We'll Get Through This Together
Dec. 11: Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent
Like yesterday’s, today’s Gospel requires some agricultural knowledge to fully understand the context and meaning of the parable. I grew up in the city, and only saw farms on school trips, so a lot of the subtleties get lost on me. Thank God for footnotes!
Reading 1
Is 40:25-31
To whom can you liken me as an equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things: He leads out their army and numbers them, calling them all by name. By his great might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing! Why, O Jacob, do you say, and declare, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know or have you not heard? The LORD is the eternal God, creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint nor grow weary, and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny. He gives strength to the fainting; for the weak he makes vigor abound. Though young men faint and grow weary, and youths stagger and fall, They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings; They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint.
It’s really not our place to judge God. We can’t say He’s “disregarding” our rights, because rights come from God anyway. He is eternal, and knows what is truly right.
But that shouldn’t be disempowering. No matter who you are, life is sometimes hard. You can’t go on, it’s too much, you just want to give up. That’s why we need God. Focusing on Him and all the great things He’s done for us will renew our strength. Going it alone is impossible; living with God makes everything possible.
God does not faint or grow weary, and He gives that strength to us. Instead of demanding what we think we “deserve,” we should accept whole heartedly that which He gives us.
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 8 and 10
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
He pardons all your iniquities,
he heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
Merciful and gracious is the LORD,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. O bless the Lord, my soul!
While discussing what we “deserve,” we also need to consider God’s mercy. He pardons us, when we are contrite. God’s compassion is what we should measure ourselves against.
As we’ll see in the Gospel, Jesus isn’t coming to put demands on us. He’s coming to help us. We can’t redeem ourselves from our own sins, but He can.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Behold, the Lord comes to save his people;
blessed are those prepared to meet him.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Whether discussing the nativity or the second coming, Jesus is here to save us.
Gospel
Mt 11:28-30
Jesus said to the crowds: "Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light."
“Tying yourself down” seems like a negative thing. No one, especially in the modern age, likes restrictions. But it’s restricting ourself to God’s will (as opposed to demanding our “rights”) that gives us the strength to carry on. Jesus does most of the work; we just have to follow along with Him.
Why would a yoke be easy? Wouldn’t it be even easier to just not take up the yoke?
Fun fact: this is one of the few passages that is entirely unique to Matthew. Often, you can find a deeper meaning in a particular story or saying of Jesus by comparing the different contexts in which its used in Matthew, Mark, and/or Luke. But there’s no such help in this idiosyncratic case. Jesus later says that Pharisees “tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders,” but that’s literally a dozen chapters from here,1 so that seems like a reach.
After poking around different commentaries, I accidentally stumbled across a farming blog. If you look at plowing from the ox’s perspective, a yoke is actually easier. The farmer’s gonna make you plow the field one way or another. What the yoke provides is leverage for the plow; even better, the farmer can hitch two oxen together to work more efficiently.
Life is hard; it’s the nature of the fallen world we live in. We could try and get through it all on our own, but it’ll be messy and extremely difficult. Or we could work with Jesus, tied together and laboring in tandem.
Jesus isn’t saying “Add my yoke to whatever else is going on in your life.” He’s saying, “Work with me, and we can get through this together.”