Homily for 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
14th Sunday of Ordinary Time

July 9, 2023
Matt 11: 25-30
Zech 9: 9-10
Rom 8: 9, 11-13
St. Edmund, Edmonton, Alberta

“I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt 11: 29).

So Jesus describes himself, and he backs up the description with his words and actions toward the poor, the suffering, and the repentant.

Zechariah by James Tissot

Jesus was foreshadowed in the prophecy of Zechariah in the late 6th century B.C., when Judah was part of the Persian Empire.  In the previous 2 centuries, the Jewish people had seen plenty of warfare, plenty of warlords, plenty of conquest and destruction.  But Zechariah predicts, instead, that Jerusalem will see a different kind of king.  Tho victorious, he’ll be humble.  He’ll ride into the holy city on a donkey rather than a warhorse.  When St. Matthew narrates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, he cites Zechariah’s prophecy (21:4-5).

Zechariah’s “triumphant and victorious” king comes as a peacemaker:  “He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the warrior’s bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations” (9:10).  Jesus came to bring peace to the world:  peace between nations, peace within families, peace between individuals.  If we were to follow his teachings and example, we’d establish peace rather than having to deal with aggressive warfare, with terrorism, with mass shootings, with racism, with labor strife, with the politics of personal destruction.  We’d have peace in our families rather than harshness, discontent, jealousies, resentment, etc.

Jesus invites us to take up his yoke and to learn from him (Matt 11:29).  His gentleness, his charity, his devotion to his Father in heaven make for a light burden when we practice those virtues.  He wants to lift off our backs the burdens that we bear:  our physical weariness from worry and stress; our moral weariness from temptation and sin.  He offers, instead, forgiveness,  encouragement, and accompaniment.  As the Son of God who took on our human flesh, he’s more than familiar with our condition—our burdens, our weariness, our frailty, our temptations.  He shared them with us during his earthly sojourn, and he still feels them with us because he’s still our flesh and blood, even if he’s risen and exalted on high.  That’s encouraging to us.  It’s encouraging to us that he wants to help us bear our burdens of age, pain, sickness, failure, and sin—and to relieve us of the burden of sin.  For he came to us that we might have life, and have it in abundance (John 10:10).

Jesus teaching (Rembrandt)

A large part of our earthly burden is our moral frailty.  How susceptible we are to what St. Paul calls “the flesh” (Rom 8:9-13)!  He doesn’t mean our earthly bodies, our flesh and blood, but our sinful inclinations.  We identify 7 fundamental sins, 7 deadly sins:  pride, envy, gluttony, sloth, lust, avarice, and anger.  These inclinations induce us to pursue false gods:  wealth, power, and pleasure in all their diverse forms.  Ultimately, these gods are destructive—of us and of other people in our lives.

Jesus lifts these burdens from us with his gift of the Holy Spirit.  St. Paul reminds us that when we belong to Christ, “the Spirit of God dwells in you” (8:9), and “the Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead … will give life to” us as well (8:11).  If we take the yoke of Jesus upon ourselves—his gentleness, humility, devotion to God, charity toward our neighbor—then the Spirit will empower us to overcome our deadly inclinations.  The Spirit of God will put to death the deeds of the flesh (cf. 8:13), 1st by forgiving our sins, then by enabling us to live more virtuously:  to live according to the pattern that Jesus sets for us.  Jesus will give us rest (Matt 11:28)—a more tranquil frame of mind and spirit now; and when the time comes, eternal rest.