Three invitations from Jesus

Matthew’s Gospel has recorded three invitations from Jesus that we his followers have to listen to attentively, for they can transform the climate of discouragement, weariness, boredom that sometimes prevails in some sectors of our communities. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”  It is the first invitation.  It is addressed to those who live their religion as a heavy burden. Christians who live burdened by their conscience are not few.  They are not great sinners.  They simply have been taught to always have their sin before them and they do not know the joy of God’s continuous forgiveness.  If they meet Jesus, they will feel relieved.

There are also Christians who are tired of living their religion as a worn-out tradition.  If they meet Jesus, they will learn to feel at home living with God.  They will discover an inner joy that they do not know at present.  They will follow Jesus, not out of obligation, but out of attraction.

“Take my yoke upon you …, for my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”  This is the second invitation.  Jesus does not weigh anyone down.  On the contrary, he sets free the best in us, since he recommends that we live a more human, dignified and wholesome life.  It is not easy to find a more passionate way of living.

Jesus frees from fear and pressure and does not bring them; he makes our freedom grow, not our servitude; he awakens in us trust, never sadness; he draws us toward love, not toward laws and precepts.  He invites us to live doing good.

“Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you will find rest for yourselves.”  This is the third invitation.  We have to learn from Jesus how to live like him.  Jesus does not complicate our life.  He makes it clearer and simpler, more humble and more wholesome.  He offers rest.  He never sets before his followers something that he has not lived himself.  He invites us to follow him on the same road that he has traveled.  That is why he can understand our difficulties and our endeavors; he can forgive our blunders and our faults, always encouraging us to get up.

We need to focus our efforts on promoting a more lively contact with Jesus in so many men and women who are in need of encouragement, rest and peace.  It saddens me to see that it is precisely their way of understanding and living religion that leads not a few people, almost inevitably, not to know the experience of trusting in Jesus.  I think of so many people, both within and outside of the Church, who are “lost” in life, not knowing at what door to knock.  I know that Jesus can be the great news for them.

José Antonio Pagola

July 6, 2014
14 Ordinary Time (A)
Matthew 11, 25-30