Come to Me and I will give You Rest. Sunday Breakfast 14th Sunday Year A

Sunday Breakfast 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

 

1, Zechariah 9:9-10, Romans 8:9, 11-13, Matthew 11:25-30

 

 

 

Introduction

 

Whenever we read what Jesus says and does, what we can see is a heart who is willing to save, a heart willing to bless and make us wholesome again and a heart willing to accept us whenever we come to Him. It is His desire to see us live in peace, standing strong despite the challenges and remain close to Him. He came only to save and He sacrificed his life for this cause.

 

Jesus says that He came so that we may have life. He keeps inviting us to Him but we keep ourselves busy with many things and partially have time for God.

 

Our problem in life is not that God does not want to save us but that we have become tired and do not have trust in our Creator.

 

We seek our solace elsewhere and become tired whenever the name of God is mentioned. We are the problem and not God.

 

The God who Invites us

 

In the gospel, Jesus begins by blessing the Father. In that prayer He says “I thank you Lord of heaven and earth”.

1.This is a reminder that only God has dominion over every power, every created thing and everything that will come into being. Bringing to our consciousness that despite how we think we can run away from God, it is only He that still has dominion over everything.

 

2. Jesus in that prayer also reminded us that everything has been entrusted to Him. An emphasis that He also  has dominion over everything, over our problems, our afflictions, our sorrows, our future  and and He is the only way to the Father.  We cannot know the Father more if not through Jesus.  When we come to Him, we have to know He has dominion over the situation already.

 

3. From the prayer,  Jesus also reveals the Father as one who is ever willing to reveal Himself to those who take Him as Father, Jesus’ use of the word “children” indicates the attitude of people who see themselves as under the lordship of the Father.

This means that the Father is willing if we can humble ourselves and come to Him. This postulates that the Father is always free with  His grace especially to those who acknowledge their nothingness before God.

 

4. The Children are those who are poor in spirit, the persecuted, those who live by his word and depend on Him, they are the meek, the sinners, lepers, the merciful, and the sick who depend totally on him and search for him.

 

 

5. The prayer of Jesus is an eyeopener that the way God thinks is totally different from ours. The people we think can never be blessed, maybe the people already blessed, the people we think are nothing can be the people God has designed to do great things.

He acts in ways that confound human wisdom. Do not count yourself out when God has not counted you out.

 

 

6. The God who invites us is willing to give us everything, if we can humble ourselves and come to Him.

The first reading says that He is victorious,  humble and riding on a donkey. Though a king, He is humble to the core, though a king but willing to give us peace. In the gospel Jesus reiterated this by saying “ I am humble and lowly lowly in the heart” . Therefore, He is not a wicked God.

 

Jesus invites You

 

“Come” is a word used as an invitation to do something. When Jesus said “come”, He used two key statements “those who labour and those who are overburdened’.

 

Labour indicates hard work and excessive suffering. Jesus extends his invitation to all who are suffering, all who work but gain nothing.

 

He also invites those overburdened by the customs and demanding laws of the Pharisees which become so hard for the people.

So, in essence Jesus invited those who feel overburdened by the demands of the law. Those who think that God is burdensome, when He is not. It is no longer how much we try to keep and follow strictly the demands of the laws but how close we are to Jesus.

 

In essence He invites all who feel overburdened by the things of the world, by others, those who also overburdened themselves and by the weight of their sins, those who are tired and weary, tired of worshiping God, tired of their situations, tired of their lives, tired of their faith and have totally lost faith in God.

 

To find peace and forgiveness of sins. The first reading says that when the King comes, He will banish the bow of war and proclaim peace to the nations. He will stretch His dominion from sea to sea.

 

This invitation is a call to come to Jesus to have peace and this can only happen if we allow him to be our Lord. We are suffering because we have assumed control and  have taken the position of God in our lives. He should lead and we follow.

 

His Yoke is Easy

 

A yoke is something that is placed on an animal to properly guide it to perform the work required of their master. The yoke is sometimes attached to two oxens so that both of them will work together to do the work the master wants to be accomplished.

 

The Jews have been under the strict laws of the Pharisees which were so burdensome. Jesus compares his yoke, as easy and light with the number and burdensome rules the Jews were subjected to by the Pharisees.

 

Today, He  invites them to take upon His yoke and not the Pharisaic laws. This simply means placing Him as our master and submitting to His will.

 

This is when we seek to make His will our will. This is when we take Him as our Lord and Shepherd. Our salvation comes from Him and not from the law.

 

In the Jewish custom, yokes are placed by masters. The oxens or horses will not have any choice but to be yoked. But that of Jesus differs, in the sense that it is voluntary. He only invites us but the choice to come is ours. He wants to be our master, but it is left for us to let Him in or not.

 

Conclusion

 

1.To come to Jesus is also obedience to his command. The Blessed Virgin Mary tells us in John 2:5 to “do whatever he tells you”. When the servants obeyed, significant things happened. When we obey to come to Him, our lives will begin to change. However, man finds it better to run away, yet He regrets at last.

 

2.What we owe Jesus as truly his disciples is to continually come to him. Running away from God in moments of crisis is not the best option, the best option is still to run to Him.

 

3.There are great benefits when we take His yoke upon us. He will never leave us the same, He will give us peace. He will overcome our internal struggles and battle.

 

4. The greatest is that He will fill us with the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul said in the 2nd reading that If the Spirit of He, who raised Jesus from the dead is in you, then He will give life to your own mortal bodies through his Spirit living in you.

 

In Him we have life and have it in abundance. Only in the Spirit can one develop a sense of joy even in the midst of affliction.

 

The yoke that Jesus offers is simply His teaching, discipleship, and coming to Him which is not burdensome but life-giving. To take his yoke upon ourselves is to be yoked to deliverance, peace, blessings, salvation, graces, upliftment, and eternal life. So why do we do otherwise?

 

 

5. Jesus in the gospels tells us to learn from Him for he is gentle , meek and humble. He came and carried His cross gently without complains and regrets. Asking us to do the same. But we choose to be faithless and full of complaining.  The world is full of challenges. Just like Jesus, we have to follow the world with patience and perseverance.

 

 

6. Finally, Let us humble ourselves and come to God. God so much loves it when we sincerely take Him as Father and depend on Him like little children.

He will take us as one, care for us as one and teach us as one. Just as the disciples of Jesus totally depended on him for everything, we are to follow him like a sheep following a Shepherd and walk with him all the days of our lives. So stay inspired, faithful and be blessed. There is always Light at the end of the tunnel.

 

May God bless you dearest and give us the grace to remain close to Him. Amen.

Happy Sunday