Zechariah 9.9-10・Ps. 145.8+9, 10+11, 13ab+14・Romans 8.9.11-13・Matthew 11.25-30
Based on our readings the previous week, there are radical demands in following Jesus. To be called a Christian disciple someone cannot be serving God and be longing for material possessions and/or be obsessed with many things of this world at the same time. While we have considered family as the basic unit of the society, we learn from last Sunday`s Gospel about Jesus saying that “anyone who prefers father or mother, son or daughter over me is not worthy of me. Anyone who does not take his/her cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me.” Is not it burdensome to follow him with such a radical demand.
In today`s Gospel Reading however, we can easily find God`s compassion expressed through His invitation to come to Him, take His yoke rather, for His (His yoke) is easy, and His burden is light. There seems to be contradictory positions between the radical demands for Christian discipleship we shared last Sunday and God`s warmth and compassion with His invitation towards true peace, liberation and joy. Basically our intention today is to find out that our Gospel themes do not contradict with each other because there is only one Jesus and one Gospel.
Our first reading talks about the coming of a king in Jerusalem humbly riding on a donkey, and a king who is a bringer of peace to all nations. Jesus who is identified with the king in Zechariah`s passage, also brings peace as He in our Gospel today invites especially those who labor much and are heavily burdened.
Again, Christian discipleship that speaks about giving–up everything we have in this world, and His invitation to all who are heavily burdened speaks about the same emphasis, that is, on God`s love and compassion, and on His offer of reconciliation. Thus, today`s second reading leads us to reflect on how we have been living a life in a flesh, and on how we have been considering material possession as our only treasure and security, so our hearts remain living according to the flesh. As a consequence, we end up in hunger of His Word, and without us noticing, we find our lives in fact tiresome, and making others heavily burdened too.
We are called to be with Jesus all the way. To be with Jesus with His life`s vision, standards, and values is to carry a yoke that is easy, and a burden that is light. Carrying the yoke with Jesus and with others make the cost of discipleship lighter.