14th Sunday Year A - Homily 6

Homily 6 - 2020

Jesus was talking to “all you who labour and are over-burdened”. I don’t know who will be viewing this. Some of you may even have been put out of work — and that can be particularly distressing. Yet, despite that, I guess that most people yearn for more spare time, the “rest” Jesus guaranteed. 

Jesus suggested a way to avoid the constant pressure. “Come to me”, he said. Then he added, “Learn from me”. But who has time to fit that in? I don’t think it helped when he self-identified as “gentle and humble of heart”. That seems like inviting people to walk all over you. Fortunately, it need not mean that. For a start,“gentle” can be simply “non-aggressive” or “non-violent”; and non-aggressive involve no more than keeping free of the expectations of others — respecting them but not getting trapped in their obsessions. “Humble of heart” can be better understood as not needing to “be better than” or to “look better than” — “at home in your own skin”, secure enough to not get sucked into the rat-race. However, in today’s world, that can seem quite counter-cultural.

Jesus’ solution, “Come to me”, invites relationship, personal engagement — and, when real, it opens out to the possibility of realising you are truly loved, amazingly. Then you don’t need to perform. You don’t need to do what everyone else, in their insecurity, get enslaved by. That is the sort of thing you can “learn from” him if you let yourself get close. He teaches you to see the real.

How do you “come to him”? You would not be the first to have wondered. Ask someone whom you think might know. Or ask me! A hint: getting to know him well takes time —but don’t despair. There is always time to do what God in genuine love wants for you. That in itself is worth learning!