Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mt 11:25-30
July 9, 2023

The glossy cover of a magazine caught my attention while I was in the checkout line of the grocery store. The picture showed a picnic table filled with all kinds of amazing looking food. The caption promised the easiest and the least expensive recipes to ensure the “BEST 4th of JULY EVER!”

I was inspired!

As soon as I arrived home, I called a few friends and invited them to my house for what I hoped would be the “BEST 4th of JULY EVER!” And so began the heavy lifting…shopping, hauling the grocery bags into the house, finding room in the refrigerator for the perishables…cleaning the house. All that even before the cooking began. By the time my friends arrived, I was exhausted. Still, I was determined to do my best to see that they had a good time…and they seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

“BEST 5th of JULY EVER!”

I got up very, very late…drank a pot of coffee…and then back to bed. Actually, one of my friends called to thank me for hosting, and I admitted: “You caught me napping.” And he said: YOU EARNED THE REST!

YOU EARNED THE REST!

Those few words got me thinking about the powerful message in today’s Readings.

The passage from Zechariah is a little like that glossy magazine cover that promised a wonderful celebration! Through the Prophet, God is offering a vision of the joyful celebration of something that the people had been waiting for…longing for…anxiously anticipating…for many generations: The coming of the Messiah. The image of the celebration serves to inspire hope as well as the determination to continue to prepare to welcome this new King.

The arrival of the Messiah would definitely be a cause for celebration because God promised that He would win perfect freedom for all people. The One Who God promised would restore order, heal the wounds caused by the first sin and division, and initiate an age of peace and justice for all. What’s not to celebrate?

In our Gospel, Matthew is explaining that Jesus is the One…this new King…a new kind of King…one humble but more powerful than any other ruler…powerful enough to claim control over all of creation.

Jesus, The “Just Savior,” began a spiritual and social revolutionary war for independence from anything that threatens the freedom that The Creator intended for us when this world was called into being. The victory was not won with swords and spears, or guns and rockets…. but with the most powerful weapon of all…LOVE! Jesus did all of the “heavy lifting” so that all creation could experience the freedom that God wants for us…and His only weapons were mercy, forgiveness, healing, and unconditional LOVE!

Having declared our independence from the oppressive forces that enslave us, The Lord invites his followers to continue the resistance against anyone or anything that attempts to take back what He has won for us. The heavy lifting is done, but the work continues…and it’s on us to see that it gets done.

Here is the Good News: Our work…our part in this spiritual revolution is made easy by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. The Spirit ensures that we are never exhausted… because a Holy Spirit is inexhaustible. And when we do our best to cooperate with The Holy Spirit… someday, we can hope to be invited into an eternal celebration… where the Lord will welcome us with the words: YOU EARNED THE REST…ETERNAL REST!

As Matthew’s Gospel continues to unfold during the summer, we will hear how The Lord encourages us, His followers, to engage in the ongoing spiritual revolution so that we do not lose the freedom He has won for us.

Over the coming months, we will hear, as well, the many reasons we have to celebrate. And we are invited each week to do just that…to celebrate in the best possible of ways…by coming together for The Eucharist.

The Lord has done the heavy lifting, giving us a reason to celebrate, and He has also prepared the celebration for us…the Eucharist…truly “the best celebration ever!”