“Come to me, all you that labor, and are burdened, and I will refresh you. Take up my yoke upon you, and learn of me, because I am meek, and humble of heart: and you shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is sweet and my burden light.”
There are many senses to the term labor here in Jesus’ encouragement. It could be that you labor in the difficulties and trials of this life: “Cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life” (Genesis 3:17); “Again I hated all my application wherewith I had earnestly laboured under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 2:18). Alternatively, it could be your conscience laboring under the weight of its guilt due to sin: “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: I am turned in my anguish, whilst the thorn is fastened” (Psalm 31:4). In another sense, it could be walking under the heavy yoke of the Law, simply following rules: “For the letter killeth, but the spirit quickeneth” (2 Corinthians 3:6); this is the meaning of the man by the pool in Bethsaida: “And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity” (John 5:5), for the number forty represents a number of completion, and without the two precepts of charity, the love of God and love of neighbor, one’s life falls short and lies paralyzed under the yoke of the Law. Now, “the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14), and “we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully,” because “the law is not made for the just man, but for the unjust and disobedient, for the ungodly, and for sinners” (1 Timothy 1:8-9), for the commandments of God are like medicine given to the sick, that they may walk in integrity of life, but this is merely to “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the wilderness the paths of our God” (Isaias 40:3), because the life of grace is friendship with God. Finally, this could be the labor of carrying a broken heart within oneself: “And behold a woman who was troubled with an issue of blood” from a hemorrhaging heart “twelve years” (Matthew 9:20). For all of these, the Eternal Fountain of Love calls you to approach Him, for it is love that gives strength and vigor to one’s work: “Whatsoever you do, do it from the heart, as to the Lord, and not to men: knowing that you shall receive of the Lord the reward of inheritance” (Colossians 3:23-24), which is love; “Let all your things be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:14). Love takes away the weight of shame and guilt: “He removed his back from the burdens” (Psalm 80:7). Walking in love rather than fear or obedience animates your spirit: “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and of sobriety” (2 Timothy 1:7); “Jesus saith to him: ‘Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.’ And immediately the man was made whole” (John 5:8-9); “But now we are loosed from the law of death, wherein we were detained; so that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:6). It is love that heals the heart that has been seeking it: “[The Lord] healeth the broken of heart, and bindeth up their bruises” (Psalm 146:3). Jesus calls the hurting to Himself, not for punishment, but that they may drink of His love: “’Woman, where are they that accused thee? Hath no man condemned thee?’ Who said: ‘No man, Lord.’ And Jesus said: ‘Neither will I condemn thee. Go, and now sin no more” (John 8:10-11); “I came not to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 12:47). The love of Jesus is an overwhelming river: “It was a torrent, which I could not pass over: for the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over” (Ezechiel 47:5) that longs to give you inner refreshment, affection, and peace of heart: “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me” (John 14:1); “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). Drinking of this abundant fountain: “The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus” (Canticle 4:15); “He that shall drink of the water that I will give him, shall not thirst for ever” (John 4:13) then calls you into a radical love of others: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). The most purgative yet short way to heaven is to leave everyone you encounter happier and more loved than when you found them; to walk the path of a perpetual “I love you” leaves the heavily trod pathway of imitation and formula: “If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds” (Canticle 1:7), in favor of running straight up the mountain: “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths” (Isaias 2:3), through the thickets and brambles of others. This is what St. Paul meant when he said, “Be zealous for the better gifts. And I shew unto you yet a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). This is the yoke of Christ, a life lived entirely on love, for love brings about true meekness and humility. It is love for another that submits you to them: “For the Son of man also is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a redemption for many” (Mark 10:45) and puts you in the lowest place: “But when thou art invited, go, sit down in the lowest place” (Luke 14:10), ah, but how shining and radiant is this poverty of spirit: “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3), because in this you are united to Jesus, loving the Beloved and drinking constantly from His cistern: “And the spirit and the bride say: ‘Come.’ And he that thirsteth, let him come: and he that will, let him take the water of life, freely” (Apocalypse 22:17). This life is the one that brings rest to your soul, because you long for one thing beyond all else, which is to love and be loved: “My grace is sufficient for thee” (2 Corinthians 12:9); “It is better to be invited to herbs with love, than to a fatted calf with hatred” (Proverbs 15:17). This way of life is a sweet yoke, a light burden, for to love and be loved: “And we have known, and have believed the love, which God hath to us” (1 John 4:16); “Every one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God” (1 John 4:7), refuse evil: “Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk: and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon” (Psalm 90:13); “Begone, Satan” (Matthew 4:10), choose the good, the greatest act of love in front of you: “Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good” (Romans 12:21), and live a life that prefigures heaven by love and praise: “Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43) is a reward far greater than anything the world offers: “Charge the rich of this world not to be highminded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God, (who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy)” (1 Timothy 6:17). It is love that removes the burden, for just as Jesus counted His passion as a trifle in comparison for His love for you, or a mother endures much affliction as nothing out of love for her child, so too does love animate you, that you may count what others see to be heavy and burdensome as light and sweet. Love is its own reward, and the love of God guides you on a path of righteousness: “Blessed are they that keep judgment, and do justice at all times” (Psalm 105:3), true good: “He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good” (Isaias 7:15), wisdom: “I will shew thee the way of wisdom, I will lead thee by the paths of equity: which when thou shalt have entered, thy steps shall not be straitened” (Proverbs 4:11-12), and flourishing of spirit: “I am come that they may have life, and may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). Therefore, Theophila, feast on love, for this is the burden of the Lord, that you receive His endless, perfect love and love ceaselessly in turn: “But he that keepeth his word, in him in very deed the love of God is perfected; and by this we know that we are in him” (1 John 2:5).