Daily Reflection – 6/19/2020
Sacred Scripture
At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him. 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.” (Matthew 11:25-30)
Reflection
Since every heart innately years for Jesus Christ, this passage from Matthew should be the definitive, “go-to” reading. As such, it requires a detailed reading.
First, note that Jesus makes a claim which no one else would have dared to make – he is the perfect revelation of God because he has been with the Father before all creation and time existed. He and the Father are united in an inseparable bond of love and unity. We can know God personally because God desires to be closely united with each one of us in a bond of love through his Son, Jesus Christ. To see Jesus is to see what God is like. In Jesus we see the perfect love of God – a God who cares intensely and who yearns over men and women, loving them to the point of sacrificing his only begotten Son who freely gave up his life for our sake on the cross.
The second is how Jesus promises to refresh us. He does not pledge to do so by TAKING AWAY our burdens. If we’re dealing with the stress and the fatigue of life, most of us think we want the Lord to take away all our hardships, so that we can live without stress. We want the Lord to exchange whatever difficulties we have for an easier, more comfortable, relaxing life. That’s not what Jesus knows is best for us nor wants to do. Immediately after inviting us and promising us that he will refresh us, he gives us his remedy: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves.”
To find our refreshment involves two things.
First Jesus wants us to come to Him to learn. He is the Master. He wants us to come to him directly and to learn from him. We can learn from Him in Sacred Scripture he wants and he wants us to pray each day, because in prayer he continues to whisper to us the path to humility and meekness.
Second, we need to take Jesus’ yoke upon our shoulders. What is that yoke? It’s that which he put on his shoulders: his Cross. At first glance, it seems ridiculous that Jesus called that yoke “easy” and “light.”. But what made him capable of calling it sweet and light is the love with which he bore it. The Cross is not so much a sign of pain and suffering, but a sign of the love for the Father and for us that made that pain bearable. When the Lord says he wants us to learn from him in taking his yoke upon ourselves, he is telling us that we need to take his love upon us and bear our own crosses as He did His.
Life is not that hard after all when we trust in God and rest in Him, for only in the Lord can we truly find rest. Amidst suffering and pain, we follow the Lord and take the yoke and learn from Him. Our lives will be light and easy because we keep his Word and live by it. When we follow the Lord, life will be lighter as God lives in us.
Prayer of The Day
Lord Jesus, you have the words of everlasting life. May the light of your truth free me from the error of sin and deception. Take my heart and fill it with your love that I may desire you alone as my Treasure and my all.
Daily Note
To follow the Lord means we accept His very words to His disciples: “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.” There is still a yoke and burden to carry although it is light (or even lighter). We carry our yoke and burden trusting in the Lord’s heart of gentleness, meekness, and humility as we carry it in Him and with Him.
