Today's Gospel

Whose Yoke Are You Carrying?

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we explore the genius of the Gospels. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, 11:28-30. "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." It's a great reading. It's a short reading. Is there something that jumps out at you? It's short, so let's walk all the way through it. Jesus begins by saying, "Come to me." It's an invitation, right? "All you who labor and are heavy ladened." Well, who isn't, right? We're all laboring. We all have our burdens. And what does Jesus say? And I will give you rest. And don't we need it? We meet people every day. They're exhausted. They're distracted. They're overwhelmed. And it's easy for us to fall into those traps as well. Jesus says, "Come to me. I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you."

The question is, if we're not carrying his yoke, whose yoke are we carrying? Is it a yoke we created for ourselves? Is it a yoke someone else has putting upon us? He says next, "And learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart." This sort of feels out of place from the rest of it, but it isn't, of course. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. What is the opposite of gentle and lowly in heart? I mean, it's probably aggressive. It's probably egotistical, it's probably all those sorts of things. And those things require tons of energy. Arrogance requires an astounding amount of energy to keep up a place of ego, a place of arrogance, a place of aggression. All of that requires tons of energy. And Jesus is saying, set that aside. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. And these things, they don't require any of that wasted energy. And then he says, and you'll find rest for your souls. Maybe you're thinking, I need rest for my body. Yeah, that might be true. But if our souls are not at rest, whatever rest our bodies get is diminished. Our bodies don't reap the full value of physical rest if our souls are not at rest. Just as our bodies don't reap the full value of physical rest if our minds are anxious and restless and running around all the time. You can be physically resting, but if your mind's like that, it can still be exhausting. And so what does Jesus say? You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. If you don't feel like your yoke is easy, you don't feel like your burden is light, what does that say? It says we're probably moved outside the will of God.

In Slowing Down the Speed of Joy, I talk about the idea of 24 hours a day and people saying, I wish there was more time or days are too short. Days are exactly the right length to do what God is calling us to do. And at the end of the day, when I look at a list of things I didn't get done that day that I believe that I should have got done that day, I have to look back on my day and say, "Okay, if they were the things I was meant to do, which things in my day were not in the will of God? And how can I approach my day tomorrow in a different way?" Because when we walk in the will of God, his yoke is easy, his burden is light. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.