[00:00:05] Hello, my name is Sally Moriarty-Flask. Welcome to: From His Word to Our Hearts, my weekly Bible Study podcast. Together we will explore the readings to be proclaimed at the Catholic Mass on Sunday, July 5, 2026, the 14th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
This week's episode is entitled: Labors, Burdens and Rest, and this week we are privileged to hear Jesus praying to the Father before he issues a sincere invitation to the disciples. An invitation directed to the twelve men he initially called, to be sure, but an invitation that is extended to us as well.
[00:00:50] As we journey through the readings this week, consider the following:
Every year during the season of Ordinary Time, we are tasked with rededicating ourselves to Jesus. We are presented with Jesus’ teachings and are expected to learn from them, to live according to what he teaches us, to find rest in his love for us, and to be renewed in our devotion to him. All of that is challenging and none of it is easy. So, are we up for the challenge?
[00:01:32] Let's begin in prayer:
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Heavenly Father, your Son reveals you to us through prayer, through his teachings, and through the love that the two of you constantly share with each other and which Jesus generously shares with us. A sharing that gives us a foretaste of your kingdom. Help us share that love with everyone we encounter here on earth. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now that we've opened our hearts in prayer, let's listen to what God is telling us in the Scriptures.
[00:02:17] Our Gospel this week is from Matthew 11:25-30.
[00:02:24] “At that time Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’”
[00:03:19] Last week we heard some sayings from Jesus about the cost of discipleship and its rewards. This week, the twelve newly minted disciples are given their first in-depth lesson about the Father and are invited to dedicate themselves exclusively to following Jesus and learning all that he can teach them. In fact, this passage begins with Jesus offering a prayer to the Father, which is a rare occurrence in Matthew… Jesus only prays openly to the Father three times in Matthew's Gospel… this is the first time, but the next occurrence isn't until the Garden of Gethsemane, and the final time takes place as he is hanging on the Cross. As modern disciples, we too are invited to follow Jesus and learn all he has to teach us.
[00:04:21] So, let's listen to what Jesus has to say…
“At that time”
Jesus had been traveling to towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee, teaching those who gathered to listen to him and healing those who were sick, but he met with a significant amount of rejection in this early phase of his public ministry. In the verses that immediately precede this passage, Jesus reproached those towns and villages that rejected him.
[00:04:57] So, with that recent scolding in mind, Matthew now turns the page, so to speak, and focuses on Jesus’ first prayer to the Father. When…
“Jesus declared, ‘I thank you, Father,’”
We might think that those are strange words with which to begin this prayer, given the fact of Jesus' recent rejection. But there is a lesson for us in those words, if we are willing to listen… which is that God can use anything to create some benefit for us, to teach us some important lesson, to take something that appears to be bad and change it into something that is, in fact, positive and good.
[00:05:49] That is where Jesus is headed with this prayer. So…
“I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to infants;”
[00:06:05] Jesus is pointing out that although his teaching had been rejected by the Jewish religious authorities in the towns and villages he and his disciples had visited, that rejection has, in fact, become a learning opportunity for his disciples.
[00:06:25] The Scribes and Pharisees are the “wise and understanding” - these are men who had spent considerable time and effort studying Sacred Scripture and yet rejected what Jesus came to teach, so that knowledge remained “hidden” from them, while the disciples who are just beginning their search for knowledge, who are, as yet, largely untutored “infants,” are actively and hungrily receiving the knowledge that Jesus has come to share.
[00:07:01] In fact, Jesus says…
“yes, Father, such was your gracious will.”
Meaning that these events are all part of the Father's plan, that everything is unfolding as it should. Then Jesus turns his attention back specifically to the disciples, saying…
“All things have been delivered to me by my Father:”
[00:07:29] Jesus is telling the disciples that the Father has given him authority over everything. If we think back to the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5, Matthew presented Jesus as the New Moses, who had new teaching to present… new law to declare.
[00:07:54] Now Jesus himself confirms that he is greater than Moses, that his teaching authority is greater than that of Moses, that he possesses healing authority that Moses did not, that he holds spiritual authority that Moses never even dreamt of… all because it was given to him by the Father.
