A Glimpse of Spirituality 靈修一瞥122 (Matt 瑪11:28-30)                                           

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How do we forgive those who hurt us, either deeply or slightly? If you will, you can; if you refuse, you cannot. People will feel lightly while they forgive others and themselves; on the contrary, heavy while they do no. Better said, with love, everything is easy as well as without love, everything is heavy. Love, thus, is the strongest power, not any laws.

 

Jesus’ yoke is easy and his burden light. It is mainly because they are carried by love. As a matter of fact, they are not only physically easy and light but spiritually. Those who are willing to forgive have to work together with God who is the source of forgiving love. That is the reason for the easy yoke and the light burden. Nevertheless, the Pharisees built a fence around the Law with their own incorrect exposition of its meaning so that no one can enter into the center spirit of the Law. However, Jesus was faithful to the heart of the Law, i.e. love.

 

Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me.” The “yoke” (zygon) literally means a heavy burden but here; metaphorically, the term is so transferred to the love command of Jesus as to contrast the burden with the Pharisees. Jesus called his disciples to righteousness in obedience to the Law of love. This love promises the rest and peace that anticipate eschatological blessing.

 

Christian discipleship requires nothing less than life commitment. While Christians are carrying their heavy crosses of life, in fact, it is Jesus who carries the yoke and burden together with them. In these situations, “his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3) because we carry with love and Jesus accompanies us in our hard times.

 

Jesus wants to share with us his intimacy with God our Father by inviting us to join his life, especially his death and resurrection. When we commit our lives into Jesus’, we share his easy yoke and light burden because, and only because, Jesus had taken up our difficult yoke and heavy burden by committing his life to ours, even unto death.

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如何寬恕那些傷害我們的人？無論嚴重或輕微。願意，就行；拒絕，就不能。人心在寬恕他人或自己時，會感到輕鬆；相反，如果抗拒寬恕，心如堵塞大石，沉重。更好說，有愛，一切都很容易，缺愛，所有人事物都沉重。因此，愛是最強力量，而非任何規矩。

耶穌的軛是柔和的，擔子是輕鬆的；主因是以愛肩負；事實上，不只是身體上的柔和及輕鬆，而是精神上。那些願意寬恕的人必須與天主合作，因祂是寬恕之愛的泉源；這就是軛柔和以及擔子輕鬆原因。然而，法利塞人用他們自己對法律的錯誤解釋，在法律周圍築起圍牆，讓人不能進入核心，而耶穌則忠於法律精神，是愛。

耶穌說：“你們背起我的軛，跟我學吧！”“軛”（zygon）字面意思是沉重負擔，但這裡比喻耶穌愛的命令，與法利塞人的重擔形成對比。耶穌召叫門徒遵守愛的法律而成義，這愛引導人們進入安息，是邁向末世的祝福。

基督徒，無非一生奉獻自己生命給主；當他們背負生命沉重十字架時，事實上，是耶穌與他們一起背負這軛和擔子；在這情況下，“他的誡命並不沉重”（若壹5:3），因為懷著愛去背負；與此同時，耶穌在我們困難時，一直陪伴。

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