I will give you rest

“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.”

Matthew 11:28 - 29

Most of us dabble with the law on occasions – most often in dealing with parking and speeding fines. We all know something of the law as it relates to real estate, consumer affairs, traffic, industrial relations, marriage and family. In fact, it is hard to imagine if there are any aspects of our lives, work and recreation that are not in some way impacted by the law. While we know the 613 mitzvot (or commandments) of the Jews became a yoke, the early Christians of Pentecost could not have anticipated the Church’s Code of Canon Law, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the various Councils, Declarations, Constitutions, Instructions, which guide the faithful.

The Church’s output, however, cannot match the legislation produced by Australia’s ten parliaments (this includes New Norfolk’s Legislative Assembly)! The law, of whatever variety, surrounds us and immerse us. Thus, when things go wrong we invariably call on an expert to divine the way for us, to clarify, to test, to remedy.

The desire for freedom is expressed no better than the youth who leaves home for good, the rules and regulations which made up life in a family fall away, and every choice is a self-directed choice – when to eat, sleep, study, watch TV. This is most often freedom from. The exhilaration can be euphoric, and maturity becomes a mere acceptance of rules and norms. True maturity in fact means quite the opposite, if is freedom for - for others, for consideration, the environment, the community.

Jesus had an incisively clear view of the imposts that the law had upon the ordinary person. It could easily become a heavy yoke, it could bear down and make life difficult. For Jesus there was a single purpose for the law: the love of the Lord. And when this purpose was lost sight of, obeying the law itself was meaningless. It was his desire that we should be set free from these burdens in order to be free for the service of God and our fellows. Not so that we could do as we willed or what satisfied us, it was, is, and will remain, as freedom for. And most extraordinarily, the burden that lifted from our shoulders will be carried by Jesus himself.