Sunday the 5th of July 2026 - The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Zechariah 9:9-10/ Ps 145(144)/ Romans 8:9, 11-13/

Matthew 11:25-30

Think back to Palm Sunday and the image of Jesus entering Jerusalem. He did not enter the city with a flourish of kingship and splendour. He rode on a borrowed donkey. The crowds greeted their Messiah, ready to crown a great leader, only to see him approaching on a donkey, his feet almost dragging on the ground. This is what the prophet Zechariah foretold, a king, a triumphant saviour, who would come not with a sword but with peace. The world expects greatness to look like strength, but God shows us that true greatness looks like humility. It is this humble King who calls us to him today, promising his rest to those who labour and are heavy laden, a king who desires to share our load. Jesus came to us as a conqueror but without a sword. A ruler whose dominion stretches from sea to sea, but who entered his city, not in power, but gentleness. This is the God we worship, the King we follow. Today, in the Gospel, this same humble King turns to us and calls us to him to receive his rest. In a world that never stops demanding, measuring, weighing us down with expectations, Jesus offers something we need. Rest, not the rest of sleep, or a holiday from work, but a deep rest for the soul. The rest that comes only when we finally stop trying to be God and let God be God.

Jesus praised the Father because these things had been hidden from the wise and the clever but revealed to the childlike. This is because the proud and self-obsessed cannot receive a gift, only the humble can. The hands that are clenched in self-reliance are not open to receive grace. Only the open hand of a child, the empty hand of the poor in spirit, can receive what God wants to give. It has been said that pride changed angels into devils, and humility makes angels of humans. This is the story of salvation; the first humans grasped at being like God and fell. Jesus, although He was God, emptied Himself completely, so that we could be lifted up with Him through His resurrection. The way of humility is the way of glory. Jesus lived this out. The Word through who all things came into being, came into His creation as a helpless child born into poverty and exile. The King of kings entered Jerusalem on a donkey not a war horse. The Lord of life died the death of a criminal, stripped of dignity, nailed naked to a cross. Every step of Jesus' life teaches us humility, and we should follow His example.

It does not always feel that the yoke we carry is easy. The yoke is a beam placed across the shoulders of a team of horses or oxen so that they can pull together. Jesus does not promise that we will have no burdens, He promises that He will pull alongside us. The yoke is easy because we are not carrying it alone. Jesus is there, in the harness with us, He is shoulder to shoulder with us through life if we want Him there. A proud heart refuses to be linked to anyone, even to Jesus. The proud heart insists it can carry the yoke alone not needing help from anyone. The proud, who think they need no help, are crushed under their burdens. The humble heart knows it needs the help of a Saviour. The humble heart takes the yoke of Jesus willingly and discovers that the burden is light. Not because the cross has disappeared but because Jesus is helping to carry it. This is what the extract from the letter to the Romans in the second reading speaks about. Through baptism, the Spirit of Jesus lives within us. We no longer live driven by desires of the flesh, the worldly hunger for status, approval, or being important. We live now by the Spirit, who teaches us to be the children of God. To live by the Spirit is to live a countercultural life. The world calls us to exalt ourselves, to be first, to be admired. The Spirit teaches us to be humble, to serve, to be last, to be hidden in Christ. The world rewards the loud and the powerful. God lifts up the lowly and fills the hungry with good things. The psalm today tells us that the Lord will support the fallen raising up all who are bowed down. God stoops down to the humble, He is not to be found at the top of the ladder we are sometimes trying to climb, but at the bottom, washing feet.

We must examine our hearts, ask ourselves where we are looking for approval rather than seeking God? Where are we exalting ourselves over others, looking down on others because of their education, background, their struggles? Where are we refusing to ask for help because pride will not let us admit our need? Where are we carrying a burden alone that Jesus is waiting to share? Humility is not thinking less of oneself but thinking of oneself less. It is the freedom of no longer needing to be impressive. It is the rest of finally letting God love us as we are, not as we pretend to be. Let us come to Jesus today, bringing our burdens, worries, failures, hidden sorrows. Lay them at His feet. Let Jesus take the yoke upon His shoulders knowing that we are not alone. May we have the humility to come to Jesus and find, in him, the rest our souls long for.

God Bless Brendan