FOURTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
9 JULY 2023
Today’s
passage from the Gospel of Saint Matthew comes at the end of a chapter filled
with doubt and disbelief. At the
beginning of the chapter, John the Baptist sends a message through his
disciples to ask if Jesus is the Messiah.
Or should he look for someone else.
His question is remarkable,
especially given the fact that John had leapt in his mother’s womb at the
Visitation. John had baptized Jesus in
the Jordan and pointed to him as the Messiah.
In his dark place in a cell, facing execution, John has his doubts. Jesus responds by telling his disciples to
look around to see the signs. Blind
people are regaining their sight. The
lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised, and the poor have the good
news proclaimed to them.
Jesus then
praises John the Baptist, in the face of his doubts. He points out how fickle people can be. First, they criticize John for his
austerity. Then they accuse Jesus of
being a drunkard and eating and drinking.
The villages of Chorazin and Bethsaida see the signs and refuse to
believe in him. They are proud,
arrogant, and self-absorbed. They may be
considered the “wise and learned.” But
they refuse to believe. So, Jesus gives
credit to “little ones,” who put their faith in him. The “little ones” are the people of the
land. The religious leaders have written
them off, because they accuse them of being incapable of living the demands of
the law, which is like a yoke bearing them down. Jesus invites us, his disciples today, to be
the little ones and bear his easy yoke and his light burden.
We became
his disciples when we passed through the waters of Baptism. Saint Paul insists that we are no longer in
the flesh. In other words, we no longer
have a human nature that is centered on ourselves. We are in the spirit, where our human nature
is centered on God. If we live our
baptismal promises, if we remain in the spirit, then we can take the yoke of
Jesus Christ and learn from him. We who
are disciples have our share of yokes which we carry that make life
burdensome. Yokes come in different
sizes and weights. They can be as heavy
as bearing a serious illness or suffering through a difficult breakup. Yokes can include working in a job that is
oppressive or grieving the loss of a loved ones. The yoke of Jesus was hardly easy or light. The yoke of the cross caused horrible pain,
suffering, and death. And yet his death
was not the end, because the yoke was broken by his resurrection. In accepting his yoke, we do not shoulder our
burdens alone. We are yoked to him, much
as a beast of burden is yoked to another animal to make the task of bearing a
heavy plow or wagon much easier.
Jesus says
that he is meek and humble of heart. We
tend to think of the word “meek” in negative terms. In those negative terms, a meek person
becomes a weak individual who cannot stand on his or her two feet. That is not what Jesus means. Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Zechariah when
he comes down the Mount of Olives on Palm Sunday riding on the back of a
donkey. He does not enter Jerusalem as a
fierce warrior on the back of a powerful horse.
He enters with humility and peace.
He is meek in the sense that he acts out of a controlled power. He is obedient and open to the Father’s
will. He is not easily provoked.
As the
Lord’s “little ones,” we too can imitate his meekness. We can discern the Lord’s will for us as we
continue to live our baptismal promises and remain open to what the Lord has in
store for us, no matter how old or how young we may be. Like Martin Luther King, we can use
non-violent means to stand up to hate, hostility, and division. We can continue to get to know Jesus better
in our daily lives. When we know Jesus
better, then we know what it means to be meek.
We can accept his yoke as we continue to bear our own yokes and burdens.
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