To Shatter My Yoke

 A Reflection on the First Reading for Sunday, January 22nd, 2023:
​The Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Isaiah
9.1-4

There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time the Lord brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness — on them light has shone. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.

For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

We have stepped through the door into 2023. It has been a long and gloomy few years with plenty of concerns, be they financial, health-based, emotional, or spiritual. I woke up on the last day of December (a day normally bursting with expectation and hopefulness) to the news that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had passed into glory. A sad note in a long string of sad notes over the last several years. My heart was burdened with sorrow.

And yet, the scriptures remind us that the gloom and darkness we’re enduring is not forever. That even now, a light is shining over us. The gloom is dispelled if we would but turn our eyes to His light, which is pouring all over us. The burdens we carry, the heavy yokes, are broken. Not being broken. Not about to be broken. Already broken. Our freedom is found not in clutching onto our burden, but in surrendering it to the Father. 

But why aren’t we lining up outside the confessional, ready to cast our burdens on the floor for the Father to pulverize? Why do I hide when the Father knocks at my door, offering light and joy? What sometimes holds me back from turning over my burdens is the thought that the Father will give me a penance heavier than my burden. I fear His discipline. I fear that the reaction of the Father will be wrath. I conceal the burden of my sin with fear and shame, knowing the consequences that should be due.

In the time after Pope Benedict’s passing, I discovered this beautiful and relevant passage from his 3 July 2011 Angelus address:  "Jesus promised he would give everyone 'rest,' but on one condition: 'Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart.' What is this 'yoke' which lightens instead of burdening, which instead of oppressing, uplifts? The 'yoke' of Christ is the law of love; it is his commandment which he bequeathed to his disciples."

This is the true fulfilment of the promise of Isaiah. He removes our yoke and offers us transformative grace as our new yoke. He exchanges our sin and despair for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and a seat at His table. When I bring Him my burdens, He doesn’t strike me down or punish me, He bends His love down to me and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, teaches me how to become more like Christ. When I fail, He takes that burden again, offering me more grace, more instruction, until I am fully within His love. It is the work of a lifetime, a training that takes every effort and every breath.

What am I waiting for? What is stopping me? I want the promises of God to be not just words on the page but truth and life within me. What better new year’s resolution than to accept that God is a Good Father, ready with the hammer not to crush me but to shatter my yoke.


​
Stephanie Potter

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