A Mission of Mercy

Gospel: Matthew 11: 28-30

In today's Gospel portion Jesus declares that his mission to the world is to ease the burden of those who are oppressed and heavy laden, to provide rest for a weary people.  Galilee was a place sorely oppressed by Roman rule.  Most of the population was forced into hard labor for little pay.  They received little consolation from their co-religionists who by and large were mere puppets of the imperial regime.  Revolts and uprisings were fairly common, acts of desperation for a desperate people.

If the mission of Jesus is to provide comfort, rest, and ease of the burden of people, it is somewhat strange to see so many people who boast the title of Christian or Catholic who revel in creating such horrid conditions for human beings around the globe.  They create the conditions of war that create refugees.  They oppress developing nations, creating the conditions for migration and immigration, and yet will not help these poor desperate folks in any way.  Moreover, they revel in punishing those who seek to provide that help.

It is our task as Christians to carry on this mission of Jesus, the mission of mercy to ease burdens, provide rest and care for oppressed peoples, to liberate the downtrodden.  Such work will face opposition from the world and those claiming to be our coreligionists, just as it did for Jesus.  The journey to Bethlehem is one of constant rejection, of being pushed to the peripheries in order to bring Jesus into the world.  It was then, and it is so today.