“and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son”
[00:08:32] Jesus is echoing what we heard last week, “whoever receives me, receives him who sent me” but now he's taking that even a step further, saying…
“and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Jesus the Son has privileged intimate knowledge of the Father, he has always possessed that knowledge - from before time began - and the disciples will come to know the Father precisely because Jesus will teach them about his Father, he will reveal his knowledge of the Father to them. Then Jesus extends an invitation…
[00:09:29] “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
[00:09:36] Jesus is offering a promise of inner peace in this life and eternal rest in the next, but that invitation, that promise, comes with a condition…
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me;”
[00:10:02] Those words make more sense if we fully understand the metaphor Jesus is employing… Jesus’ original listeners would have easily recognized a yoke as a common farming implement and would have immediately pictured an ox pulling a heavy plow. That is not always the case today, so we often mistake Jesus’ use of the word yoke as a reference to that specific farming implement. That's not what he meant! In Jesus’ time, a yoke had become a metaphor for religious instruction, for professing allegiance to a particular teacher, a particular rabbi. In fact, the yoke as a metaphor for instruction comes from Sirach 51, where Lady Wisdom invites the humble to draw near and be taught.
[00:11:05] So, what Jesus is really saying is: become my student and learn everything I have to teach you.
[00:11:15] Now there is yet another possible level of meaning to Jesus' words, which does involve also seeing a yoke as an actual burden. And that has to do with the 613 laws in Judaism that the Pharisees taught must be strictly observed, although they offered no good advice or any actual assistance as to how to go about doing that.
[00:11:48] The teachings of Jesus, on the other hand, are straightforward… and Jesus accompanies his disciples, he walks alongside them offering help and support along the way, unlike the Pharisees. Jesus himself says…
“for I am gentle and lowly in heart,”
[00:12:13] Now, the NAB translates that as: “meek and humble of heart” and the word “humble” is significant because it relates directly to our First Reading, which is from Zechariah. So, in this particular instance the NAB is actually a better translation. Then Jesus continues…
“and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jesus is contrasting the type of rest commonly understood at the time, which would have been rest on the Sabbath - mere earthly, bodily rest, rest from work - with the rest that only Jesus can offer, which is rest in the kingdom of heaven - rest for the soul.
[00:13:06] Then Jesus offers his disciples one final assurance…
[00:13:12] “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
[00:13:17] Jesus means that he is not self-absorbed, conceited, or aloof… he does not see himself as morally superior to his followers, rather he is considerate, caring, and compassionate.
[00:13:38] When his followers find themselves in need of help, Jesus will recognize their distress and ease their burden rather than adding to it. In a world full of conflict and a society deeply divided on many issues, we know that following Jesus is not easy nor is being a true Christian a light burden to bear. Every way we turn, we face difficulties, and every decision we make presents challenges… but Jesus’ teachings are clear and unmistakable, and - when we ask for it - he gives us the grace and the strength to follow his example. So, are we up for the challenge of being true and faithful Christians, no matter what that entails?
[00:14:38] That takes us to our First Reading, which is from Zechariah 9: 9-10.
“[Thus says the LORD:] Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from E’phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
Zechariah is one of the twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament. In the Jewish Bible, he is considered to be one of the Latter Prophets and his writings are found in a section called: “The Book of the Twelve.”
[00:15:42] Little is known about the prophet Zechariah beyond what we learn at the beginning of the book, where we are told that the prophet's grandfather, Iddo, was one of the leading priests of his time… who returned to the Southern Kingdom of Judah from Babylon with Zerubbabel in 538 BC.
[00:16:03] From that little snippet of information, we can then deduce that Zechariah was a descendant of Aaron and therefore a Levite, other than that we really don't know much. Most scholars accept Zechariah as the author of the first part of the book (chaps 1 to 8), which dates to about 520 - 518 BC.
[00:16:33] Those same scholars, however, attribute the remainder of the book (chaps 9 to 14), to a series of unnamed prophets who lived after Zechariah. The first part of the book, sometimes referred to as 1st Zechariah, mentions specific dates, names of leaders, and concerns of the time, and they are all written in prose.
