The first reading today from Zechariah (9:9-10) is unique in that it is fulfilled in both Jesus and Mary; we can see Jesus and Mary in it centuries before the New Testament. The first part of the reading looks forward to Our Lady: “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you.” (Zech 9:9) When the angel Gabriel came to Mary to ask her to be the mother of Jesus, the angel said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:28) Rejoice Mary, Daughter of Zion, full of grace, you who are the one awaited for centuries to give birth to the Messiah. The Lord is with you!
The second part of Zechariah’s reading looks forward to Jesus, the king who is to come: “meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.” Jesus fulfilled that when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey on what we call Palm Sunday. You wouldn’t expect a king or great leader to ride on a donkey but instead on a horse, or better again in a chariot or a horse-drawn carriage. That humility of Jesus also anticipates the Gospel today where Jesus describes himself as “meek and humble of heart.” (Matt 11:29).
Jesus who is meek and humble of heart invites people to him:
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.
(Matt 11:28-29)
Jesus invites those who are burdened to come to him for rest. One burden some people can carry, even churchgoers, is to hold serious sin and guilt on their souls for decades without confessing it and then when old age approaches, they eventually decide to confess it and be unburdened. Why wait until old age or when the time of death approaches to confess serious sin? Confess now and be unburdened. The invitation from meek and humble Jesus is:
Come to me, all you who labor and are
burdened,
and I will give you rest.
The promise from Jesus is “rest.” Get whatever the burden is off your chest and find rest and mercy and peace in Jesus.
The invitation from Jesus continues: Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. (Matt 11:29) Jesus certainly knew all about yokes. As a carpenter, he must have been asked from time to time to make a wooden yoke for farmers so that they could get two oxen to pull a plough or other farm implement. The yoke was the wooden crossbeam that joined the two animals at the neck and that crossbeam dragged the farm implement. Since animals are different sizes, it was common to have a yoke cut to measure for the animals pulling it. As a carpenter Jesus must have cut many such yokes. The invitation from Jesus is to take his yoke upon us. A human taking a yoke was a Jewish expression for a student learning from a master. Jesus invites, “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” You might even want to imagine Jesus taking the other half of the yoke with you. Jesus asks us to learn from him. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Our English translations of the Bible have the word “disciple” for a follower of Jesus but in the original Greek of the New Testament the word really means “student.” We are students in the school of Jesus. We are Jesus’ students all our lives because we are learning more about Jesus and what it means to be a follower of Jesus all our lives. After three years with Jesus, Judas still didn’t have a clue. He is not the only one. Many people in this country don’t know even the very basics of our faith and when they hear it, they think it sounds crazy. Jesus invites, “take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” If you do, the promise from Jesus is rest. Why? Because you will get a new insight into life and not worry unnecessarily.
There is a curriculum in Jesus’ school. Some parts are easy—God is merciful and forgiving. Some parts are challenging—forgive your enemies. A very good place to find Jesus’ curriculum for his school is the four Gospels because the apostles preached what they heard from Jesus and the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John put the preaching of the apostles in writing. So to take Jesus’ yoke upon you and learn from him, begin with the four Gospels.
Jesus invites those who are burdened to come to him for rest. If your conscience is burdened, confess and find rest. Jesus invites us to take his yoke on us, to be his students, and to learn in his school.
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.
(Matt 11:28-29)
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2026
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Fourteenth Sunday Year A
Come to Jesus: his yoke is easy and light 2008
Come to me all you who labor and are burdened
Related Homilies: Jesus’ prayer is a model for our prayer 2018
Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden light 2018