Who are the people who wait for rulers to come and save them? It seems the Hebrews are such people. It’s a reoccurring theme in the Old Testament and part of this Sunday’s first reading, “shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, meek, and riding on an ass.” Why is the savior king riding an ass and not a horse? When riding out to conquer strong enemies kings ride aggressive warhorses. When they ride in as victorious saviors to the adulation of countrymen they ride meek donkeys. In a sense, the animal symbolizes the people the king intends to rule.
Metaphorically and realistically, there is a difference between being ruled as mighty steads by a warhorse riding king and being ruled as a bunch of donkeys by an ass riding king. And yet, in both circumstances, people are being ruled. People are being ruled by a kingly class who claim to be our saviors and expect us to wait on them. We wait on rulers who are themselves a weight. Rulers are a burden whom we the peaceful people, meek laboring donkey types, need to off-load. This is today’s Gospel message, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.” The rest Jesus promises is from the weight of being ruled. We do not need warrior rulers who devise battle plans and war strategies so as to rule over people. We do not need them to rule over us, nor to steal our money and our resources to pay for their battles and wars. We do not need them to rescue us from other rulers who steal their people’s money and resources to wage war . Rulers are all of one like-minded warrior peer group. We need to be free of the violent rule they all sanctify. It is sociopathic. Kings will never rescue people from their kingly system; they will only weigh us down with it. We need to rescue ourselves from kingship’s burdensome rule and we need to do so together. We thereby lighten our load. It is the reason why Jesus follows up his invitation to rest not with idleness but with a shared mission. He says, “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.” Together, we are the rescuers we have been waiting for. We are the meek donkeys who have unburdened ourselves of a royal pain in the ass to take up a shared mission. We are the little ones to whom freedom is revealed, “you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned and you have revealed them to the little ones.”
“I’m holding on. Why is everything so heavy? Holding on. So much more than I can carry. I keep dragging around what’s bringing me down If I just let go, I’d be set free.” (Heavy – Linkin Park) (R.I.P Chester Bennington)
Prayer: Spirit, guide us in a mission of togetherness.
Question: In what ways do citizens of nations parallel battered wives syndrome, coerced into a paralyzing long term relationship with what’s killing them?
July 9, 2017 Gospel Matthew 11:25-30 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time