Acceptance or rejection of Jesus and his message is crucial because of who he is. And if we want to know who Jesus really is, all we need do is reflect on the opening verses of today's Gospel, because they assert Jesus' identity in unmistakable terms.
Jesus addresses himself in a prayer of thanksgiving to the Father, rejoicing that the ministry he performs reveals God's unconditional love especially for the poor and the alienated (“the little ones”). He is the Son to whom alone has been given full knowledge/relationship with the Father.
This is His identity. It is not just what He does. It is who He is. Jesus is the image of God and if we want to know what the Kingdom of God is all about, we need to look no further.
To know this kingdom and make it real, we need to do what Jesus did. The yoke that Jesus asks us to bear is the willingness to be as fierce an advocate for our brothers and sisters as He was. The yoke that he bequeaths to us is the strength of our desire to work for the poor, the sick and the marginalized and to uphold the dignity of life no matter what the cost. The yoke that we bear is the power of our embrace of one another, no matter how different from us they may be. The yoke of Christ that we all share is measured by how determined we are and to what lengths we are willing to go.
Here in the United States we are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation. Over a century ago our nation held open its doors to millions of immigrants who sailed past the Statue of Liberty into what they hoped was a land of freedom and opportunity. On the base of that statue is a poem by Emma Lazarus that gives Liberty a voice:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Many of us are descendants of those immigrants. We know first-hand that welcoming these immigrants and accepting the diversity of races, creeds, and cultures did not diminish our country but strengthened it.
But we also know that our immigration system is broken. We should, then, as Christians and Americans, work to fix it. As people of faith, we believe that this country and our freedom are gifts from God, and we must acknowledge those gifts not by hoarding them but by sharing them.
Ultimately, we are who we are. Struggling, unsettled, trying to love, trying to be as compassionate as the Master, trying to listen - sometimes longing for solutions, other times filled with hope. And while we may not find this burden easy or light, it is enough to know that Christ has promised us rest and peace.
