Deuteronomy, Chapter
31, Verse 6
Be strong and steadfast; have no fear or dread of them, for it is the LORD, your God, who marches with you; he will
never fail you or forsake you.
Our sweet Lord asks us
to submit to His leadership. When we think we can do it on our own this is vanity,
pride or arrogance and this is when fear or dread steps in. He asks us to have
complete trust in Him for it is vanity to strive for perishable riches and to
fix our hopes on them.
Yet, how does one submit
to Christ’s leadership? When I first joined the Navy and again the Army, I was
before anything else, required to take an oath of enlistment.
"I, _____, do solemnly swear (or
affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States
against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the
United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to
regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."
The main points in the
oath are that we can apply to following Christ’s leadership is 1) you will
support and defend 2) you will bear true faith and allegiance and 3) that you
will obey to the death if need be. Nevertheless it is much easier said than
done and our Lord tells us, “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart.” (Mt. 11:29)
According to an old legend, Jesus was known as an expert
yoke maker. Having been trained as a carpenter by St. Joseph, he knew
just how to fashion a yoke to fit an ox perfectly. Perhaps it’s no
surprise, then, that the Greek word translated as “easy” in today’s gospel
passage, chrÄ“stos, also means “well-fitting.” Not only that, just as a
young ox learning to bear its burdens was paired with an older and more
experienced one, through the Incarnation and the Paschal Mystery, God paired us
with Jesus his Son, who shared fully in our human condition, even to the point
of suffering injustice, persecution and death. He’s been where we are.
He accepted the challenge of being human to show us how to truly live. If you
look at a yoke, it can seem rather ugly, cumbersome and painful. But one
that is well-made and fitted for us can enable us to pull even heavier and more
difficult loads; and if we have someone pulling alongside us, then the load is
made even easier.[1]
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