July 17, 2025 – Thursday of the 15th odd week
Homily
We continue reading Chapter 11 of Saint Matthew, where he has gathered together various short sayings of Jesus. Some of these sayings have been placed elsewhere by the other Evangelists; others, such as the one we have just read, are unique to Matthew. It would be futile to try to determine the precise situation in which these sayings were uttered by Jesus. These are short texts or isolated stories that circulated in the early Church before being collected in our Gospels. They have value and power in themselves, regardless of any context.
In today's short text, Jesus contrasts His Law of love with the heavy and severe legalism of the Pharisees and the Doctors of the Law. It is not uncommon to hear this text interpreted in a spiritual, even somewhat sentimental way, exhorting us to take refuge in the Lord whenever we are a little depressed, when we feel overwhelmed, or when our brothers and sisters are not kind to us! There is obviously nothing wrong with doing so! But the original meaning of Jesus' words is a little different.
The ‘yoke’ was a traditional expression in the Old Testament to refer to the Law. When Jesus says, ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden,’ he is addressing those who are oppressed by the interpretations of the Law imposed by the scribes and Pharisees. Let us remember his invective: ‘Woe to you, lawyers, because you load people with burdens that are impossible to bear, and you yourselves do not touch these burdens with a single finger.’ To those who are thus oppressed, He promises first of all rest for their souls.
He invites them to take upon themselves His law (‘Take my yoke upon you’), His law of love, and to become His disciples (‘learn from me’), for He is gentle and humble of heart. Then He repeats that those who take upon themselves this yoke will find rest. Why? Because this yoke, or this law, is easy, and the burden it places on the shoulders of His disciples is light.
Let us not see in the Law of the Gospel, nor in the laws of the Church, nor in the rules of our monastic life, heavy burdens that must be borne through asceticism in order to earn merit, but as concrete expressions of a law of love that should set us free and allow us to run with a free and expanded heart, as St. Benedict says, on the paths of the Gospel.
Armand Veilleux