Pentecost+6/Proper 9A (Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30)

The following words of Jesus are both comforting and invitational. “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

The comforting part is that he will give rest to the soul. In the gospel lesson, the crowd may have been under religious and political pressures that these systems no longer function as a means to guide one to live fuller and safer. Religious authorities become “religious” law enforcement that turns the wisdom of its teaching into a set of rules to obey without questioning. Political authorities are more interested in dominance over people than protection, security, and individual growth and fulfillment. In this religiopolitical context, Jesus attempts to comfort the people gathered around him. 

The invitational part in Jesus’ words is that he offers one to take “his” yoke and “his” burden because it is easy and light. This invitation of Jesus, however, might be disappointing to some because he doesn’t promise anyone that he’ll take away their yoke or burden. He doesn’t sugarcoat any of the reality in life that we carry a yoke of desire around our neck and shoulders. He doesn’t sell a feel-good spirituality here. Instead, he gives what to replace with. It’s the yoke and burden of Jesus from whom one has to learn. Because of who he is, that he is gentle and humble in heart, one can and will find rest. 

In Jesus’ time, this invitation to replace one’s yoke and burden with his might’ve been taken as a call to take a radically different approach and thus to live a different life other than submitting oneself to follow all the religious rules and regulations. We can easily imagine the local religious authorities coercing their religious traditions and laws onto people and policing them and judging, “Who’s pure or not? Who’s righteous or not?” It’s too easy to criticize these imagined authorities’ abuse of power. Yet, what about those oppressed? We often presume this crowd is too passive and helpless to push back as though they have no agency and are always in need of a savior. But Jesus in the lesson doesn’t do that. By giving them a choice to choose his yoke over theirs, he directs them to realize that they do have the agency to decide and act on their decision. 

Now, we have a different type of yoke compared to the crowd in the lesson. Although ours is not necessarily religious in its nature, there’s still something in common between the crowd and us. No matter what kind, it’s still a yoke. This symbol of the yoke continues to apply to all of us living in the 21st century that we are in one way or another either restrained or driven by something. Also, what makes this yoke better or not depends on the purpose of a plow and its result or outcome. In the case of the crowd, their yoke restrains and restricts them from living freely. They’re to be judged based on how well they observe the laws. In our case, the type of yoke is more about what drives and motivates us to live and maintain a certain lifestyle. The question that I would like us to reflect on is, “Do you know what kind of yoke you’ve taken?” 

To respond to this question, we need to examine ourselves with honesty and ask the following questions: What drives me to do what I do? What core values do I uphold? Where do I find meanings and purposes in my life when life itself is much more precious than the meanings and purposes I create? I wish we can openly explore these questions and share our responses with one another. There’s no absolutely right answer. The purpose is to see what yoke you have chosen to take upon yourself and then see for yourself whether it’s worth replacing with Jesus’ yoke. 

We want to avoid a black-and-white approach to this. Some of your yokes may be close to that of Jesus and they may work together. Others might need some adjusting. As we evaluate the yoke that we’ve taken and Jesus’, we are making a value judgment. What’s more worthy of taking? At this point, you might be curious about what Jesus’ yoke is. His yoke has a clear end goal. That is the kingdom of God in a traditional term or the presence of God within you. The yoke is to cut a long soil slice of falsely perceived inner isolation and loneliness and turn it upside down. It is to bury the surface residue of what’s so dry and lost, conserving moisture of sacred connection with the Spirit, aerating or breathing the soil of our soul, and killing weeds of death in us. So what’s your decision?