Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light

 At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.  Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.  All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.  Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.  Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

- Matthew 11:25-30

In yesterday's reading, Jesus said, "But to what shall I liken this generation?   It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their companions, and saying:  'We played the flue for you, and you did not dance; We mourned to you, and you did not lament.'  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.'  The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'  But wisdom is justified by her children."  Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent:  "Woe to you, Chorazin!  Woe to you, Bethsaida!  For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.  But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you.  And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.  But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."

At that time Jesus answered and said, "0. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father.  Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  My study bible cites blessed Theophylact, who comments that God has hidden the mysteries from the wise of the world, not out of malice toward His creatures but because of their own unworthiness -- it was they who chose to trust their own fallen wisdom and judgment rather than God.  Moreover, out of love God withholds this revelation from those who would scorn it so that they do not receive an even greater condemnation.

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  My study bible says that Jesus' yoke is submission to the Kingdom of God.  A yoke could be seen as a sign of hardship, burdens, and responsibilities (1 Kings 12:1-11; Jeremiah 27:1-11; Sirach 40:1).  In Christ, however, the yoke is easy, for the power of God works in each person.  Moreover, the reward is infinitely greater, it says, than any effort man puts forth.  Gentle is literally "meek" in the original Greek of the text.  It's the same word Jesus uses when He preaches, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth" (5:5).

Obedience to God is obedience to love.  This is submission to the Kingdom of God, in the words of my study bible.  Christ explains this yoke as easy, and the burden we take on as light, for He is not an abusive authoritarian ruler of violence; He is instead the God of love who Himself is gentle and lowly in heart.  Synonyms for this include "meek" as indicated above, and also "humble."  Let us consider what it means that we worship a God who describes Himself as having the personal characteristics of gentleness, meekness, humility.  It stands the reality of worldly power on its head.  It gives us a sense that what we worship, and what we seek to learn from, is all love -- a different way of being, a different kind of enterprise to learn about when Christ speaks of those who are meek who shall inherit the earth!  He stands what we "know" on its head, and in that light justifiedly tells us that it is a blessed thing, something to be thankful for, that God the Father, Lord of heaven and earth, has "hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes."  So much so, that Jesus adds, "Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight."  In our worldly ways, we tend to confuse the language of obedience, submission, discipline, and sacrifice with that of the power of violence demanding submission.  But when we speak of God -- and in particular God the Father whose attributes are all shared with the Persons of the Trinity -- we are speaking of love.  The Lord of the universe is one who describes Himself as meek, gentle, humble, lowly of heart, and it is to these attributes of leadership in His sight that we submit in order to learn from Him.  For the graciousness of God is so overwhelming that all of our reaction should be as St. Peter's was when Jesus declared that He must wash the feet of the disciples:  "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" (John 13:1-17).  The Lord of the universe is a Lord of love, who washes us in His love and prepares us to serve in that same spirit and, maybe most importantly of all, to learn that love and to practice it.  This we are not capable of doing for ourselves.  It is the "wise and prudent" who trust themselves to know what only God can reveal to us.  In service and submission, we find the healing and correction we need to become "like" God; it is in this Kingdom that we seek to participate and learn and grow in that love and to share it with one another.  Let us consider which yoke and burden we prefer, as we look around ourselves and find the abuse of power hidden among so many, regardless of the compassionate masks they seek to wear.  It is in God's truth and authority that we can trust instead.