“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,” Jesus said. Are you on that list? Are you burdened by family troubles, financial woes, health concerns, relationship issues, loneliness, grief and loss? On a grander scale are you burdened by the situation in the world today: gun violence, war, economic disparity, ongoing racism, global warming, lack of opportunity? And are you laboring at fixing those burdens and not making much progress? No matter how hard you try you still feel stuck, still feel that no matter what you do to get yourself up, there is always something else to bring you down. If any of that is you, Jesus says come to him and he will put those labors and burdens to rest. Notice that Jesus does NOT say is that your labors and burdens will be done away with. Instead, he asks us to make a swap, to do things his way, put on his yoke and take off our yoke, our way of dealing with things, as the easier way to handle labors and burdens. In thinking how to do that, the image that came to mind was packing for the Camino in Spain. I was going to walk 500 miles so I got out my trusty, old Boy Scout backpack and loaded it with all of the things I would need for the pilgrimage. It came to about 22 pounds and when I hefted it on my shoulders, I felt every one of them. My niece suggested that I use her new, hi-tech backpack instead. It was designed to shift the weight off of your shoulders and onto your hips which are better equipped to handle the extra pounds. It was a revelation. The weight was the same but now I was better able to cope with it. I thanked her every step of the Way.
Jesus wants us to switch backpacks, so to speak; to take off our yoke and put on his. He tells us we will be able to handle our labors and the burdens when we do so. “Learn from me,” says Jesus if we want to know how to make the switch. What we learn when we look at the life and example of Jesus is that his yoke consists in trusting in the “gracious will” of the one he knew as his Heavenly Father. Jesus knew himself to be the beloved child of God. Since he knew his beloved nature, he could throw himself into God’s arms with the blessed assurance that all would be well. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, even facing imminent torture and death, he trusted in God – “not my will but yours be done.” Acting in a similar way, trusting in the will of God wherever it may lead, is the yoke that Jesus assures us is easy and light. If I no longer need for things to come out a certain way but can instead leave things in God’s hands how much less stress will there be in my life. That is the rest that Jesus promises us.
But yokes differ from backpacks. Yokes are often doubled, meant for two. Two oxen yoked together go much farther. The yoke of Jesus is a double. He is not thrusting us out into a cruel world on our own but instead is hitching himself together with us as we carry our burdens through life. Which reminds me of a fifty-plus year-old song sung by the Hollies. (I do know some songs which are less than fifty years old … but not many.) The lyrics go: “The road is long with many a winding turn that leads us to who knows where. But I’m strong, strong enough to carry him. He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother.” The background to the song tells a story. After World War I, Fr. Flanagan grew concerned about the number of lost, homeless and orphaned boys in Omaha. He rented a house and took them in. Soon hundreds were being housed and he bought a ranch and moved them where they became a large, extended family known as Boys Town, which continues to this day. One of the boys, Howard, had polio and wore braces on his legs so he had a difficult time getting around. Another of the boys, Reuben, would ride him piggy-back style to the different activities of Boys Town. Fr. Flanagan asked Reuben one day if it was difficult carrying Howard around. “Nah,” Reuban answered, “He ain’t heavy. He’s my brother.” That became the motto of Boys Town and inspired the song. It also indicates what taking on the yoke of Jesus is like. The burdens which seem so heavy when we carry them by ourselves are easy and light when hitched together with Jesus.
Here’s the thing, Church, the thing we need to take from today. Since Jesus is with us, we are the body of Christ and are yoked together. No one has to carry their burden alone. Jesus has shown us what is possible when we are hitched together. By myself I can’t do much to help people who are hungry but together we can run a food pantry which feeds 2000 every month. By myself I don’t know if my prayers are reaching up to God but together we offer a beautiful noise of praise and thanksgiving that arises to the throne of grace. By myself I can feel overwhelmed at people who look or speak different than I do but together we find that we’re all children of God, made in God’s image and likeness and enrich one another by our differences. “Come to me,” Jesus said. In reality that call is not so much a personal invitation but a communal challenge. Once we realize that Jesus is telling us that he is with us when we bear one another’s burdens then we can all say, “They aren’t heavy. They are my brothers and sisters.”
