No Yoke

The Statue of Liberty’s famous welcome, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore” has inspired millions. Even our own national anthem welcomes “those who’ve come across the seas” to our “boundless plains to share.”

Some of us have experienced and all can imagine the joyous relief of gaining earthly freedom, peace and rest from the onerous burden of poverty and violence. Many parish families remember too the struggles and requirements, forms and bureaucracy of being “welcomed” to a new life. We still offer harsh “welcome’ to many who cross the seas yearning for freedom. 

What then of Jesus’ welcome in this gospel from Matthew? (Matt 11:25-30) How do we qualify for the rest and relief offered by the Son of God? What tests, qualifications or points do we need? Who do we need to know? What do we need to do? 

Well, there are no tests, no hurdles, qualifications or bureaucracy to overcome! No amount of learning or money or adult sophistication is going to assist us. 

Scholarship, wealth, athletic or artistic or commercial achievements mean nothing to God. Our connections, influence, experience are irrelevant. Instead of haughty self-sufficiency, we need to rediscover dependence. We need simply to trust him, to lift our minds up to him, to begin to think and see as he does, to give him our hearts, and to allow him to take charge of our lives. Which is all very well, but how do I do that? 

What does it mean to rediscover our childlike trust? We know what we know. We can’t go back to childhood but our mature faith and grown-up experience teaches us of God who loves us despite our failings. And so, trustingly, we place our hand in that of the Son, our brother, who invites us. 

Deacon Mark Kelly