[00:17:05] The second part of the book, sometimes called 2nd Zechariah, contains undated revelations or oracles, it identifies no specific people, it addresses concerns that arose after Zechariah's time, and are written in a mixture of prose and poetry.
Now, there are certain scholars that are of the opinion that the book had only one author. Those scholars suggest that chaps 1 - 8 are Zechariah's earliest visions, while chaps 9 - 14 contain apocalyptic revelations that Zechariah received later in life.
[00:17:57] This passage is from the second half of the book, 2nd Zechariah, if you will, and predicts the coming of Judah's king.
[00:18:08] So, let's listen to what the prophet has to say…
“[Thus says the LORD:]”
And remember, those words always indicate the prophet is speaking directly for God.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!”
This is an echo of Zechariah 2, where God tells the people that he will come to dwell with them, and that is the reason for their rejoicing.
[00:18:33] “Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!”
Of course, Jerusalem is the city built atop Mount Zion, so God is addressing the same people.
[00:18:45] “Behold, your king comes to you;”
[00:18:49] This also echoes earlier passages in Zechariah - chaps 3 & 6 - where Zechariah predicts the arrival of one called “the Branch” (and that is capital “B” – Branch), a royal figure, a servant of God who will come to build the temple of the Lord. The Branch is also mentioned in Jeremiah 23 & 33, as a king raised up from the line of David, who will execute justice and righteousness. So, these are all Messianic prophecies.
[00:19:31] Some scholars have suggested that Zerubbabel was “the Branch,” but he never actually reigned as king, he was appointed governor, but he never actually was anointed king. And yes, that is the same Zerubbabel that is mentioned in the Genealogy of Jesus in Matthew's Gospel.
[00:19:55] Then we are presented with contrasting images.
[00:20:00] “Triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.”
In biblical times, when a king returned triumphant and victorious from battle, he would typically go before his soldiers, either driving a chariot or riding a warhorse.
[00:20:25] This king, however, arrives as the messianic king who was expected to arise from the tribe of Judah, the same king who Genesis 49 predicts will arrive riding on a donkey. Matthew sees that prediction as being fulfilled by Jesus when he makes his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, which is also his final entry into Jerusalem before his death. Remember, we hear that reading on Palm Sunday.
“I will cut off the chariot from E’phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off,”
[00:21:12] Ephraim was a city in the Northern Kingdom of Israel; Jerusalem, of course, was in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. By saying that the chariot, the war horse, and the battle bow will be cut off, the prophet means that God does not intend for this messianic king to be a warrior… and that he will, instead, banish all instruments of aggression. This echoes, in a small way, 1st Isaiah 31, which says: “woe to those who rely on horses and chariots” meaning don't pursue war or conflict. Zechariah says this messianic king…
“shall command peace to the nations;”
Recalling the peace and prosperity which were hallmarks of the reign of King Solomon, so different from the reign of his father, David, who was a warrior king. Now, the last phrase of this passage is not in quotations… but it is based on a quote from Psalm 72.
[00:22:32] “his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”
[00:22:40] We read that very differently in modern times than it would have been read in biblical times, since our worldview encompasses - well - the entire world, whereas in biblical times “from sea to sea” probably meant from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, and the River (and that's capital “R” - River, by the way) may have meant either the Euphrates or the Nile… but the ends of the earth likely referred to what we now call the Atlantic coast of Europe.
[00:23:18] Looking at this passage from the perspective of the New Testament makes it easy for us to see Jesus in the description of this messianic king… and, as I said earlier, Matthew certainly felt that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy in Zechariah. Jesus, as the Messiah, did not come to re-establish the kingdom of Israel.
We are told, however, that that he came to bring life and light to the world, to establish peace between God and his people, to prepare us for salvation and open for us the doors to the kingdom. In return, Jesus asks that we love him and each other, that we follow his teachings and his example, that we obey his commands and spread the good news about him.
