restitution or reparations. In doing these things the yoke of repentance allows Christ to lighten our burdens so we can live more fully in him and with others.
One thing in all of this we need to remember: Jesus never says he will remove our burdens. He never says his path will be easy. We are still asked to take up our cross. We are still asked to sacrifice our selves for him. We are still asked to prioritize our life with God at the head. But Jesus reminds us here that his yoke – the yoke of worship, the yoke of discipleship, the yoke of servanthood – is easy because we do these things in his name. There are plenty of things in my life that have not been easy and have been difficult, but because I've done them with Jesus as the priority they have been easier than otherwise.
And as for burdens being light, Jesus never asks us to do this alone. And that, I think, is the key. Someone once told me, with regard to the death of a spouse, “I don't know how anyone without a faith community does this.” Jesus called twelve men, not one. He sent them out in pairs, not as individuals. He knew the value of community and the support it offered. And yes, families – biological or otherwise – and communities can be weird and difficult. But they also offer a level of support that allows us to share our burdens, thereby making them lighter for each of us.
Chapter 11 is the “cranky Jesus” chapter; apparently even Jesus had a bad day. But maybe that's what makes these words of comfort even more comforting: that even in the midst of being cranky we can find a place of lightened burdens. And maybe it can remind us to turn to Jesus and his community of believers when things get rough. And maybe we will remember that, no matter what we are going through, the Church that Jesus established, the Church we are yoked to, will always be here to help lighten our burdens.
Amen.
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