Today’s Gospel gives us the second half of that passage which we have heard twice in prior weeks. Again, it is the typical passage used for the Anointing of the Sick. It is especially the part that we hear today that speaks to those who need this sacrament.
Jesus says, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.”
Keep in mind that this speaks especially to those who are suffering.
Jesus says to take his yoke upon us. Not just any yoke, but his yoke. It is his yoke because he carried it already in his life and Passion. He knows it well. He asks us to carry it. While it is possible to have a single yoke for just one animal to pull a load, it is more common to have a yoke that allows two animals to share the load. Jesus asks us to take one part of a double yoke because he will be the second one helping us.
In being yoked to Jesus in carrying our load, or really in carrying our cross, we have Jesus accompanying us. We learn from Jesus because we learn the pace at which to go. We learn from him because of our closeness to him as we both bear this burden. We learn what perfection in human nature looks like because we see it up close in Jesus Christ. And, through this experience, we learn more about the heart of Jesus Christ.
Inside the heart of Jesus, there is infinite goodness and compassion. He is meek and humble of heart. He cares so much for us that he humbled himself to become one of us. God the Son took on the nature of his creatures. He allowed himself to be executed in one of the cruelest ways possible. And he did this for us. He humbled himself that we might be exalted.
We are called to experience the heart of Jesus by being yoked to him in this life. We learn from him. And we can then reflect the heart of Jesus to others in the love that we show them, in the compassion that we have for them, and the way in which we accompany them.
Are we doing our part to cultivate an interior life that accepts this yoke? How does our own yoke give us insight into the heart of Jesus? Do we recognize our call to reflect Jesus’ love and care for us toward others?