[00:24:31] All of that is challenging and none of it is easy. But, as Christians, we should be able to face whatever comes our way and overcome every challenge because we know Jesus accompanies us on our journey!
[00:24:51] That takes us to our Responsorial Psalm, which is Psalm 145, and the refrain is:
“I will bless your name forever, my God and King.”
And here are the verses:
“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name for ever and ever. Every day I will bless you, and praise your name for ever and ever.”
“The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy. The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all that he has made.”
“All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you! They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power.”
“Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations. The LORD is faithful in all his words, and gracious in all his deeds. The LORD upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.”
[00:26:08] This Psalm is a Hymn of Praise that celebrates God's saving deeds and his divine perfection. God is a divine king, deserving of all blessings, and the Psalm recounts the many ways his glory is manifested to mankind. Because he is the divine and perfect king, he is the type of king that all earthly leaders should aspire to emulate. The Psalm is rife with descriptors that emphasize God's goodness… he is gracious, merciful, compassionate, faithful, and just.
[00:26:56] Now this Psalm is also a Hebrew Acrostic poem - and in it each of the 22 lines begin with a successive letter of the Hebrew Alphabet. Of course, we can't possibly recognize that in the English translation, but if you have the knowledge and the ability to read the original Hebrew, you can detect it in that original language.
[00:27:22] That takes us to our Second Reading, which is from Romans 8: 9, 11-13.
“[Brothers and sisters:] [Y]ou are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.”
[00:28:31] This is the fourth straight passage from Romans, and it is one of the more difficult parts of this letter to understand. Paul contrasts flesh and spirit, and we often, mistakenly, assume he means only body and soul, but it's really not that simple.
Paul uses Greek words that are much richer in meaning than our English words can possibly convey. Flesh is translated from the Greek word “sarx” which doesn't just mean the fleshy parts of our body - it means the entire human person - our body, certainly, but also our mind, our will, our intent - focused solely on the self and turned completely away from God.
[00:29:36] Now the word spirit is translated from the Greek word “pneuma” which doesn't just mean breath or life or spirit - it means God's presence in us and in the world, and how we are able to express God's actions toward the world, no matter how imperfectly we may do so.
Now, there was a heretical movement that was gaining adherence in the 1st and 2nd centuries that, in essence, said that all flesh was bad, that it was nothing more than a prison for the spirit, and only the spirit was good. People who espoused that view were called Gnostics, because they believed that only a select few were privileged to receive the hidden knowledge (or gnosis) needed to escape the physical plane and ascend to the spiritual plane.
[00:30:39] That is NOT what Paul is suggesting here! Remember, this passage comes after Paul's teaching on Baptism which we heard - at least part of - last week on the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Paul means that, through Baptism, we can choose to be guided by the Spirit rather than allow ourselves to be ruled by the demands of our flesh.
[00:31:09] So, let's listen in depth to what Paul has to say…
“[Brothers and sisters:] [Y]ou are not in the flesh,”
Again, by that, Paul means that those of us who have been Baptized are no longer centered solely on ourselves, we are not so enmeshed in worldly concerns that we have no space for God. We are, in fact…
[00:31:37] “in the Spirit,”
The word Spirit here in the RSV is capital “S” - Spirit, meaning specifically the Holy Spirit… the Spirit of God, the third Person of the Trinity, who proceeds from the Father and the Son in eternity, but also in human history, because our understanding of the Holy Spirit grows and progresses throughout time. But the NAB, on the other hand, translates that as lowercase “s” – spirit - the type of spirit I talked about earlier - God's presence in us, which we receive when we are Baptized.
[00:32:24] Now, either way you look at it, whether it's with a capital “S” or a lowercase “s” it does still mean, essentially the same thing. It means we are being strengthened by grace and by God's Holy Spirit, so that we can in turn choose to be focused on God, we can turn our attention toward God, we can be open to God.
[00:32:58] And if those words also make you think back to last week - they should! Remember the Shunammite woman made space in her life for Elisha, God's prophet - and because she made space in her life for Elisha, she made space in her life for God. The grace of Baptism and the gifts and guidance of the Holy Spirit strengthen us to do the same thing, to make space in our life for God to focus on God rather than just on ourselves.
