You Are Invited!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Gerard Majella Church, Baton Rouge, LA

July 6, 2014

In today’s Gospel taken from Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am weak and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” This invitation is for those who are exhausted with the search for the truth, with the search for God. There is a growing number of people in our society today who deny the reality and the existence of God. They proudly argue that there is no God. Some of them claim that they sought for God but did not find him. Some say that they prayed to God and he did not answer. Yet, others said they wanted to see him but he did not show up. But Jesus tells us today that the endless and weary search for God ends in himself. To have an encounter with Jesus is to have an encounter with God. In the Gospel of John 14:9, the Lord says that “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” God gives himself to the pure of heart, and he asks nothing from us but our attention. Searching for God in a scientific laboratory is a wild goose chase. Trying to picture God in our minds is a wild goose chase. But by giving attention to Jesus Christ, we can find God. 

Are you desperately searching to find God? Are you urgently trying to be better than you currently are? Are you trying to change and reform your lifestyle? Is there any habit you've been trying to eliminate but it still clings on you and you are almost given up or driven to despair? Are you spiritually hungry? Do you experience some kind of emptiness in you? Are you worn out, burned out from the hustle and bustle of this world? Are you tired of getting tired? Are you worn out of getting worn out? Are you sick of becoming sick? Has life become tasteless, flavorless and bland? Have you lost interest in life itself? Do you feel stagnant in your life? Do you feel trapped and somewhat lock-up in the circles of life? Has joy, perfect joy eluded you? Are you worried and troubled by your failing health, financial situation, marriage/relationship, and the state of your family? Do you feel helpless and incapable to cope with everything that is happening in your life? Do you feel cornered by a chain of events that tend to sink you deeper into a situation and you are not able to see an escape route? Are you depressed and despondent because of the turn of events in your life? Are there times when you are driven crazy with feelings of guilt, shame, helplessness and confusion? Are you presently asking yourself what on earth God is doing in heaven that he cannot send help to you? Are you weary, weak, burdened, vulnerable and fragile? Then, Jesus is speaking to you today! 

Each one of us has one problem or another. There is no one with a perfect life, not even the Pope, or a billionaire has an uninterrupted, altogether perfect life. So, since there is no one with a problem and burden free life, it is appropriate to always sit at the feet of the Lord and hear his invitation, “Come to me!” If you are tired of carrying that burden, Jesus is gently inviting you, “Come to me… and I will give you rest.” 

Jesus also invites us to take my yoke upon you and learn from me. He tasks us to take his yoke upon our shoulders. A yoke is a wooden beam normally used between two oxen or other animals to enable them pull together a load when working together. A yoke brings two animals into submission to do the work their owner wants them to do. Jesus is inviting us to accept his yoke. He says “My yoke is easy.” The Greek word for “easy” can mean “well-fitting.” So, what the Lord is basically saying is “My yoke fits well.” That is, the life I give you is not a burden to hinder you. Whatever God sends to us is made to fit our needs and abilities. God will never give you more than you can handle. In 1 Corinthians 10:13, St. Paul says, “Every test that you have experienced is the kind that normally comes to people. But God keeps his promise, and he will not allow you to be tested beyond your power to remain firm, at the time you are put to the test, he will give you the strength to endure it, and so provide you with a way out.” Jesus also says that “My burden is light.” This does not mean that the burdens of life are easy to carry. It does not mean that trials, pains and sufferings of life are easy to carry. It means that whatever trials the Lord allows us to experience is laid on us in love. We are to carry them in love, and love makes even the heaviest burden light. 

May you find rest and peace in God!