In
the Torah, under which Jesus lived, there were many laws and rules, and these
were supplemented by centuries of interpretations of the Torah that regulated
virtually every possible detail of human behavior.
While
the Law is meant to bring Jews into right relationship with God and with
others, any set of rules can become oppressive.
Part
of the responsibility of the religious authorities is to see that religious and
spiritual laws are obeyed. Jesus wanted to lift some of these legal burdens.
Many
of you would probably tell me that the heaviest burden of your lives in the old
days was your religion.
People
used to agonize about going to hell if they went to communion after having had
a speck of water touch their tongues after midnight.
How
many people agonized over the sin committed by missing Mass even if they were
sick or had to care for a sick parent or child?
I
still have people confessing just that.
To
be honest about it all, there are still a lot of the Pharisee in our own
religion.
New
rules about this or that keep being issued.
And
it drives be crazy.
As
one bishop said to a large gathering of priests B
in another diocese, not ours: "These new rules have more to do with
authority exerting itself than anything remotely associated with God."
All
of you can come up with your own examples.
But
it is true B the
rules of religion can turn us into legalistic neurotics instead of freed
children of God.
One
of my greatest joys as a homilist is to help you understand that
a loving God understands the heavy burdens you bear in life:
raising
children, worrying about drugs in schools, taking care of elderly parents,
single parents working at two jobs to support their children,
fear
of a job loss, crime in the neighborhoods, guns everywhere, the high cost of
education and medical care, to name a few.
Most
of you end up in these pews having spent an exhausting week out in the world.
The
last thing you want to hear from the pulpit is a road map for a guilt trip!
And you=re
not getting it from me today.
Jesus
tries to sweep away the rubble of such thinking.
"Come
to me all you who are weary and heavy burdened and I will give you rest."
True
religion empowers us to live a life of joy through contemplation, a sense of
awe, a feeling of God's presence, all translated into good works for others.
As
someone said "resting in God can give us the inner strength to live life
to the full, with all its joys and struggles."
If
we want to be confident we=re
straight with God, all we need to do is examine our relationships with the
people around us B
our
families, the people we work with, the poor, the neglected, the forsaken in our
world.
Are
we doing all we can to help them?
If
we are, we=re all
right with God.
If
we aren’t, we=ve got a
problem that=s worth
worrying about.
And
maybe something to bring to confession that=s
worth talking about.
So
I=m not being facetious when I say ALoosen up.@
When
we accept the invitation "to come to me, you who are burdenedY."
we
catch a glimpse of God and a revelation of Who and what God is like.
When
we ignore God=s
invitation, all we have to look forward to is a life of heavy burdens and bags
under our eyes.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Add