Reflection for the 21st Ordinary Sunday 2024

As a result of this, many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him.

We have been on a long journey, from the Apostles being sent to teach and heal throughout Galilee, to looking after those who were like sheep without a shepherd, to the feeding of the thousands, and back to Capernaum where Jesus put it all on the line, where His listeners murmured and grumbled at Him and His words, to this moment where most all left Him.

In the Collect, our Opening Prayer. we heard this verse: ‘Give us the conviction to accept Him completely and follow Him faithfully.’ Will I do this? This is the question the people who had been following Jesus faced. In the end, the people Jesus was speaking to refused the fight that was at hand, the fight to overcome doubt and to trust in what they heard and experienced, what the Holy Spirit was inspiring them to.

Jesus told those around Him: “It is the spirit that gives life… The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”

Indeed, that is what happened, those who walked away would not let the Holy Spirit enter and free them. Rather than listen to the Spirit, they were going to hold on to the heavy rocks that held them down, Laws and a lack of true trust in God. They lived by what they could or could not do, never overcoming that state of existence.

We could shake our heads at what they did, their walking away. We could see it as tragic – it was. Yet, for them and all the others who would not follow, Christ died. He died to forgive those sins and so many others. He died to offer them another and another chance.

Brothers and sisters, we all face the choice. Will I wander away, ignoring the Holy Spirit’s voice, refusing to take a chance on faith beyond reason, faith in which I receive the very presence of Jesus within myself?

Perhaps I will stay yet remain in doubt, Jesus couldn’t possibly be all that, but I’m comfortable. Maybe I will revolt, crate my own faith in which I define a god who is really only myself. That’s what Judas did.

Or maybe, just maybe I will go all in. I will listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and relish the gifts He endows me with. I will praise God for the freedom He has given me from sin through Jesus and use that freedom for the purpose of building God’s Kingdom right here and now.

In doubt, then look again at today’s corrected gospel verse. The error of our times stopped capitalizing references to God. Seeing it corrected we realize we are His and we must accept the chance we are given to receive and walk with Him. 

Reflection for the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2023

Listen, Obey, Witness

“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.”

Thank you for joining today as we continue our Ordinary Time journey focused on listening to, obeying, and witnessing to Jesus.

This statement of Jesus, concerning taking up of a yoke – a weight, an obligation, a means of being controlled – seems odd. Why would Jesus ask us to do that? Didn’t He come to free us and take the weight of sin off our shoulders? And anyway, I’m not going to allow myself to be obligated to anyone.

First, let’s be honest about Jesus’ statement. Yes, He means we are to submit to His will. We are to turn over control of our lives to Him. We are to allow Him to direct us and take us where He will, not where we will. We are to let Him do this through His Word and His Holy Church.

I can hear people say, well forget that. Who does God and His Church think they are. I can make my own decisions.

Yes, we can make our own decisions, and this decision is a key one because unless we accept the yoke of Jesus, we have no hope of entering His rest.

Is this decision easy? No. It is bad enough when we have to allow someone else to drive us around, much less to have completely surrendered control over our lives to another.

What may help us in reaching the right decision is the metaphor Jesus uses, the yoke itself. The yoke is used throughout scripture as a symbol, but unless we liked Westerns (Wagon Train?) or lived near Amish farmers, we have little practical knowledge of what a yoke is.

A yoke is a binding devise for two animals who walk side-by-side. Oxford Dictionary defines yoke as: ‘a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to the plow or cart that they are to pull.’

You see, Jesus is not asking us to pick up His yoke and put it on our necks and do it all ourselves, for His yoke is Him on one side and us on the other. We are bound together when we accept Jesus and decide to walk in His footsteps, side by side doing His work.

We never go it alone with Jesus. He stands with us, sets to work with us, plows God’s field with us. He tells us that His yoke is easy, and light because He is carrying almost all the weight for us.

If we bind ourselves to Jesus, accepting His yoke, we accomplish great things. Lives are saved, sinfulness is ended, the good news is proclaimed, people accept Jesus and they are made new. The joy we encounter in doing Jesus’ work, at His side, makes even the slightest burden lighter.

Let us then listen to Jesus’ call to the yoke, obey Him by taking it up, and walking with Him witnessing the kingdom, and drawing in those who do not know Him to also take up the yoke.