[00:33:44] But only, Paul says…
“if the Spirit of God really dwells in you.”
Meaning this can't just be for show, it can't just be for the sake of appearances… this has to be an inward reality… and if it isn't - people will know soon enough.
[00:34:08] God will know right away! But other people will be able to tell whether or not our faith is genuine… because the way we act, the things we do, the choices we make, the things we say, will show whether we are turned toward God or not.
[00:34:30] “Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.”
And it really is just that simple! The Christian life must be lived in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ and of his Father, otherwise, it's not authentic Christianity.
[00:34:56] Last week, when Paul talked about Baptism, he said that we die to our old selves and our old way of life, and that we live for God. But if we don't live for God, if we don't accept his word (and by that I mean both lowercase “w” and capital “W” - both Sacred Scripture and Jesus, the Logos), if we try to pick and choose the teachings we like, only to ignore the ones that make us uncomfortable, that's not authentic Christianity!
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead”
Paul may be referring to God the Father when he says: “him who raised Jesus from the dead,” but he's still talking about the same Holy Spirit! Remember, the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son! We profess that in the Creed! The Spirit is the continual exchange of life and love between the Father and the Son… a love so real that it gave birth to another entire entity.
[00:36:19] So, if that Spirit…
“dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.”
[00:36:41] And again, it goes back to that same question - do we really belong to Christ or not?
[00:36:50] If we do truly belong to Christ, then we can be assured that we will be raised and we will dwell with him in the kingdom… perhaps not immediately upon our death, perhaps after an undetermined amount of time, being purified by the love of God in purgatory (personally, I can't imagine that I will walk straight into heaven… I stumble too often, I'm not always kind, sometimes my worldly nature gets the better of me, but I am hoping for purgatory).
[00:37:29] And by extension, that means the opposite should also be true. If we don't really belong to Christ, if we don't live as he taught us to live, if we don't love as he taught us to love, if we don't keep his commandments - all of his commandments, if we don't follow his example, then we cannot count on being raised to life in the kingdom with him. We can count on being raised, we can count on being judged, but we may find ourselves eternally separated from God and his kingdom. As always, the choice is ours. So, while there is still time, we need to choose to belong to Christ with everything that entails.
[00:38:31] “So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—”
Not to live focused solely on ourselves and our immediate earthly concerns… our reputation, our influence, our wealth, our possessions - that's not what's important!
[00:38:55] “for if you live according to the flesh you will die,”
[00:38:59] Paul is talking about the death of the spirit - the Holy Spirit that is within us, that animating force from God that makes us living beings - the death of that divine, creative spark that animates our human bodies… he is talking about eternal separation from God. But again, it's our choice.
[00:39:28] “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.”
[00:39:36] Paul is not trying to say that certain people won't die - every human being will experience physical death… that is simply a reality. Paul is saying that if we live our Baptismal promises, if we listen to and learn what Jesus teaches us, if we live according to those teachings, if we love as he loves - even if we only do so imperfectly, if we find peace and rest in him, if we take his yoke upon ourselves, if we carry our crosses - whatever they may be, if we continually renew our devotion to him, then we will live - body and spirit - in the kingdom with him.
[00:40:36] All of that is challenging and none of it is easy… Jesus promised us grace, he promised that we would have life within us when we receive his Body and Blood, he promised that he would accompany us and intercede for us, he promised us love.
The Christian life is meant to be challenging… but with Jesus’ help, we're up for any challenge!
[00:41:14] If you would like to reach out to me with questions or comments, send me an email at
[email protected]
Thank you for spending this time with me and until next we meet, may God shower his blessings upon you like a soft and gentle rain, and may he hold you safe and secure in the palm of his hand.
From His Word to Our Hearts is produced by SFS Audio Solutions.
The content of the show was assembled by me, Sally Moriarty-Flask.
Our music was composed by Jimmy Flask and is used with the permission of the composer. All rights reserved.
Information regarding references used in preparing the exegesis for this podcast is available upon request.
Thank you for listening and God Bless.
