14th Sunday in Ordinary Time A
Readings: Zechariah 9:9‑10 Romans 8:9,11‑13 Matthew 11:25‑30
Our culture tends to seek security through military might and mental cleverness, but today's readings invite us to follow the gentle and humble Jesus who offers himself as the very Wisdom of God. In gratitude for Jesus' "easy" yoke of wisdom let us sing the refrain of this Sunday's responsorial psalm: "I will praise your name forever, my king and my God" (Ps 145).
The first reading is from an oracle in the Book of Zechariah which speaks in apocalyptic fashion of God's coming as a powerful warrior to establish a kingdom of peace for Zion/Jerusalem (ch. 9). In the midst of the vision "daughter Zion" is invited to rejoice in the coming of the Messianic king. In contrast to the expectations for a warrior Messiah (see Ps 2) who might come on a horse, the mount in time of war, the Book of Zechariah envisions the Messiah coming upon an ass, the ordinary mount in peace time, as a humble king of peace and a just savior who will banish the implements of war.
See, your king shall come to you;
a just savior is he,
meek, and riding on an ass,
on a colt, the foal of an ass . . .
He shall banish the chariot from Ephraim,
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The warrior's bow shall be banished,
and he shall proclaim peace to the nations.
When Jesus, at the end of his ministry, enters Jerusalem riding an ass, Matthew will note that Jesus acts in fulfillment of this passage (Matt 21:1‑11).
In the second reading Paul is speaking to the Roman Christians about the liberating effects on them of Jesus' death and resurrection. Formerly, they had been in the "flesh," given over to their lower instincts which lead only to sin and death. But now, because of Christ's victory over sin and death, they are "in the spirit," and their mortal bodies are also destined for resurrection.
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
dwells in you, then he who raised Christ from the
dead will bring your mortal bodies to life also
through his Spirit dwelling in you.
In light of Christ’s victory, Paul exhorts the Roman Christians to affirm the life‑giving power of God's Spirit which dwells in them and to put to death the evil deeds of the body.
We are debtors, then, brethren‑‑ but not to the flesh,
so that we should live according to the flesh.
If you live according to the flesh, you will die;
but if by the spirit you put to death the evil deeds
of the body, you will live.
The Gospel reading from Matthew is made up of two parts: Jesus' prayer of thanksgiving to the Father and his invitation to those "who are weary and find life burdensome" to come to him and find rest. Both parts are closely tied to the immediate context in the gospel and to Matthew's theology.
In the prayer Jesus contrasts “the learned and the clever” with “the merest children.” “The learned and clever” are the religious leaders who in the next chapter will accuse Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul when he allows his hungry disciples to pluck grain on Sabbath and when he heals a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath (Matt 12:1‑32). Their stringent legalism keeps them from receiving Jesus as the gentle servant who brings the very Wisdom and revelation of God.
“The merest children” are the needy (lepers, possessed, paralytics, the blind, the deaf and mute, tax collectors, sinners, and Jesus' rag‑tag disciples) who have found in his healing ministry and teaching the very revelation and Wisdom of God (chs. 8‑11). To them Jesus, like Lady Wisdom in Proverbs and Sirach, offers the further invitation to take upon themselves the gentle yoke of God's wisdom which he himself exemplifies in his teaching (chs. 5‑7) and his actions (chs. 8‑11).
Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you
and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke
is easy, and my burden light.
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