Come to me…Learn from me…

Sunday Readings in Brief 14 A

Zachariah 9:9-10; Psalms 144(145); Romans 8:9,11-13; Mathew 11:25-30

Dear friends, today is the 14^th Sunday in Ordinary time. The theme is taken from the Gospel passage of Mathew. In today’s world, there are a lot of challenges and burdens. There are many people suffering and being pushed to the edge. Many are nursing stress, depression, unforgiveness, sin, and wounds caused by others or by the circumstances they find themselves. Some have even taken their own lives to flee from this life’s burdens. Many families are torn apart. Couples who started as best of friends and promised to love each other until death parts them have turned against each other. Homes are no longer safe havens where we can run to find security, love, and consolation rather they have become dangerous.

Social institutions that are meant to cater to the welfare of our children such as educational centers and worship places have unfortunately become even more dangerous. Public officers who are supposed to make life easier for the citizens by providing services paid for through taxation have become corrupt and barriers to progress. The streets are not safe for anyone including the police officers themselves. Being mugged is the new normal during the day or night. People do not care what happens to others. Instead of helping those in trouble, we would rather take those pictures and post them on social media. The press itself is no longer driven by values but by profit and airtime is sold to the highest bidder to champion whatever agenda.

Human activities are destroying our mother nature and the consequences of this destruction are now being felt in all corners of the world. Draught in one corner and flooding in another at the same time. There is nowhere to run or hide. Everything has been commercialized including miracles, pay and you will be blessed. Greed to make extra cash has turned professionals into conmen and women. People are ready to do anything to get rich.

Three years ago, it was the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic that devastated the world and almost shut it down. Today, the high cost of living is driving families to the edge. In my parish, I see how polygamous men are struggling to put a meal on the table for their huge families. This year the crops have died before mature for lack of enough rain. Children cannot report back to school because parents have no food to send to school. When things are like this, everyone must be looking for a way out. A place where they can find something or someone who can help them. The street preachers have disappeared.

The good news is that Jesus is extending his hands to us saying “Come to me all you who labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you”. What a consoling thing to hear amid these cumbersome days of our lives? Jesus is reminding us that he became man for this reason: to take away all our iniquities and burdens. He is the surest help we have got. He tells us to trust him because he is from the Father who is compassionate and merciful to all. All we need is to TRUST IN HIM. When no one else around us seems trustworthy today, we have Christ a trustworthy companion

However, just trusting in Jesus and doing nothing is not enough. There is something more that Jesus is asking of each one of us; “Take my yoke and learn from me”. What is Jesus trying to tell us? To learn from Jesus is to imitate him. To learn from Jesus, we need to listen to him and his teaching. We need to read the scriptures to know how he handled different situations and challenges in his own life. We cannot learn from Jesus if we are far away from him. The Eucharist is the closest and the most intimate contact we can ever have with Jesus.

The challenge is that many people are not able to experience the true value of being a follower of Christ because they live fragmented lives. It is like walking in a sharrow pull of water where only part of the body gets wet and the other one remains dry. If we want to experience the full measure of God’s grace in our lives, we must submerge ourselves fully into the waters of his kingdom. We must comply with the totality of the demands of our faith. Double-living and hopping from one church to another, from this prophet to the other seeking breakthrough miracles is only wasting our precious time chasing wild goose.

Dear friends, today I invite us to reflect upon how we live out faith. Do we fully understand what the tenets of our faith are and what they demand of us? Do we invest in learning from Jesus the way invest in looking for financial break-through? What is the hierarchy of our priorities? Is Jesus and his teaching among the top ten priorities? How can Jesus take away our burdens if we do not have time for him or his teachings?

Have a blessed Sunday.

Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD