It’s been three months since Palm Sunday, and the first reading today reminds us about a familiar event. At the entrance liturgy of Palm Sunday, we read from the prophet Zephaniah: “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion; shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you, a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass” (Zechariah 9:9). When Zephaniah announced the coming of this new king centuries before the coming of Christ, the Israelites had spent some 300 years as slaves in Babylon; and even as he spoke they were under bitter persecution by the Greeks who conquered and imposed Greek faith, customs and rules. A Jew hearing Zephaniah’s prophecy would think that the prophet had been out in the sun for far too long to suggest that they should, of all things, ‘rejoice.’ And what kind of king would come riding on an ass, when other victors rode on chariots and horses? But it’s the role of the prophet to see what’s hidden from the wise and learned. In fulfilment of this prophecy, Jesus invites the people (us) to come to Him with their (our) burdens and He’ll give them (us) rest. Referencing the beast of burden, He asks them to lay down their yoke and take upon them His own yoke, which He declares is easy; and His burden, which is light. Completely confusing stuff! Isn’t it?
Years ago when there were no trucks and tractors to dig and hurl dirt and other building materials, much of construction work was done with the aid of an instrument called yoke. What the yoke did was tie two animals together so that their combined strength could pull a wagon filled with dirt or stone or other heavy equipment that humans were incapable of pulling. In the plantations, it was the combined strength of slaves that pulled the plow. Hence, the word yoke symbolized and is associated with slavery and servitude. Many times in the scripture, the Jewish law would be referred to as a yoke. Yes, the law– both Jewish and some of our own laws—often turn into burdens to be endured. It isn’t really a great sobriquet to call our country “a nation of laws.” I vote for “a nation of love,” with hope some love is left in our toxic public discourse.
Jesus asks two things from us: to come to Him and to learn from Him. First is to come to Him; an invitation that reveals our helpless condition as people who are burdened with multitude of yokes—the overpowering yoke of slavery to sin and death, the crushing yoke of indebtedness to our flesh’s insatiability, the heavy and painful yoke of loneliness of minds wrapped in self-absorption, the pulverizing yoke of searching for relevance in a self-enclosed world (with its smug self-satisfaction), and the suffocating yoke of solidarity with worldly cleverness and scientific progress, seeking to topple all vestiges of faith. Second, Jesus asks us to learn from Him to liberate ourselves from these yoke so we may not resign to them or capitulate. He asks us to learn from Him how to develop the full potential of our souls, rather than lock ourselves up in a world that cannot truly satisfy our longings. Learning from Him assures that the things that are overwhelming burdens for the so-called learned and clever in the world will become life-building for us, thanks to the action of His Spirit.
Finally, Jesus says He’ll partner with us in bearing our burdens. The primary use of the yoke is to join two animals together so that no one animal pulls the plow or the wagon alone. The essence of the incarnation is this partnership between Jesus and us in bearing our burdens. In this sense, the yoke doesn’t just connect two irrational beasts. A new yoke fashioned by the Lord Himself joins us with Him to pull this wagon ...all the troubles in our life. He made a definite promise at the Last Supper that, as long as we choose to partner with Him, He wouldn’t leave us orphans (Jn 14:18). So, whose yoke do you prefer: the devil’s, the world’s, the one fashioned by your hand ...or the Lord’s?
Fr. Chukwudi Jo Okonkwo