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During the months of
spring, people very much
look forward to the summer vacation. It’s not only a time to get away
from work and school. But, for those who live on the East coast, summer
vacation may mean spending time at the shore, perhaps playing paddle
ball or tackle football in the surf, reading a book while sunning on the
beach, or taking a stroll along the Boardwalk on a hot and humid evening
to enjoy an Italian ice at day’s end.
Growing up, my
favorite place to vacation was at my great Aunt Sabina’s home in
Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Both in the early morning just after
sunrise and in the evening just before sunset, the dads and cousins would fish for Northern
Pike and Walleye in Mill Lake in the backyard of my great aunt’s house
along with our
great uncles, Al, Benny, and John. In the late morning before we’d eat
lunch, the cousins would pick bushels of red raspberries from my great
aunt’s garden which was actually a large patch of land where she grew
all sorts of vegetables and, of course, bushel upon bushel of red
raspberries. I think I normally handed over one bushel for every three
that I picked because I ate the other two bushels, the fresh raspberries
were so delicious! After lunch, the cousins would scamper across the
highway to swim in the sparkling clear water of Sugar Camp Lake and to put
frogs into one another’s swim suits. It was great fun to hear the victims
shrieking and jumping around on the shore. Then, after an
afternoon of "fun in the sun," we’d head home for
dinner. There’s nothing quite like fresh Northern Pike and Walleye
filets, topped off with
dessert of homemade raspberry pie¾no vanilla ice cream on top, thank you¾to
complete a day of vacation in Rhinelander, Wisconsin.
It’s these kinds of
fun things that people look forward each spring as they contemplate a summer
vacation. The days promise to bring a lot of peace and rest to an otherwise
hectic year.
But, there’s the other
side to summer vacation that many people¾especially
kids¾don’t
think about. And, it’s usually just around this time of summer¾in
early- to mid- July¾that
this other side of summer vacation rears its ugly head. That’s the
time when, all of a sudden, one recognizes that even though this is
summer vacation, there’s still the chores and other responsibilities
that are part-and-parcel of being a member of a family and which one
must still complete before being able to do what’s fun. There’s
also the reality that “familiarity breeds contempt” and, with all of the
gang hanging around house more than normally is the case during
non-vacation times, family members are beginning to rub elbows together
more frequently, to grate on one another’s nerves increasingly, and
turning what is supposed to be a time to peace and rest into a series of
seemingly endless episodes of The Bickermans. Then, this
attitude begins to infect parents and, in the middle of all the yelling
and arguing, everyone hopes that the end of summer vacation will come
sooner than later.
Here’s how parents
know it’s that time of summer vacation. One of the kids says:
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“Mom, Rich is
bugging me. Tell him to disappear!”
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“This isn’t fair. I
have more chores than all of my friends combined. I’m just a slave
around here. I can’t wait until I’m ‘master of my own destiny’ and
can hire someone to do my chores for me.”
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“No one likes me.
Nobody wants to do anything with me. There’s nothing to do and
there’s nothing new on TV. I’m bored.”
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“Can I go to the
pool, Mom? Everyone else is going.” “Well, have you cleaned your
room and the basement like you were asked?”
This is the side of
summer vacation¾and,
of life, I might add¾that
many of us don’t contemplate as we think about the upcoming summer
vacation. And, if we don’t consider what’s really going when we
reach this point of the summer vacation, we can turn what should be a
time of peace and rest into a mighty weighty burden…not only for
ourselves but for everyone else around us, too! And, before long,
everyone will be wishing that the end of summer vacation comes sooner
than any of us had hoped. Kids will even be looking forward to the
start of the new school year!
It’s not all that
uncommon to do this with our faith, too. We make it into a burdensome
thing, likening faith to the drudgery of doing household
chores when, in reality, it is our faith that provides the peace and
rest we need, especially in the midst of the tempests of daily life. In
today’s gospel, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are
burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
from me….For my yoke is easy and my burden light.”
What might Jesus have
meant by using this metaphor of a yoke to describe faith?
In the ancient world
and before farming was mechanized in the 20th century,
farmers used oxen to plow and to aerate their fields. We’ve all seen
paintings and pictures of a farmer driving oxen through the field. But,
because pushing the plow would cause the yoke to rub against the oxen’s
shoulders which, in turn, would cause sores to form, farmers carved solid wood yokes,
custom fitting a yoke to each ox so that when an ox pushed forward
against the yoke, it fit so well that it wouldn’t cause sores to form on
the ox’s shoulders. In contrast to what many mistakenly believe, a yoke
is not burdensome; instead, it is a gift so that the ox can complete its
work of plowing a field without injury or harm. This gift demonstrates
the farmer’s abiding care for his oxen.
It was because of this
that the Jewish people referred to God’s law---the Torah---as a “yoke”
in the belief that God’s law was not burdensome but rather, a gift God
crafted to assist His people to complete His work of creation here on
earth. God custom-fits this yoke to each of His people to protect them
from injury and harm as each of them plow through the tempests of daily
life. This yoke is not a burden but a gift demonstrating God’s abiding
care for His people. And this yoke, Jesus says, brings peace. It’s not
the kind of peace the world seeks---normally defined by the absence of
pain and suffering---but the peace that comes from the abiding knowledge
that God has not abandoned them and the experience that God cares for
His people, especially in their pain and suffering. Thus, despite all
of the turmoil and chaos that otherwise troubles and frustrates people
and that make them weary and incapable of finding rest, those who wear
the yoke of God’s law experience peace and find rest.
So, how are Jesus’
disciples to do this? Once again, Jesus points the way in today’s
gospel. He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am
meek and humble of heart.” Jesus is teaching his disciples that only
those who strive to be meek and humble find the peace and rest that
results from wearing the yoke of God’s law.
Now that we’re nearing
the middle of July, for those of us who may be finding ourselves at
wits’ end and are turning summer vacation into a weighty burden for
others, Jesus suggests that we take this yoke upon our shoulders and
push forward into it by thinking a little more about others and their
needs rather than succumbing to the temptation to focus upon ourselves
and everything we want. If we simply push ourselves to be more meek and
humble when we’d otherwise be selfish and full of pride by showing more
care for others than we do for ourselves, Jesus tells us that we will
discover peace and rest where tempests would otherwise abound. There’s
nothing “clever” about this message, Jesus says, and not one of us has
to be wise and learned if we want to experience God’s peace and rest,
especially in the middle of the tempests of daily life.
But, how often do we
twist around in this yoke and turn it into a burdensome millstone that
causes sores to fester, not upon our shoulders but upon our hearts? Or,
rather than striving to be meek and humble, how often do we pretend to
be so learned and clever that we feel free to tell others how right and
fair we are and how wrong and unfair they are? Jesus didn’t think the learned and clever of his society were so learned and clever at
all. That’s why, in his prayer, he said, “I give you praise to you,
Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these
things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to little
ones.”
Little ones¾meek
and humble disciples¾these
are the people who know that God is not a taskmaster who has bound them
under the weighty yoke of the Torah and inundated their lives with
numerous picayune laws intended to make life burdensome. No, Jesus
wants all of his disciples to know and to experience God who is a loving
Father, Almighty One who has gifted us with the custom-fitted yoke of
the Torah to aid us as we press forward to grow in freedom, grace, and
holiness. And, for those who strive to achieve this end by living
meekly and humbly, there is nothing to fear. Instead, Jesus’
prayer in today’s gospel is an invitation to experience the peace and
rest of God’s kingdom, especially in the midst of the tempests of daily
life in mid-July. |
HOMILY
