Happy 4th of July Weekend. We are celebrating our Independence Day .. but just how independent are we? Jesus claims his yoke to be easy this weekend, but easy compare to what? And for whom?
Come to me all you who labor and are burdened…
So who is it, that Jesus is talking to? Is it just the Jews? I imagine you might think your life is laborious and are burdened.. Obviously it is not just the Jews, we all have are burdens and toil. But it wasn’t always so…
Think back to Genesis and the Garden, Adam was called to labor we were placed in the garden to take care of it and protect it. Well that is labor and it was Our first parent’s vocation. However, something went wrong… Satan came to the world and through deceit brought upon man toil and burdens.
Our history is complex
Look though the history of Israel and we see periods of bliss and we see periods of Burdens and toil. Because we as a culture do not know the Old Testament as well as the New Testament we may not see the reason for their toils.
We have to remind ourselves What did Jesus come for? We don’t know the old Testament well and we therefore don’t see the bigger picture.
The tree in the Garden was perhaps the first salvo in who was going to win each of our individual souls. But we then look to the Israelites who went down to Egypt… Why were they there? Some brother gets thrown into a hole, is rescued by some Bedouin, brought to Pharaoh and ends up in Jail. Except this man looked to the True God and was able to interpret dreams. This man joseph helped Pharaoh and looking forward got Egypt ready for an impending disaster.
Egypt is not the land of milk and honey
Many came to Egypt because of this forward thinking and preparedness. But some came for right reason to protect their families and bring glory and honor to our Lord and others came because there was food. Eventually they all became slaves due to Egypt’s jealousy and everyone’s sinfulness.
God showed them that He was all powerful and all-knowing and brought them out of slavery bringing to them the land He had promised to their Fathers. This was an amazing thing which should never be forgotten. Our creator and our maker gave us freedom using miraculous means and ways.
Judges were there to help.. sometimes
But over time the stories faded in memory and became just stories of long ago. We skip ahead to the 12 judges outlined in the book called Judges, a quick glance can tell you how things were going. The first line tells you if it says “The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,”
Things were not going well…. But the book goes through recurring cycles which should be reminding us of our focus. Things are going well, then Apostasy of the People, followed up by Hardship and toil punishment burdens and finally Crying out to the Lord for help.
Note that things go well when the people remember God and when they forget about God and commit Apostasy… things go poorly.
Kings are the answer…umm nope
Another sample can go to the kings of Israel. Saul never had the heart of God he looked at life with jealousies and fear. David was after the heart of God…. Both sinned and sinned greatly. Notice that Saul had little to no humility and never said I love you Father deeply in his heart.
Lest we not forget that David was a sinner too… He had a man killed just to cover up his lustful desires and adulterous relationship. However, he was reminded of, and he remembered himself God. He realized and also recognized the pain and the hurt he caused. He kept God forefront in his mind even when he did things certainly not in God’s way. But he remembered God and Israel was consolidated under him.
But just like the judges, the subsequent kings forgot about God. The message God gives gifts and healing, Satan brings pain and destruction. This is what we should be learning from the Old Testament. It shows the pathway to healing and we did not listen.
Conquest is not too good either
Northern Israel split off by themselves forgot all about their ways, made God into their own image and was wiped away by the Assyrians. A bit later Judah who had remained with God, began to forget and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord… The Babylonians dispatched Judah, the temple and everything that made them successful.
The great Assyrian and Babylonian empires were defeated and the Jews allowed to go home. Rebuilding what was kept alive by those who recognized that God had to be placed first. They rebuilt the temple and brought back the Scriptures etc. They looked to God for salvation.
But we asked earlier, so why did Jesus come? Yes to save and redeem us, but also to fulfill the law given by God to Israel. God did not want burnt offerings just cuz… He wanted metanoia he wanted us to follow the law as He desired to give it to us. He gave us truth to how things should go.
Jesus came to free us
And most importantly he wanted to free us… People were laboring and toiling with Sin. Sin makes life difficult. Sin complicates matters makes the simplest of tasks hard. Remove sin from your life and stick with God. All of the labor you do to protect the Garden is not toil… but filled with love and devotion to God our Father. The toil that was added by clinging to Satan is cast away, Jesus yoke is easy because it is of love.
HE crafts this yoke individually with pure love and for the sake of each of us. We follow His way; or….we follow our way which has been dimmed by sin. The key phrase that God has been uttering through all of these years Jesus says yet again,” Take my yoke and LEARN from me”
Pull away from the pain. pull away from the hatred, pull away from divisiveness, do not separate yourselves, but be with God…
Temptation is everywhere
Don’t be tempted by the lies of Satan in all of the forms in which he puts himself today. These are just new words, perhaps, but the same old lies… In today’s Gospel the first thing Jesus does is gives praise and honor to God our Father. We should not complicate matters but live within the words and the actions of grace which come from God.
We have the ability to be with God in all of the 7 Sacraments. God gave these graces to His Church. Whether it is becoming a child of God, bringing him into our hearts minds and souls… reconciling all which we do and work in conforming ourselves to Gods ways.
He calls us to our life’s meaning and offers himself freely every day, every hour and every moment to us. Don’t become complacent. We have the gift that He desires for us… don’t throw it away… as we did for so many years. Love God and all of His people.
Be God Play Nice Think God
For today’s readings please see: https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/070520.cfm