Work with Our Working God! This could be the title of one of those books that I think is inside of me and, hopefully, can come out and be a reality after my upcoming sabbatical. I believe that God is a worker and that God is constantly at work in us through the power of life that we have been given – by the very God who worked to create us. God’s work in us is most powerfully manifest by the Holy Spirit working in and through us. I see faith as primarily a partnership between us and God. We work with God in bringing goodness, creativity, justice, life, joy, service, compassion, healing, hope, and much more into the world.
Faith is working WITH God, LIKE God and FOR God. In the first story of creation we see a God who works at creating light, the sea, animals, vegetation and other things, and after each work of creation God steps back and reflects on his work and is able to affirm that it is good. We should follow the same pattern. Work hard – stop – step back and reflect – then go to work again. Ultimately God creates human life, and steps back and says, “It is VERY good!” May we all work to see the very good in each other.
Working like God also means starting with God’s love for us and remembering that God loved us first. The most important thing that enables us to work in a meaningful way is to believe that God’s love for us is more foundational than our love for God. You can see 1 John 4:10 for more details.
Working for God means many things, including what Jesus tells us in this week’s Gospel – that he is the ultimate source of revealing God to the world. Working for God often means working for Jesus Christ and the Gospel values of spiritual challenge that Jesus espoused. One of those challenges is given in this week’s Gospel – namely that what has been hidden from the learned and the clever has been revealed to the little ones. A mysterious challenge, to say the least.
But the final image in this passage from Matthew is perhaps the most intriguing. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest…For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” At first glance this may be confusing because it indicates the easiness of the Lord’s burden and yoke. Last week we heard that being a disciple and following Christ means picking up your cross, and Lord knows that is difficult, even very difficult at times. This, along with a lot of work related terms, implies hardship. Synonyms for work include labor, toil, strain and more.
I was often intrigued while playing basketball (and other sports) that the strenuous physical activity of running, jumping, communicating with fellow teammates, executing strenuous activity, and then having to have a soft touch in the act of shooting a basketball are very difficult athletic moves that require work – both physical and mental. What intrigued me was, and is, the fact that the same work seems easy when you are winning by 20 points, and excruciatingly painful when you are losing by 20 points. The exact same cadre of skills and exertion sometimes seems easy, and sometimes seems very difficult.
So – back to working with the working God and the easiness of the Lord’s burden. A yoke is not only a word for burden, but it is also a piece of rudimentary farming equipment that is most popularly used with two animals side by side. The use of the words “my yoke” by Jesus naturally implies that we are not working alone. When two work together the work is easier. When two work side by side, more can be accomplished, and the sometimes strenuous task is made easier.
I am also intrigued with the saying, “If you find something you love doing, you will never work a day in your life.” I understand that on a number of levels, the most important one being that I love being a priest, and often it does not seem at all like work. But there are aspects of every career, calling and vocation that are difficult, and areas of all of our lives that sometimes require work to improve or to grow. Also the statement appears to often overlook the work that people do to get to the point where they don’t appear to be working. I think of professional golfers who hit a ball very far and in other situations very accurately and it doesn’t appear that they are exerting themselves at all. Many masters at their craft work and execute in an effortless way that is truly a joy to behold. Again, consider the hours of practice that it took to get to that point; indeed, a lot of work led them to the point they are at now.
Jesus says take and learn about this in our Gospel this week. Take my yoke—work WITH me, FOR me and LIKE me, and learn to work for the most meaningful things in life, particularly those that last. See John 6:27 for more details
Our Teen Faith Ministering Community has been busy offering new programs for our college students who are home from college. One event is this Sunday, July 9, when our high school teens will challenge the college students to a softball game at Olmstead Park immediately following 4:00pm Mass. Join us for some fun!