Zechariah 9:9 (NRSV Updated Edition)
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Matthew 11:25-30 (NRSV Updated Edition)
At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
~
"Back in 2005 we moved to Lancaster, PA. As I sit here writing this from my home office, I can look out my window and watch the Amish farmer across the way plowing his field with mules. The mules are yoked together with the farmer riding the plow behind them. The yoke functions to keep the mules from going in directions different than the farmer would have them go. I am told that when a young mule is first learning to plow a field, they team him up with a veteran mule that has plowed the field for many years. This way the younger mule learns how to respond to the farmer's guidance because when the older mule turns, the younger mule has to go the same way, the yoke making it impossible for him to go another.
"In the same way, we are yoked with Jesus who knows the Abba's will. When the Father moves the reins in a certain direction Jesus responds and we respond not by choosing, nor out of our own initiative but simply by submitting to the yoke. The only choice we make is to be yoked with Jesus. After that it is no longer about choice but about something entirely different. It is about “trust.”
[Discussion of yoke in 1st Century Jewish context, including citation of several Mishnah sayings, where rabbis use the image of yoke, sometimes for Torah and sometimes for imperial oppression.]
"It's not an either/or when it comes to Jesus' offer. The Mishnah saying above combines the two possibilities of Torah and Empire as backgrounds for the word “yoke.” Whether religion or Empire (culture) we are under “the rule of law.” Western jurisprudence grew out of religious taboo. Jesus' yoke takes us out from under the rule of law, religiously conceived, and places us in the rule of love. Our ethics, our social behavior is normed by Jesus, not by an abstract set of morals, values or mores.
"This means that our choices are developed from a living intimate relationship with Jesus, not from a codebook. Ethics is no longer a question of trying to figure out right and wrong, it is about living in relationship with others in the same manner that Jesus lived in relation to others."
- Michael Hardin, The Jesus Driven Life (2nd Ed), pp. 86-88
~
In his homily for "Sunday 14 in Ordinary Time Year A" (as this week is called in the Roman Catholic lectionary), James Alison points out the apparent contradiction in the Zechariah verse above: at least the way we normally see things, one who is "triumphant and victorious" is not one who is "humble and riding on a donkey," the two images don't fit together in our concepts. He also highlights that the Matthew passage above comes right after the story of John the Baptist sending messengers to Jesus to ask him if he is indeed the Messiah, because Jesus is not acting in the "triumphant and victorious" way that John expects the Messiah should act.
This story in Matthew 11 is followed by Jesus comparing certain contemporary towns with ancient cities which had 'mythical' destruction stories, saying that if "the deeds of power" done by Jesus had been done in those ancient cities the people would have repented. Jesus is trying to convey to them that the way of the Father is not violence and destruction of the wicked, but a meek and humble man displaying true divine "power" which is entirely non-violent, gentle and life-giving.
I also think that the link between the two paragraphs of the Matthew text is significant: it is in Jesus knowing the Father that he is the one who can give rest to the weary and heavy laden. The way of Jesus, the 'yoke' of Jesus, is the way of coming to discover the utter gentleness and unconditional love of the Father, in whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), from whom we need fear no condemnation or punishment, in whom we can find true and complete rest for our souls, free of any threat, or any need to perform or hide who we really are.
~
"“At that time Jesus declared, 'I thank thee Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to babes.” He's saying, “Do you know, actually I realize that no one is gonna get who I am. People seriously are expecting something to come with violence. It would make sense to them if I were to go all 'Sodom and Gomorrah' on them. They seem to be unable to understand that it's tiny, little, gentle, peaceful bringing things in being. That completely breaks their oppositional bindings because it shows them to be completely moot. Those are the things that show that I am the Creator. [...] Not even John the Baptist [gets it], not the people among whom I was doing all these works. Tiny little babies get it, they haven't yet reached adult complication, but everyone else is stuck in notions of good and bad and violence. It's difficult for them to see that I am bringing things into being for them on their behalf and that this is what the Father looks like. He is showing people, through me, what He's like. It's only if I share with those people what I am doing that they will get a glimpse of who the Father really is.”
"It's this astounding gentleness that we find so hard to get. So then he says, “Come to me all who labour and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” He's saying all of us tied up in our complexities are fighting about things, including our desperate keenness to be good. He says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart.” [...] 'Lowly' is the same word which is used both of the humble one coming on the donkey and of meek Moses - Moses was the meekest. Jesus is saying, “You want to know what the real meekness behind Moses' meekness looks like? This is it. I'm not here to put demands on you. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. You're not going to be ridden by a foreign invader, you're not going to find yourselves forced into becoming someone you are not by having to obey things that are extrinsic to you. My yoke is easy, my burden is light. You will be [...] indwelt by my Spirit, which will enable you to become even more who you are than you were able to think of. And this will be done so gently that even you will find it difficult to imagine the sign of work in you, bringing you to life - such is the gentleness of my Father."
- James Alison, from video "Homily for Sunday 14 in Ordinary Time Year A" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEbhfOP8Efw)
[Source of Michael Hardin quote, and for analysis and discussion on all the lectionary texts for this Sunday, see also: http://girardianlectionary.net/reflections/year-a/proper_9a/]
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