Christian morality can sometimes come across to us as a long and complex set of rules to follow, obligations to do and demands to fulfill, the sum of which can easily become overwhelming. The Book of Deuteronomy alone, from which today’s first reading is taken, gives us a total of 613 laws. No wonder, our Jewish brothers of ten use the image of a heavy “yoke” as metaphor for the Law of God. Did God free us from the Egyptians only to become our even more tiresome and demanding slave driver?
It is easy to see the demands of moral living as a burdensome yoke that we get weary of sooner or later. But like a yoke, we must remember that these laws are given not to oppress us but to guide us to what is truly essential, to the only thing that God in fact requires, which is to love and serve Him with our whole being.
When one is not in love, any demand will seem like huge trouble such as when a not-so-close friend asks even a small favor from us. But for those whom we love, do we not readily and willingly do anything for them, indeed even more than what they ask for? When we truly love God, moral obligations cease to be burdens imposed on us and become the sweet demands of love that we do freely, motivated by a sincere desire to serve the Beloved from deep within ourselves. Then, in the face of these manifold commandments, we would no longer feel like shackled slaves but lovers given welcome tips on how to love better.
God is unlike the kings of the earth who force people to give tribute.
Instead, he is a Father who awaits and well deserves not only our
obligation but our love. Only when we serve God with the love of
children and not the compulsion of slaves are we truly free. “Then,
the sons are free.” (Mt.17: 26)
