Homily: July 5, 2026 Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (I will give you rest)

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 “Thus says the LORD: Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem!” 

A Beautiful and comforting words of prophet Zechariah. A long weekend is of course a time of joy for us especially as we celebrate 250th year of independence. 

But truly, are you rejoicing in life? Are you rejoicing as a believer?

Only a person who is truly free can be full of joy and be at peace. Life in this country is full of freedom; we enjoy privileges and opportunities that many people in some other parts of the world are still yearning and fighting for.

Yet I have a friend, whenever I ask, “How’s life?”, would often reply, "It sucks,. 

Is life really that burdensome? Yes, we all struggle with some variations of family problems, work issues, disappointments, sickness, and other daily battles, and our own battle with sin and evil. But we have the freedom to work, to speak, to go anywhere, to believe in any religion, to choose what we want. Is there nothing worth rejoicing in this free and independent country?

When Prophet Zechariah spoke these words, he knew the people were not happy, they were not rejoicing. 

He was addressing the Israelites who had returned to Jerusalem after the exile.

They were back to their homeland, but they had also lost their family, friends and homes. They returned to find their beloved city in ruins - no grand Temple, no bustling town, no bright future in sight. They had to begin again from nothing. They were physically exhausted and emotionally drained, still carrying the depressing memory of an oppressed life in exile.

For them, Zechariah’s call to rejoice sounded ridiculous, even meaningless. How could anyone rejoice when all they saw was ruins, loss, shame, barrenness.

Yet that was exactly what God wanted for His people, to be joyful, that they were back to the promised land, that they were no longer slaves, that despite failing God and turning away from Him time and again, God did not give up on them, that He will continue to be faithful to them and again promise to be with them always. That should be reason good enough for rejoicing.

For with God, the Temple can be grander than before, their towns can be full of life again, and the coming of the Messiah would be sooner. So, rejoice heartily!

What about us?

The same promise is seen in the Gospel. Jesus knows how we may be feeling miserable about our life, burdened with sorrows and hardships, challenged with problems and troubles. 

And He gently invites us:

"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."

Notice that Jesus does not promise to remove all the problems and troubles, sadness and sufferings from our lives. Instead, He invites us to share His yoke, that is to walk alongside with Him, learn from Him, and look at our life from His point of view, not from the worldly perspective, and things will look brighter, more positive and the impossible will be possible.

The source of our joy is not a life without problems; the source of our joy is Jesus Himself.

Today, let us come to Him. Let us place before Him everything we are carrying. Let us be humble enough to acknowledge our limitations and to ask the Lord for help. He is the source of true joy, lasting peace, and real freedom.

Then let us rejoice heartily, because we have Jesus’ promises, we can come to Him and He will give us rest. Jesus, I trust in you.

Amen.


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