Jesus said: 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

At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

“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.”

POINTERS FOR PRAYER

1. Great intelligence is not sufficient to develop a relationship with God, unless combined with an open childlike capacity to wonder. Does this resonate with your experience?

2. The ministry of Jesus was to introduce people to a relationship of intimacy with God. How has Jesus given you that kind of relationship?

3. Another aspect of the ministry of Jesus was to free people from the burden of a legalistic understanding of religion, and to introduce them to a faith marked by freedom and love. Perhaps you have made that journey also. Who has been a Jesus person for you and helped you to find freedom, joy and rest in your faith?

Our Gospel reading today is both arresting and appealing. Who is not drawn by the words Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.

Who is not pulled up short by the claims of Jesus in the words: no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 

Who are the learned and the clever: it doesn’t mean anyone smart in general but in particular those whose fixed religious system makes them closed to the proclamation of Jesus.

By contrast, the “mere” children are not literally children but people who are open to the words of Jesus, who are not blocked by their own agenda.

Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.