The Yoke of Christ Makes Life Easy
Sunday Homily for July 6, 1008
Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
By Father Clyde A. Bonar, Ph.D.

SUNDAY READINGS

Introduction

In days of old, a young monk lived in a lean-to on the bank of a river. Each night, the young monk washed his loin cloth and put it out to dry. On night, some rats tore his loin cloth to shreds. He begged another from the villagers. Again the next night the rats tore his new loin cloth to shreds.

To chase away the rats, he got a cat. To have milk for his cat, the young monk got a cow. To grow hay to feed his cow, he started to work the land around his lean-to. Since all his work left him no time to pray, the young monk hired workers. Soon, the young monk became the wealthiest person in the village. He built himself a fine house.

After several years, the abbot visited him, and asked the young monk, "Why are you living in such a fine house?" The young monk answered, "Holy abbot, there was no other way to keep my loincloth."

Life Presents Burdens

What problems the young monk had. Life gets that way sometimes. Each of us from experience knows what it means to be burdened with problems. Burdens sometimes pile on top of burdens to weigh us down. Troubles in just living.

Physical pain comes to mind. Jean and Bruce are an elderly couple. They retired in the farm house where they had raised four children. A home to enjoy. Until Jean had a stroke. She did pretty good with her walker. Then, Bruce developed circulation problems in his legs. The two cripples managed, until Bruce lost a leg. Then they had no choice. Off Jean and Bruce went, to share a room in an assisted living facility. Like any couple would, Jean and Bruce found it hard to leave their home, with all the memories.

Less dramatic, but no less serious hurts come in our relations with others. Burdens others impose on us. The celebrated missionary, David Livingston, spent most of his life in Africa. He made sacrifices, endured the hardships of being a missionary.
While David Livingston did heroic deeds as a missionary, Mary Moffett, his wife, struggled to care for their six children. It proved too much. Forced to return to England, his wife lived in poverty and died at the young age of forty-two. Sometimes we cause the hardships for someone else.

Even little things can fester. A birthday passes with no card from a special friend. We wonder. Feelings get a little hurt. Next time we see the friend we're tense. After all, this special friend forgot our birthday.

Major tragedies or little slights. Burden can pile on burden. Just living from day to day can get wearisome.

"Take My Yoke"

What do we do about life’s burdens? Jesus tells us, "Take my yoke upon you, . . . . For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." Truth is, it is not important what burden life hands us; what counts is how we handle that burden. With Christ, our burdens are light.

The yoke makes the burden light. Let’s remind ourselves what yokes are. Remember movies about early settlers. The settlers took all their possession and moved westward in covered wagons. Two oxen pull the wagon. A wooden crossbar with a U shaped yoke encircled the neck of each ox. The yokes were attached to a pole from the wagon, allowing the oxen to pull the wagon.

Two things about a yoke. First, yokes were custom made for each ox. They were carved of solid wood, form fitted so well that the yoke would not rub sores on the ox’s shoulders. Wearing a yoke was like having on an old pair of shoes.

Second, the yokes allow the two animals to pull together. Work is shared, and when day is done, the oxen are tired, but not exhausted.

When Christ said, "take my yoke, the burden is light," Christ told us to follow his way of love, to keep God’s commandments, to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our teammate is Jesus. The Son of God wears the other yoke as our partner. Christ provides the grace to live our Christian faith.

A hero of mine provides a good example, Father Damien the Leper [1840-1889]. His life sounds rough; with Christ, his burdens were light.

Just over a hundred years ago Father Damien went to Hawaii as a missionary. An easy life could be his, on a tropical island. Then his bishop asked for a priest to go to the leper colony. Father Damien volunteered.

What was Father Damien’s burden? Living among people with a dreaded disease. Was the yoke easy, the burden light? Absolutely! Finding no one helping the lepers, Father Damien started to change the bandages of the lepers. It became his daily routine. His way of love, to change bandages. As he did, Father Damien chatted with the leper, the light banter of daily life.

Years passed. One day Father Damien held up his hands at Mass. With a smile from his heart he said: "I now am one of you." Damien had become a leper himself. Why did he smile? Because, who understands our problems better than someone who has endured our pain? His love for the lepers reached new depths. As a leper himself, Damien understood the dreadful life a leper lived. Father Damien loved his neighbor, his neighbor the leper, as he loved himself.

Father Damien faced more troubles than any of us ever dreams of having. In his yoke, teamed side by side with Christ, he acted with the love of a Christian. As Jesus promised, his yoke was easy, his burdens light.

Handling Life’s Burdens

How about our own yokes? We have burdens, examples like Father Damien tell us the yokes can be easy.

I remember one widow. Her husband died suddenly of a rare disease. The new widow had very little money and she had their two small children to raise. Now, there’s a burden. The widow found a job, she moved to a smaller home to save on the bills. And, she kept her faith. Always a regular at Mass, she became even more active in church activities.

Knowing Jesus walked with her, the widow did more than endure her troubles. She thrived. She was good at her job. Compliments followed by pay raises eased her financial worries. She began to give witness talks on weekend retreats. And, how she enjoyed watching her children grow up. The one to become class president, the other the captain of the school’s soccer team. She found rest in Christ, the yoke easy, the burden light.

And, speaking of school children, think of the pressure for athletes to excel. Some turn to steroids. But, steroids can have bad side effects. A news report told how one country secretly drugged their athletes with steroids. Even the athletes themselves did not know. That country racked up medal after medal at Olympic games. Now, years later, to a person, those athletes blame never ending health problems on the steroids.

There’s a healthier, and more Christian, way to handle the pressure to excel: do more push-ups. Christ told us to nourish and tenderly care for our bodies (Ephesians 5:29). In the gym, next to us on the treadmill is Jesus. Spending more time in the gym, the young athlete develops his God given abilities, gets great muscles, and has no worries about being tested for drugs. The burden gets light.

Another example, taking a family meal together each day. To some families, eating together seems impossible. Work schedules overlap, school activities dominate the lives of sons and daughters. But, the old saying goes, "The family that prays together stays together." So too, the family that eats family meals together stays together.

As families share their meals together, family members begin to share schedules. Being with our families becomes what we want to do. Because, these are people we love and know and have shared with both happy times and sad times. What some families call a burden proves not a burden at all but a delight. It’s the way of love.

Let there be no doubt. Our life experiences tells us, when we walk with Christ, the yoke is easy, the burden light.

Conclusion

The yoke of Jesus is the love of God. By telling us: "Take my yoke . . . and you will find rest," Christ is asking us to do things the Christian way. When we center in God, when we follow God’s commandments, we have no heavy burdens.

We might get tired. The oxen get tired as their yokes pull the load. But, we will not be exhausted. Jesus himself occupies the other side of the yoke. Christ yokes himself with us to make life easy.