Todays Gospel readings from the lectionary are the conclusion of Matthew Chapter Eleven. Proceeding this, Jesus has heard of the imprisonment of his cousin John the Baptist. He questions the crowds of why they even went out to see John in the wilderness if they did not believe him to be a prophet and if they did, why did they not hearken his message? Jesus quotes Malachi 3:1 ‘Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.’. Positioning John as a forerunner and he himself as the Lord. Jesus then proclaims his woes on the cities he had done works in but who did not repent. He then thanks his Father for revealing what has been revealed the humble and not the wise. He concludes with:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Jesus invites all who labor and are heavy laden. The Hebrew people have been heavily bound by the Mosaic Law in general and it offers no rest or salvation.
Jesus will go on to say later in Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people ‘s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.”. He is talking of the Pharisees who had the right to bind and loose the religious observances of the Jews and they did not make it easy. The whole point of the observance of the Law was to bring people to God but as Jesus will say elsewhere, the Pharisees in their legalism and misunderstanding will lead many to hell.
Jesus is positioning himself as the avenue to be closer to God, the mystery of the Incarnation itself is that of “God with us”. The Greek word for rest is Anapauō which in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures carries a divine tone. The Sabbath rest on the seventh day of creation, when the Lord gave the people rest in Joshua 21:44 and David in the Psalms speaks of the rest that the Lord will give.
It may seem like Jesus is talking about the busy work day and in the anagogical he is but in the literal sense, Jesus is promising that in his person is the eschatological Sabbath rest in God. He is not offering rest in a particular maxim or law but in his person. “I will give you rest”.
29 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.
Jesus offers his “yoke” or zygos in Greek. This was essentially a wooden device that would fit around a beast of burden like an Ox in order to plow a field. Its spiritual usage was in that of oppressive laws, for example the yoke of the Pharisees or the yoke of slavery. A slave might not literally have any chains at all but he is still legally owned and bound by another individual. The same would go for observant Jews who do as the Pharisees say, as they sit in the seat of Moses. They might not be physically attached to a yoke but the oppressive Laws placed upon them by the Pharisees were like a spiritual yoke.
Jesus in contrast to the yoke of worldly slavery, the yoke of pharisaic legalism and the troubles of the times offers his yoke and by doing so, learn from him for he is gentle and “lowly in heart”. Lowly in heart means he is humble. It is in this yoke of gentleness and humility of the person, Jesus Christ that our Souls will find the eschatological Sabbath rest.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus tells us that his yoke is “easy”. The Greek word here is chrēstos which does not really translate very well. It properly means “fit for use” or “virtuous” so essentially we could see it as his yoke is the correctly ordered one for us. After contrasting again his yoke with those of his time he also contrasts the burdens. His burden is light. Again it is in the person of Jesus that this light burden is found. It is still a load that we have to carry but it is lighter than what the world extends to us.
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